While the attackers achieved their immediate, “stupid and vicious” goal of bringing jihad to Paris, their action was counter-effective in almost every other way. They turned their victims into martyrs and even the most idiotic cartoons into icons of free expression. Moreover, they showed that their distorted understanding of Islam must be fragile indeed if it can be so threatened by ridicule. And their actions will not silence the weekly. A lawyer for Charlie Hebdo on Thursday said it would publish a new edition on schedule next week. The surviving staff are anticipating a print run of 1 million copies, many multiples of its usual 60,000. Jihadism wont come to an end once people stop drawing the prophet, which makes it all the more important that cartoonists not censor themselves now. To do so would be to concede that murder is an effective way to extinguish an idea. Its far more effective to let a toxic idea crumble under the weight of its own absurdity. And to that end, the pencil is mightier.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 02:09:47 +0000
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