Comic: Bermudez Shorts
Je suis Charlie
Wednesday, three masked gunmen walked into the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and killed 10 staffers and two police officers.
The attackers reportedly yelled out that Mohammed had been avenged. It broke my heart to learn about this tragic event, but I realized that these terrorists failed. They attacked a publication that was built and fueled by ideas.
As is the case with most extremist fundamentalists, they were incredibly short-sighted in their approach. They did manage to massacre the people in that office, but they failed to kill their ideas or to silence their voice.
They tried to destroy the idea that people can mock religion. More specifically their religion. If anything, now more of the world is aware of Charlie Hebdo and what they do. Their voice actually got louder and their audience has grown exponentially. The two terrorists actually helped the publication prove their point about religious extremists.
Ideas can not be shot, cut, stabbed, blown up or beaten. Neither Zeus, Thor, Jesus, Allah nor any other deity can kill an idea, let alone ignorant fundamentalists with AKs. Je suis Charlie.