Dr. Carl Trueman writes:
Then, there is the ideological quandary in which the Left now finds itself. Militant Islam represents everything the historic Left should despise: a patriarchal feudalism which treats women like chattels and uses the full force of law against homosexuals. But Islam also represents the repudiation of the West, especially of America. It also draws its strength from being able to play the ethnicity card. Not all Muslims are people of color but the majority are, making criticism of Islam vulnerable to accusations not only of Western imperialism but also racism. This is why some on the bien pensant Left have taken the view that the French satirical magazine was asking for it, because it had a track record of lampooning Islam and Muslims. That is hate speech, though not as harmful or indeed as hateful, as putting a bullet through somebody's head.
Given all this, it makes perfect sense that the enemies of democracy and classic liberalism would strike at a satirical magazine. Satire has often been the first and most discerning enemy of power and tyranny which is why it is so hated by the powerful and the tyrannical. And it is also thrives upon the most basic of liberal freedoms, that of speech. Think of Karl Kraus and his satirizing of the Nazis. Think of those who in the West today are most subversive of politically correct pieties: is it not the great satirists who simply refuse to allow the great and the good to take themselves seriously without challenge?
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