Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Where's the Lead in the Pencil? Mark Steyn
Steyn Online ^ | 14 Jan 2015 | Mark Steyn

Posted on 01/15/2015 12:25:59 PM PST by Rummyfan

The cover of this week's Charlie Hebdo (right) shows Mohammed shedding a tear and holding up a "Je suis Charlie" sign under the headline "Tout est pardonné" - all is forgiven. The illustration is unclear: Is Mohammed forgiving the secular leftie blasphemers? Or are the secular lefties forgiving Mohammed and his murderous believers? The Commentator devotes an editorial to the subject, and finds it "a strange cover" symbolic of "western confusion". On the other hand, Paul Berman in The Tablet thinks "uncertainty lends majesty". On the other other hand, over at Ace of Spades, they think Charlie's staff are mocking hashtag solidarity and "vomiting on all these people who suddenly say they are our friends".

When skilled persons who have never shied away from clarity produce a work whose meaning is unclear, then it is reasonable to assume the unclearness is itself the meaning. The surviving staff at Charlie Hebdo have undergone a week of surreal hellishness, in which their senior colleagues have been murdered for publishing images of Mohammed, and the world is professing its solidarity and egging them on to prove that nothing has changed. In other words, they're expected to produce new images of Mohammed, which may well get them murdered, too.

Meanwhile, no one else is even re-publishing the old Mohammed images, even as your basic Exhibit A in a news story - ie, this is why these guys were killed.

(Excerpt) Read more at steynonline.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: blasphemy; charliehebdo; charliehebdocartoons; charliehebdocover; marksteyn; mohammedcartoons

1 posted on 01/15/2015 12:25:59 PM PST by Rummyfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

To me the image they have on the cover indicates that mohammad and by extension moslems are d*ckheads.


2 posted on 01/15/2015 12:30:57 PM PST by isthisnickcool (NO MORE IRS!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

if this is all we had to go on, it would remain an utter puzzle... however the reported reaction of the cartoonist himself lends a clue.

i think that, in spite of themselves, these secular lefties are finding themselves wishing for a world in which such a thing were possible. even though they know that the closest approach to it is the Christianity they often mock.

i would like to see hebdo, just for fairness sake, do a frank blow by blow comparison between Jesus and mo. i think Jesus would very easily mop the floor with him, from a classiness point of view. but could they bring themselves to do it? is it an ironic article of faith that they must be irreligious?


3 posted on 01/15/2015 12:37:35 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
To me, the meaning is clear. It is mocking those who 'stand with Charlie', the apologetic Islamics who will get enraged all over again for having Mohammed on the cover. Of course, is there a caption that identifies that as the prophet? No? So ANY drawing of an Islamic man is now Mohammed?

Tired of all the ch!ckensh!ts in the media who are too scared to show the covers. They're just fine with showing ones which mock the Pope or others, but Islam.. Well, they'll kill you.

4 posted on 01/15/2015 12:38:27 PM PST by kingu (Everything starts with slashing the size and scope of the federal government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: isthisnickcool

yes, it could be a bitter jab that these murderous extremists could not even come close to being able to do it. and in doing so they inadvertently salute Jesus. who else has preached such a thing?


5 posted on 01/15/2015 12:40:07 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: kingu

possible... that these moderates are actually winking at the destruction, rather than weeping.

irony can go deep sometimes.


6 posted on 01/15/2015 12:41:24 PM PST by HiTech RedNeck (Embrace the Lion of Judah and He will roar for you and teach you to roar too. See my page.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

No one writes with such clarity and bite as Mark Steyn.

No one.


7 posted on 01/15/2015 12:59:12 PM PST by henkster (Do I really need a sarcasm tag?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

bump


8 posted on 01/15/2015 1:04:09 PM PST by Oldeconomybuyer (The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan

Or are the secular lefties forgiving Mohammed and his murderous believers?

...

The outline of the cartoon looks like male genitalia, so I don’t think they are forgiving anyone.


9 posted on 01/15/2015 1:09:04 PM PST by Moonman62 (The US has become a government with a country, rather than a country with a government.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: henkster

P. J. O’Rourke


10 posted on 01/15/2015 1:33:18 PM PST by BBell (breathe easy obey the law)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
Steyn nails it again.

The "bravery" of all these Leftists is nothing but posturing by cowards who will comply with Muslim demands in the end but crave to be known for their "courage" today.

11 posted on 01/15/2015 2:14:01 PM PST by Gritty (Muslims are using the pieties of political correctness to enforce a universal submission-Mark Steyn)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kingu

I will buy the dedication to “free speech” when we see these allegedly blasphemous cartoons everywhere. Here, the NYT, the Washington Post, my local paper. I mean so many sources across the political spectrum the “Bad Guys” don’t know who to bomb or shoot should publish these cartoons.

If they were worth being killed for, they are worth being seen so people know how little many radical Islamics think is worth killing over.

Every paper of any consequence should reprint them. Give the ragheads so many tergets they don’t know where to go. That is free speech at work. We are seeing self-censored, scared like a rabbit press.


12 posted on 01/15/2015 3:51:58 PM PST by Barkeep99
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Rummyfan
...

For a while, nothing much will change. American TV won't show the Charlie Hebdo cover out of sensitivity to its Muslim viewers, but it will show an act of analingus featuring NBC anchor Brian Williams' daughter. [CORRECTED FROM EARLIER MISAPPREHENSION] That's also insensitive to Muslim viewers, but no one has yet blown up the cast of "Girls", so enjoy it while you can:

According to cast member Alex Karpovsky, there's a sexual revolution evolving this year, and this episode may be a representation of what to expect in the future of television.

"Maybe that's one of the cliffs or peaks that we need to begin to incorporate into our societal representation of this revolution, specifically in television. This could be the year of the anus," he said.

Indeed. It may be harder to get Hollande and Merkel and certainly Mahmoud Abbas to parade through the streets for it, but I would say that 2015 is more likely to be the Year of the Anus than the year of free speech.

Spread the word: #JeSuisUnAnus!

OHMIGAWD!

13 posted on 01/16/2015 4:25:24 AM PST by Rummyfan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson