Financial Times Calls Charlie Hebdo ‘Stupid’ for ‘Provoking Muslims’

Mediaite.com:

Hours after 12 editors and cartoonists at the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were executed by Islamic extremists, the Financial Times‘s editorial board published a strongly-worded editorial criticizing the magazine for their “editorial foolishness.”

“If the magazine stops just short of outright insults, it is nevertheless not the most convincing champion of the principle of freedom of speech,” the London paper wrote (subscription only), noting Charlie Hebdo‘s long history of needling Muslims, Catholics, Jews, and pretty much everyone in existence. But they added: “France is the land of Voltaire, but too often editorial foolishness has prevailed at Charlie Hebdo.”

They continued:

This is not in the slightest to condone the murderers, who must be caught and punished, or to suggest that freedom of expression should not extend to satirical portrayals of religion. It is merely to say that some common sense would be useful at publications such as Charlie Hebdo, and Denmark’s Jyllands-Posten, which purport to strike a blow for freedom when they provoke Muslims, but are actually just being stupid.

The Financial Times added that their actions, and the resulting terrorist attack, would only serve to stoke anti-Islamic sentiment in France. “Anti-Islamism forms part of the electoral appeal of a party that topped the polls in May in France’s European Parliament elections,” they noted.

Charlie Hebdo‘s offices were firebombed in 2011 for publishing an image of the Prophet Muhammad as its “guest editor” on its cover, right around the time that Innocence of Muslims sparked mass protests for its offensive portrayal of Muslims.

I agree. As a black man, sure I have the right to walk back-n-forth around a town loaded with Klu Klux Klanmen in the middle of the day, but is that a good idea? No it isn't. These radical fundamentalists have recently shown that they no problem killing children in the name of whatever deity they claim to serve. You think risking your life to go out of your way to continually make fun of Allah is ever a good idea? You're stupid enough to think there won't be any repercussions esp. after they already warned you not to do it again. Not to condone this atrocity in any, way shape or form...but common f-cking sense people.

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Richard Martinez, California Shooting Victim’s Father Goes Off on ‘Idiots’ in Congress: ‘Have We Learned Nothing’ Since Newtown?

As long as you have extremists on both sides, more interested in their self-serving ideology than actually saving lives, the chances on there being any significant change on gun control in the near future is between nil and none. That being said, maybe somebody should hip Richard Martinez to the Safe to Tell Hotline, now instituted in Colorado, as an answer--considering all the videos/red flags this killer/idiot/coward gave out before he went on his mass shooting spree, perhaps Safe to Tell could've worked in this situation and prevented the deaths of the innocent lives now lost:

Following his impassioned words against the NRA during Saturday afternoon’s press conference, Richard Martinez, father of Chris Martinez, one of the people shot and killed by Elliot Rodger Friday evening, spoke to CNN about his loss and what he plans to do to help prevent even more incidents like this one.

“He’s our only child and he died on Friday. I’m 61 years old now. I’ll never have another child and he’s gone,” Martinez said through tears. “So the reason I’m doing this to try to see if we can do anything to make my son’s death mean something. Because that’s all we have got.”

Martinez castigated the media for focusing on the shooter while ignoring the victims. “If there’s all these things in the media about the shooter, and there’s nothing about the victims, then it sends the wrong message and the people need to understand that real people died here,” he said. 

When he was asked about Congress’ lack of action on guns following the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, Martinez asked in return, “What kind of message does it send to the world when we have such a rudderless bunch of idiots in government? I can’t tell you how angry I am it’s just awful!”

He continued, growing more heated and hysterical with every word:

“What has changed? Have we learned nothing? These things are going to continue until somebody does something, so where the hell is the leadership? Where the hell are these people we elect to Congress that we spend so much money on? These people are getting rich sitting in Congress, what do they do? They don’t take care of our kids.

My kid died because nobody responded to what happened at Sandy Hook. Those parents lost little kids. It’s bad enough that I lost my 20-year-old, but I had 20 years with my son, that’s all I’ll have. But those people lost their children at six and seven years old. How do you think they feel? And who’s talking to them now? Who is doing anything for them now? Who is standing up for those kids that died back then in an elementary school? Why wasn’t something done? It’s outrageous!”

As the video shows, Martinez continued to rail against a system that he believes failed to protect his son along with so many others, but, for now, CNN cut away to commercial.

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