Does Charlie Hebdo: Deadly Or Helpful?

1.) Asa Don Brown, the author of “Desensitization of Terrorism,” focuses on how the influence of the media and social media have desensitized us when it comes to terrorist attacks. Brown directs the article toward an audience who questions why they are no longer as surprised by terrorist attacks when they occur as they used to be. This seems like an extremely odd feeling to have when several people are killed and hundreds are hurt, however, it is the strange reality these days. Terrorist attacks have been happening for years and years now and while we would love to just stop them from occurring, this is blatantly impossible to achieve. He emphasizes in the article, the idea that when terrorist attacks and the terrorists themselves are

In the article, Greenwald focuses on trying to make an argument for why free speech should be protected, even if that speech it hateful. Greenwald argues this point mainly by showing a collage of examples where hate speech infringed upon the rights of left-wing proponents. Some of these examples include when, in 2015, France convicted 12 activists supporting the "boycott of Israel" by wearing t-shirts reading "Long live Palestine, boycott Israel", while others have been convicted for adorning vegetables with boycott stickers. Some other instances he brings up of conviction for hate speech include a distraught Muslim teenager lashing out on Facebook at the British troops who died in Afghanistan after having killed innocent Afghans, a devout atheist who put up anti-religion fliers "in a religious room of the Liverpool airport", and a liberal partisan who held up a sign reading "get lost, jerk" directed at the former French President, Nicolas Sarkozy. Within these examples the only appeals he tends to make are towards logos with a bit of pathos in some of the wording. Towards

People question more hateful satire and ask “if we must use satire, can we not be gentler and more subtle?” (Ward). Religious hate does more than hurt the feelings of those it is directed towards; it also contributes to discrimination. Perhaps satire that is especially vindictive toward religions, particularly minority groups, should face consequences. Imprisonment for producing satire would be unreasonable, but small fines would be appropriate. Discrimination and hate deserve punishment, because free speech has its limits. Charlie Hebdo faced criticism from politicians who attacked what they believed were reckless and irresponsible drawings, although the magazine’s editor, Charbonnier, claimed that he is “not putting lives at risk” (Greenhouse). However, there is irony behind his statement. Just years after Charbonnier defended his illustration, the office of Charlie Hebdo was attacked by terrorists and eight people were murdered, including Charb himself. They say that hindsight is 20/20, but once lives outside of the satirist are put in danger, it is the duty of this artist to do what is safe for

Ever since the tragic terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 the media’s top priority every day is covering any and all terrorism. By all acounts, 9-11 remains the single most deadly attack ever on American soil, however terror attacks declined over the last twenty years. Despite the decline in terror activity, media coverage continues to report at an all-time high. Thus, every major news entity worldwide continually provides around the clock terrorism coverage. Deadly carnage streams on a time loops constantly, gruesome amputations and gun shot wounds appear on tvs around the world. The grotesque footage decencitizes millions of people and promotes and kind of glamourizes terrorism. The tv coverage causes wide spread fear, panic, and

Social media has been able to bridge people from all around the world and connect “like-minded souls everywhere” (Gladstone). With the spread of social media comes a connectedness that has been able to organize the masses with little to no effort. Social media has made “it possible to see and talk to one another in real time” (Wortham). Social media enables individual movements to organize events that entice the participation of a multitude of people. What use to take days or sometimes months to plan could be done now with a speed not previously conceived of. A single Instagram post has the capability to organize a protest in a matter of minutes. Social media activism is more sophisticated than most people think. Social media has the power to reach people who prior to this would not be able to become involved in activism. Movements like Black Lives Matter has been able to reach people across the globe. The black lives matter movement that started in areas such as Baltimore has been able to spark protests in European countries. Equipped with the same bold rhetoric, these countries are also protesting the unproportional deaths of black males at the hands of police. During a Denmark protest “a young black man being violently subdued by police gasped, “Ik kan niet ademen,” Dutch for “I can’t breathe”—echoing Eric Garner’s last words” (Essif). Social media has been able

The article, “To Fear Offense or Reprisals Is to Surrender Our Values,” by Amos N. Guiora was the most convincing. It had the strongest impact on me. I think Guiora described Hebdo as courageous because the other outlets were too afraid to take a stance on the Islamic extremist when he says, “Due to their fear of Islamic extremists these outlets engaged in self-imposed restraint. That made a courageous publication like Charlie Hebdo more vulnerable and contributed to the Paris slaughter”? In addition, he suggests that it was the fear of the other outlets actually contributed more to the Paris slaughter than the Hebdo cartoons. The phrase, “Edgy artists perform an invaluable public service. They deserve our fullest support and protection. Their voices must be heard, no matter how offensive an opinion might seem or the discomfort it might cause” means that Hebdo and the alike push the limits and portray what everyone is afraid to think out loud.

Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine, has been the face of controversy since its establishment in 1969 and has continuously publicised its opinions, specifically regarding highly provocative topics. On the 7th of January 2015, Charlie Hebdo became the target of a ruthless terror attack at its offices in Paris. The suspects behind the attack were brothers, Cherif Kouachi and Said Kouachi. The two, stormed into the offices and executed 12 people, ranging from the caretaker of the building, to the editor of the publication, Stephane Charbonnier. After the attack, witnesses who sought refuge on top of buildings nearby, heard the brothers yelling, “We have avenged the Prophet Muhammed” and “Allahu

However, the most difficult part in this process remains the identification of authors: if they are linked, or may be linked in the future, to a terroristic organization or if they might be suspected of effectuating terroristic acts. It's likely that a terroristic message only is not sufficient to prove someone’s passage from words to actions, in “deterring terrorism. Instead, since many individuals who listen to ‘radicalized’ messages do not become terrorists, legislation that solely targets the messages will over-broadly curtail speech. Not only will some of the speech that this legislation targets never lead individuals to join terrorist groups, but the legislation will also catch some individuals in its net who never intended to even indirectly incite violence.” (Boyne, 2010, p.

The morning of January 7th 2015 was another regular day for me. I got up, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and ate breakfast; completely unaware of what massacre was taking place across the ocean. I finished getting ready and said goodbye to my dad as I drove to school. I turned on the radio and let the music surround me as I drove. I went to first block and nobody said anything about what was happening in the newspaper offices over 5,000 miles away. When I got to my second class, AP European History, Ms. Kinard told the class about that important event that was happening in France. She turned on the smartboard to a BBC World News article about the attack that would later be referred to as Je Suis Charlie. Later that day I learned what I could

Drawings are able to communicate an idea instantly, wordlessly and internationally. The natural potency of a cartoon is made more dangerous when mixed with political satire, harmless to some yet blasphemous to others. The tragic terrorist attack in Paris of 2015, known as the Charlie Hebdo Shooting, shattered deep-rooted confidence about the absolute right to freedom of expression and exposed the ideological conflict between Islam and the West. The Charlie Hebdo controversy shows us how rare an achievement it is to establish societies where any negative opinion can be unlimitedly tolerated in the name of freedom of expression in this era of vast cultural diversity. State officials must implore for the exclusion of religion being allowable material

In this day and age, the internet has allowed ISIS to become one of the most backed extremist groups to exist. As put by Professor Alfred Hermida, ISIS “targets messages designed to spread terror among western audiences while recruiting followers with tweets aimed at an ideological Muslim world.” The San Bernardino shootings were an exemplary case of this; in which gunwoman Tashfeen Malik has subsequently been found to have written posts agreeing with vicious jihadism and pledged loyalty to ISIS after accessing online information about them, despite living in the USA and never showing any indication of her radicalisation in person. This demonstrates a different difficulty to tackle: instead of accusing refugees of transporting terrorism to the West, it is time to stop the spread of jihadism on the new, virtual world: the

Social media is used to connect people throughout the whole world. While There is love and support aplenty online, these same platforms are also used to target innocent people based on things such as religion. A 15 year old girl posted a photograph of herself online, and without her consent, it was posted on a website. Because she was wearing a hijab on, she received hateful comments. She is an innocent child subjected to a world of hate for no reason other than she is Muslim (Awan, Imran and Zempi, Irene 2016). As if it weren’t terrible enough people are being targeted online, the public goes after Muslims in the street, too. In Ukrainian, Mohammed Saleem was murdered by a neo-Nazi, Pavlo Lapshyn. Pavlo Lapshyn killed another human being and tried to bomb a few mosques, attempting to start a new “race war”. (Vikram Dodd 2013). Sadly, Pavlo isn’t the only case where people are targeted for being Muslim. Muslim humans are attacked online and offline because they are wrongly afflicted with terrorists.

In the past decade, there have been an increased amount of terrorist attacks in Europe, such as terrorist attacks in Paris in November 2016 and in Manchester Arena in May 2017. Whenever a terrorist attack happens in Europe, it is widely reported on various media outlets and the extensive media network of present-day allows news to spread quickly. Consequently, even

The French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is known by publishing controversial cartoon. For example, they have make fun of the ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdad, and lately they have posted a cartoon showing the drowned Syrian child Aylan Kurdi appearing on the street of Cologne and the child was carrying a sexual assault. Charlie Hebdo was mocking the accusation of sexual assault in Cologne. Therefore, Charlie Hebdo has made the French paper infamous. Of course Charlie Hebdo has also mocked the founder of the muslim, Prophet Muhammad. Charlie Hebdo has mocked the Prophet Muhammad more than one time. The muslim cannot tolerate this anymore. The cartoon not only bring the condemnation from the muslim, it also bring a massacre to France. In muslim world, visual depictions of Muhammad is a blasphemy. Therefore, Two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, they are jihard. They are loyal to Prophet Muhammad. So, in their perspective, Charlie Hebdo attack is just a revenge for them. This way the attack is justified, because Charlie Hebdo disrespect their founder

Contemporary social movements such as Arab Spring and Kony 2012 use the Internet and social media as potential tools towards change. But why are some more successful than others. This paper argues that when news outlets see the potential for change, they “premediate” (Richard Grusin) its possibilities, and make that change ever more possible in their coverage. On the other hand, extant stories that are more reactionary do not get the same amount of new exposure, and remain static. In other words, our media - not just social media, but news organizations - play a great role in shaping current events. I will compare and contrast the unfolding of the Arab Spring story, and how little changed regarding Kony 2012, as cases in point.