January
3, 2016
New York Post
One year ago this
week, Islamic terrorists attacked the French satirical magazine
Charlie Hebdo, killing 12,
including editor-in-chief Stéphanie Carbonnier, known by his pen
name Charb. But his words live on. On Tuesday, Charb’s “Open
Letter: On Blasphemy, Islamophobia and the True Enemies of Free
Expression” (Little, Brown and Company) hits bookshelves, with a
spirited defense on the right to mock. A taste:
If tomorrow some terrorist claiming to be a Buddhist
wreaks havoc on the planet, we will be asked above all not to
portray instigators of such violence for fear of stirring up
Buddhists the world over.
And if the next day a vegetarian terrorist threatens
to kill anyone who dares assert that our taste buds delight in
meat, we will be required to respect the carrot just as we are
required to respect the brotherhood of prophets of the three
monotheistic religions.
…Eminent, terrorized intellectuals, moralizing old
clowns and half-witted journalists have, in all earnestness,
questioned whether it was wise to publish the cartoons of Muhammad
“in the current environment.”
The censors no longer want anything to do with this
whore called free expression. No discussion whatsoever!
Self-censorship has become a major art form in France.
So long as the biggest jerk in the Taliban is unable
to understand my art, I refuse to express myself — is that
it?
To suggest that only the imams and faithful are
permitted to mention the Koran, the prophet or God without lapsing
into Islamophobia is to play right into the hands of the most
radical Islamists. And in giving credence only to the voices of the
extremists, we are doing nothing but creating hatred for
Islam.