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Is Charlie Hebdo Committed to Free Speech?
Assuming that free speech exists
The world was outraged when a Baptist minister celebrated the killing of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida in 2016. Americans spoke in a largely unified voice, condemning the remarks of Pastor Roger Jimenez of Verity Baptist Church as hateful and extremist.
But Charlie Hebdo didn’t receive the same condemnation when it celebrated the Turkey-Syria earthquake that killed not only 49, but 50,000 people, leaving many more homeless.
The latest cartoon by artist Pierrick Juin is captioned “Earthquake in Turkey,” and shows heaps of rubble and collapsing buildings, along with a second caption: “Don’t even need to send tanks.”
No French or Western official accused Hebdo of promoting hate. No one called on Juin to resign. Some have defended Hebdo’s cartoon as “free speech”.
Why is Pierrick Juin a free-speech champion while Roger Jimenez is not?
Is it free speech or hypocrisy that exists?
