To ask you to circulate this photo

[DreamingofSummer]

Je Suis Charlie

They target lots of religions. Not just Islam. Words/cartoons are one thing, mass murder is another. The first is peaceful, the second is unessessary deadly violence.

Alan Henning didn't publish any cartoons and wasn't offensive, nor was Lee Rigby, James Foley or any of the others who were painfully murdered

I fully agree and I am certainly not trying to excuse what has happened. there is no excuse for terrorism from any religion, political party or individual. Apologies if that is how it sounded.

Can't muster up sympathy? For 12 people shot? Oh dear, oh dear, oh double oh dear.

If someone deeply offended me, I wouldn't kill them.

What has transpired today has as much to do about a cartoon as rape has to do with what a victim was wearing.

FightOrFlight. Would you kill someone if they offended your belief?

I am not religious but I do try to show respect for those who are. There's enough hatred in this world without stirring up more. The whole situation is so bloody tragic

I didn't manage to produce a whole lot of extra emotion when Princess Diana died either, I obviously need help

Can't muster up sympathy? For 12 people shot? Oh dear, oh dear, oh double oh dear.

Was that aimed at me? If so, please go back and read my original comments.

If they don't like seeing visual representations of their Prophet they are free by law to NOT READ the magazine which prints them. This "they are offensive so they must die" angle is clown-shoes-looney BULLSHIT.

ah, fast moving thread - just realised it wasn't aimed at me (me MEEE!)

"Can't muster up much sympathy"...???!!! Really??

'No excuse for violence, but...'

Like Nerf said Barbour 'no excuse for rape, but...', 'no excuse for murder, but...'.

They drew a fucking picture!

Now 12 of them are dead.

I'm sure even if you could muster up a bit of sympathy it wouldn't have been much use to the family and friends they left behind.

Britain has always showed contempt and irreverence for politics and religion, that's not bullying, it's democracy.

FightOrFlight I apologise, I expressed myself badly.

What I meant by "submissive kowtowing" was that as much as I acknowledge the cartoon was offensive, that doesn't give an unhinged person the right to murder you if you offend them. I don't want to live in fear, walking on eggshells - I believe that having one's actions dictated through the agency of fear of a belief system is different from respecting other cultures.

Yes, there is too much violence in the world, other cultures should be respected and this an absolute tragedy.

It's just a little close to home for me - imagine somewhere that you know really, really well, where a family member lives. Let's say, oh four tube stops away? Then you learn that three people, fresh from murdering twelve people then travelled to less than a five minute walk away from this exact spot. To somewhere you've passed countless times, that you can close your eyes and see. Where your husband was very recently.

It's going to make me see that street differently the next time I pass it, which is probably an overreaction.

FWIW I tend to agree with all the PP's who said that it was just a fucking picture. Not worth murdering twelve people over.

FWIW I tend to agree with all the PP's who said that it was just a fucking picture. Not worth murdering twelve people over

Totally agree. Sadly there was someone in the UK axed to death on NYE over an argument about a cigarette. There will always be unhinged people who walk amongst us.

It must be especially shocking for you to be so close to what has happened. My thoughts are with the families and all affected by this tragic and senseless situation x

My thoughts are with the families and all affected by this tragic and senseless situation x

Thank you.

I think we all agree it's NU to show solidarity with Charlie for these twelve who have died senselessly, their families, friends and loved ones.

I am all in favour of free speech but...
Absolutely NO excuse for what has happened but...

There can be no room for such 'but' arguments when 12 journalists have been murdered in cold blood. In such a situation you are either in support of free speech or you are against it. There is no 'I support free speech but...' when something extreme like this happens. Journalists NEVER deserve to be shot dead at their desks at work, there is no 'but' here. It does not depend on what they wrote or what pictures they drew. There is no space here for clever nuanced arguments about whether you liked the cartoons or not, or your views about culture. In this situation, on the facts of this situation, those journalists ABSOLUTELY did not deserve to be shot dead NO MATTER how offensive their cartoons were or were not.

If you went to work on January 7 and came back home alive, nobody came to shoot you at your desk because they were offended by a joke you made, then think about those journalists and drop the 'but but but'. It was wrong to post the cartoon on here with a 'but look at this' as if we are supposed to look at it and say 'ok, that cartoon is offensive so it was understandable to shoot the journalist who drew it'. FFS.

Yes, I have linked this many times. Yes, I will continue to do so. My heart is with the families of those that lost their lives today.

This affects me deeply as I worked in a business where two of my colleagues where shot and killed because of the controversial nature of our services. It was the most frightening day of my life. Twenty years later I still have an exaggerated startle reflex and cannot be in a room where I can't see a clear exit.

Extremism of any sort is fearsome.

No excuse for violence, but I can't really muster up much sympathy here.

Here's another utterly foolish 'but...' argument. This is not about sympathetic feelings at all or whether you're a weepy type of person. It is nothing to do with whether you didn't even cry for Diana, don't be ridiculous. Everybody who goes to work deserves to come home alive at the end of the day and not get SHOT at their desk because somebody is unhappy with what they have said or done.

OP is not asking you to shed useless tears, OP is asking everyone to stand in solidarity with the slain journalists and make a statement for a free society where people who make nasty (?) jokes are not executed for it.

There is no but argument that will ever be valid here.

Barbour- shame on you.

This could have been any of us and/or any of the people we see nightly on TV satirising politics. It could have been fucking David Mitchell. That's how insane this is.

We are lucky enough to have freedom of speech, freedom to worship who/whatever we want should we choose to do so, etc. The pay off is that there will always be someone you don't agree with and who, quite possibly, offends you with what they say, what they believe. The alternative is censorship and a repressive state.

What we have isn't perfect, but I know what I prefer.

More cartoons...

www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesthis/heartbreaking-cartoons-from-artists-in-response-to-the-ch#.gu8wVpXg6V

I don't understand some of the comments on this thread. Of course circulating this picture will not bring back the victims whose lives were lost. But as a show of solidarity, it is very powerful IMO.

After 9/11, I remember Le Monde running a headline "Nous sommes tous Americains." I found it profoundly moving to know that people all over the world were expressing support and sympathy in the wake of that dreadful attack. The "I am Charlie" campaign provides a similar sort of response: support, solidarity, unity.

I am Charlie. Nous sommes tous Charlie.

The 'of course it's terrible but...' comments on here are really fucking depressing.