The Massacre at Charlie Hebdo and the Debate over Satire in Publishing

January 15, 2015

Last Wednesday’s massacre of twelve people at French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo by three gunmen—which left eleven other victims wounded—has incited a worldwide debate about the use of satire in publishing.

David Brooks, in his NYT opinion piece, wrote, “[L]et’s face it: If [the journalists at Charlie Hebdo] tried to publish their satirical newspaper on any American university campus over the last two decades it wouldn’t have lasted thirty seconds,” he wrote, adding that, “Public reaction to the attack in Paris has revealed that there are a lot of people who are quick to lionize those who offend the views of Islamist terrorists in France but who are a lot less tolerant toward those offend their own views at home.”

Brooks concluded his editorial with the claim that “effective” satirists “help us address our foibles communally,” saying that ineffective provocateurs “fail to maintain standards of civility.”

Conversely, arguments that Charlie Hebdo “tempted the ire of Islamists one too many times,” prompted the editorial staff of The New York Times to write in an opinion piece, “The massacre was motivated by hate. It is absurd to suggest that the way to avoid terrorist attacks is to let the terrorists dictate standards in a democracy.”

This isn’t the first time that Charlie Hebdo has inflamed the ire of Islamist terrorist groups, with potentially deadly consequences. In 2011, the day after putting out a special issue guest-edited by “Charia Hebdo”—a play on the word in French for Sharia law—the magazine’s offices were firebombed. The cover drawing showed a bearded Muslim man kissing a cartoonist, with the caption: “L’amour: Plus fort que la haine” (“Love: Stronger than hate.”).

The slain include editor of Charlie Hebdo Stéphane Charbonnier; cartoonists Jean Cabut, Bernard Verlhac, Georges Wolinski, and Philippe Honoré; copy editor Mustapha Ourrad; columnists Bernard Maris and Elsa Cayat; and building maintenance worker Frederic Boisseau. Two police officers, Ahmed Merabet and Franck Brinsolaro, were also killed.

French author Michel Houellebecq, whose recently published, controversial book Soumission (Submission) envisions France being ruled by a radical Muslim president in the year 2022, has stopped promoting his book. The book was promoted on Charlie Hebdo’s cover on the day of the massacre, and according to The Guardian, Houellebecq was “deeply affected” by the event and left Paris to mourn. Read more about the book at the Paris Review. And check out Adam Gopnik’s commentary on the massacre, “Satire Lives.”

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