Yesterday's atrocity in the Parisian offices of satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo', and the footage of the prone French policeman pleading for his life before being shot in the head by the Islamic gunman is undeniably shocking. But it is not surprising.
Europe, and the West in general, has been agonising for years over the best way to accommodate its Muslim populations. And these efforts have failed. Whether it's the burka, ignoring the cruelty of halal meat production, Islamic faith schools, self-censorship or zealous prosecutions of the new secular sin of 'Islamophobia', the depressing truth is that these various policies of appeasement and accommodation have created a climate where the only surprise about the attack on this magazine is that it took until now for it to happen.
Unlike most publications in Europe, 'Charlie Hebdo' has a long history of offending delicate Muslim sensibilities. In fact, it has a long history of offending everybody's sensibilities which, after all, is what a satirical magazine is meant to do.
The publication first came to attention when its offices were fire-bombed in 2011 after it published a special edition proclaiming Mohammed as its 'guest editor', while it was also one of the few organs which reprinted the infamous 'Danish cartoons' in 2008, which led to riots and murders by Muslims who were outraged that their so-called 'religion of peace' had been linked to violence.
There is an argument that the editor, Stephane Charbonnier, who was murdered yesterday, and the cartoonists who were also among the 12 deaths, somehow brought this act of savagery on themselves.
Only in the debate about Muslim 'offence' is the victim seen as responsible for their attack, as if Islam is so protected and precious that anyone who mocks it deserves to be killed and can't complain when they're murdered. » | Thursday, January 08, 2015
