Je ne suis pas Charlie Hebdo

Do I have to actually say I deplore a terrorist act?   Do I have to make a point of condemning Islamic extremism, intolerance, and violence?  Is that the price of free speech these days, that people are forced to say the most baldly obvious things?

Oh very well.  Yes to all that.  But please, don't force me to shed crocodile tears over Charlie Hebdo.  I have no idea what purpose it served in the world other than to mock religious people.   Have you seen its cartoons?  Would anything of that coarse quality been featured in an American publication?  Did anyone actually read this thing?  Perhaps the greatest tragedy of this senseless crime was giving unwarrented dignity and meaning to a worthless French fish wrap.

And really, is this the best Charlie could do?



Meanwhile, 17 Nigerians died from a suicide bomber, aged ten.  But none of them were important cartoonists, just people.  Say a prayer for them, and for the Charlie Hebdo victims, and the French policewoman doing her job.