The most recent issue of the French satirical weekly
Charlie Hebdo has sold over 5,000,000 copies, amid great controversy, yet, as far as I know, an image of the cover has NOT yet been published by many major US TV news organizations! The cover image has been shown on TV by Fox News and CBS, but not yet by CNN, MSNBC, NBC, or ABC as far as I have been able to confirm.
The graphic shows the original French edition (left) and my English translation (right), with Voltaire's famous quotation superimposed.
By its own admission,
Charlie Hebdo (
Charlie Weekly) is a "Journal Irresponsable" ("Irresponsible Journal") and its stock in trade is satire of various religions and other deeply held beliefs. I certainly do not wish to encourage publication of such divisive material, yet, along with Voltaire, I have to defend the right of publication of such material in a free society.
What do you think?
Ira Glickstein
Ira,
ReplyDeleteI mentioned to someone that I thought the cover should have been front page, (IMHO), on every newspaper in the country and shown on all news stations to show what freedom of the press means. They agreed and indicated that it was in The New York Times but not on the front page.
If we do not stand up for our beliefs, the radical factions will continue doing what they are doing.
RIGHT ON Jay!
ReplyDeleteEven if we think some of Charlie Hebdo's humor is over the top, we MUST protect their right to publish, and that includes their right to do business without radical Islamists killing their editors and cartoonists and wrecking their offices.
I've posted the image of the cover of the latest issue of Charlie Hebdo both on this blog and my Facebook page and have been amazed that the page views and "likes" have been far less that most of my other postings.
Your positive comment gives me some reassurance that at least some of my friends and readers are paying attention to this basic freedom issue.
Ira