Je suis Charlie? It Depends.
As someone who's been a fan of Mad magazine from the 1970s to the 1990s, I enjoy satire. I also poke fun at people's fashion choices from time to time http://edgeofgloria.blogspot.com/2014/07/tee-arr-eff-fashion-parade.html . I do this anonymously, taking pics of people out in public. I do this as covertly as possible--sometimes, if it's a spectacle, I whip out my camera phone and snap away. As the attack against French publication Charlie Hebdo unfolded, and everyone was claiming "Je suis Charlie", I had to think about that. I find it funny that this leftist weekly was probably getting support from die-hard conservatives in the U.S. I think free speech is important. But, people will push it and either gain notoriety and prison time (think Jim Goad ) or REALLY push it (think Charlie Hebdo ) and end up dying. All for a stupid cartoon. But is it just a stupid cartoon? Have you ever heard of the expression, "you're messing with the wrong people"...