Commentary: Paris, France, Jan. 7, 2015

I am offended by the killing of the cartoonists in Paris yesterday by extreme Muslim fanatics!

On the other hand, I am also offended by some of the stuff the cartoonists published then called it "satire." I certainly believe they had a right to publish whatever they wanted to. Pornography seems to be legal; why not blasphemy?  By content, their work can be no less than blasphemy.

My argument is that it is incorrect to call it "satire." Part of the definition of satire is that it is often used to point out how stupid people are - except of course for the "satirists." 

"Put a veil on Charlie Hebdo"
More at this link

I was not ever aware of those cartoonists or of the crap they had published until yesterday when many of the cover pages of the "magazine" began showing up on the web in news stories about the killings. They not only "satirized" the Muslim religion, they also "satirized" Christianity and Judaism. I am not aware they were ever critical of Buddhism, Shintoism, or any other ancient religion that arose well before Christianity. Perhaps there were just not enough of those folks in their country to devote any "creativity time" to them.

One or two early articles about the killings indicated to me that the cartoonists and editors were not particularly religious people. It's difficult then for me to believe their criticism of any religion is "satire" if the person(s) creating it are themselves non-believers in any faith. They were merely pointing out how stupid we are who do have that faith.

In my opinion, calling what they did "satire" is a cop out to cover their method of making fun of the rest of us who are at least somewhat religious, irrespective of what entity we believe in.

Yeah, I know that some people born and raised in the Christian world, to Christian parents believe themselves to be too enlightened and certainly too sophisticated to believe in a supreme being of any faith or gender. However, in spite of all the "scientific" attempts so far, no one has yet to prove that all of the miracles of the universe were created by accident. Christians, on the other hand, have the written word and promise of salvation by Jesus Christ.

I can only conclude that those people, except to figure ways of making fun of Christianity and other religions, have not thought very much about the promises made when someone believes in a God that doesn't preach that people who are non-believers in him are infidels.