I am currently in Marseille, France. You have probably heard the news of the recent shooting in Paris. My apartment is in the 6th Arr., close to where the shooting happened but I am fine and am spending some time in Marseille. The tradgedy has impacted everyone around France. Yesterday at noon, there was a moment of silence all around France for the victims of the shooting at Charlie Hebdo. Around France, the words Je Suis Charlie are displayed on many signs and posters when people gather to remember the victims. These signs also appear in windows, on trains, and in the hand of the citizens of Paris. The signs look like this:
Twelve cartoonist from Charlie Hebdo were shot by what we believe to be two extremists of the Islamic religion. Everyone around Paris is shocked and there have been many gatherings and ceremonies in the streets of Paris and around France commemorating the victims and their families as well as the issue in general. French people of the Islamic religion are speaking about how this is not their religion and how they are just as shocked and sad as everyone else. Leaders of the religion in France are saying that these people were terrorists and their Prophet and religious beliefs were centered in hate. Everyone is grieving from the loss of these twelve cartoonists.
I have many thoughts about the issue. My initial thoughts were why would we antagonize these fragile extremists when we know what their capable of. Why would we cause issues around such a fragile group of people. I wondered why the people at Charlie Hebdo created these cartoons, making fun of a Religion is not okay and even if we disagree, we should know that things like this can cause major reactions such as the shooting of twelve cartoonists. On the other hand though, a reaction of the extemists breaks the freedom of religion beucase even if the images shown were offensive in the Islamic people, they are not offensive in other religions and their reaction is imposing that we have to have the same beliefs as they do. We should have our freedom of speech and freedom of press and be able to say whatever we feel but we should also take into consideration what may happen because of our actions. This brings me to think about The Interview, the American film that was recently released about South Korea and their leader. I feel that maybe the release of the movie was a mistake because even if we disagree with a political figure or religion, we should not make fun of an issue that is so fragile and capable into turning into something potentially dangerous because we know that it can.
