Wednesday, January 07, 2015

Thoughts on the Charlie Hebdo Attack

Being a part of this world means living with things you disagree with. The way to combat bad ideas is with better ideas. These are the twin thoughts swirling in my head as I've struggled to take in the totality of the terrible news of this morning's attack in Paris, ostensibly carried out by militant Muslims "defending" Islam's Prophet Muhammad from the poison pens of political cartoonists and caricaturists.

Now, to be clear, as a Muslim I find such portrayals offensive and often unnecessary. And, to be equally clear, my sense of self isn't so fragile that it can't withstand folks taking potshots at my faith. In other words, I get over it and get on with it. Yes, the target of this attack, France's long-running satire magazine Charlie Hebdo has often been critical of religion in general, Islam in particular, and Prophet Muhammad even more particular still. So are a lot of other people.

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