Ed Morrissey reminded me today that I wanted to say something about this foolish cave in to Islam perpetrated by the Charlie Hebdo magazine folks. And the long and short of it is that the people running this magazine are proof that modern liberalism is venal, ignorant, stupid, and evil and should be eschewed by any logical, caring, thinking person.
The whole world came to the side of the
Charlie Hebdo folks after Muslims came and killed 12 members of the magazine's staff. These 12 people were murdered because the magazine indulged in the ages old western right of freedom of speech without which we simply cannot have a growing, dynamic western culture.
These 12 people were murdered because they dared to make fun of the "Prophet" Mohammad--hate and death be upon his name. Immediately after the murders the remaining staff of
Charlie Hebdo said that they were not going to back down and that their freedom of speech was sacrosanct.
That was as it should be, of course. If they would have stuck with that they should have everyone’s respect. No westerner should succumb to what is known as the "assassin's veto." Meaning that a killer will have the final word through his threat of murder thereby shutting down free expression.
Now, as Morrissey reminded me, last week the folks at Charlie Hebdo have shown that they have buckled and given in to that assassin's veto. The new editor is now saying that the magazine will never ridicule the "Prophet" Mohammad again.
The editor is now saying that they will put a self-imposed ban on ridiculing the murderous face of the Islamic faith because they have already done it and feel, "We’ve done our job. We have defended the right to caricature."
First of all, I can understand why they are frightened. Islam is an evil greater than man has ever faced. There is a lot to be afraid of. But to pretend that they've "done their job" and now that "job" is over and they can move on is feckless reasoning so typical of an ignorant leftist.
I say this because, while we can absolutely say that
Charlie Hebdo has certainly lived up to its reputation to ridicule Mohammad, to say that they are "now done" with their job is absurd. Why? Let's ask them if they are "done" ridiculing the Catholics or the Jews, or the Hindus and the Buddhists? The answer to that is a resounding "no."
In fact, this whole "we've done our job" business is just a cop out. After all, they've spent as many decades ridiculing every other religion and they don't feel THAT job is "done." They have no compunctions about continuing to attack Christians, Jews, and every other religion but Islam.
Lie all liberals, when everything is going ducky and no one is protesting too strenuously against them,
Charlie Hebdo revels in ridiculing religion in the most vile of ways. When things are easy they stand on their “principle” and proclaim themselves “brave” for doing so.
But when things get hard… they weasel word their “principles” and pretend they are standing by them when they clearly aren’t.
In the end, what the
Charlie Hebdo folks have shown is that they really don't have any principles. They will only stand by those faux principles when life is easy. But today it is easy to pretend that they've somehow "done their job" with Islam and now they can move on as if the whole matter has been resolved when it hasn't.
Like all liberals the folks at
Charlie Hebdo have no real principles that they won't sell out for ease or remuneration. If you are still saying "Je suis Charlie" all you are saying is that, in the end, you have no principles at all. Again, it proves that liberals cannot be trusted to have principles and they should be despised and hated for such shallowness, such untrustworthiness.
Finally, let me say this: I’d have more respect for the magazine folks if they’d have simply admitted that they are afraid of the murderous Muslims.
That is a real reason to stop printing things about Islam. I mean, it would still be cowardly, but at least it would be honest and understandable. But this pretending, this hiding behind those weasel words of “we are done with our job,” well, that deserves no respect at all.
Warner Todd Huston——
Bio and Archives
Warner Todd Huston’s thoughtful commentary, sometimes irreverent often historically based, is featured on many websites such as Breitbart.com, among many, many others. He has also written for several history magazines, has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows.
He is also the owner and operator of Publius’ Forum.
