When watching or reading the news, almost always the reader will have complaints. Whether it is the stance it takes on a major social issue, to the type of font it uses on its papers, people will always have a say on their news. On January 7th, the world heard about the brutal killings of 12 employees of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. The suspects in the killings have all either been apprehended or killed.

Many believe that the attacks were performed due to the recent publishing of a carton caricaturizing the prophet Muhammad in a way seen by many Muslims (radical or not) as extremely disrespectful to their religion. The paper Charlie Hebdo has been known for doing this throughout the years, as they have caricatured Jesus, French president François Hollande, and even United States President Barack Obama.

This form of satire is common throughout Europe, and even more common in France, where the first satirical cartoons were made to make fun of Marie Antoinette. So this recent cartoon by the paper wasn’t in any way trying to be extremely spiteful or malicious in one comic. An employee of the paper was quoted saying, “The aim is to laugh. … We want to laugh at the extremists – every extremist. They can be Muslim, Jewish, Catholic. Everyone can be religious, but extremist thoughts and acts we can not accept.” This is the type of satire that occurs in France and is much more different than in America.

Many of the comics that have been published by these satirical newspapers (Charlie Hebdo is only one of many in France. Some of the more well known ones include Le Monde and Le Canard Enchaînè) have opened up scandals and even forced politicians to step down and resign from their office. Le Monde is one of the most popular newspapers in France, and while it is not entirely satirical, its news coverage is
more of opinion and analysis of today’s news, rather than giving a centered view on the news as most American newspapers present to the public.

Even with their different definition of satire, many people have though that the paper had very poor taste in their comics, and it wasn’t even just this most recent one. Ten percent of the entire population of France is Muslim, and in cities such as Paris and Marseille that number reaches twenty to thirty percent. Many French Muslims have had an issue with the paper in the past and even today, as in its first edition since the shootings the paper shows a picture of the prophet Muhammad, which in Muslim culture is extremely frowned upon.

And while yes France does have a large Muslim population, almost all of France is proclaiming itself to be one with Charlie. On January 11, 2015, more than a million people converged in Paris to take part
in a march for unity. The event occurred all throughout the day, was covered by most major news programs, and was attended by many prominent world leaders, including Angela Merkel of Germany, and Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu. One country noticeably absent from this march was the United States, who not only failed to send the President himself, but also failed to send any top-ranking official there at all.

Regardless of whether people do or don’t stand behind the paper, what occurred there was a massacre. And no matter what your view is on their comics, it was still a tragic event. Nous sommes Charlie.

via Flickr