Charlie Hebdo Argumentative Essay

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On the morning of 7 January 2015, Cherif and Said Kouachi killed 12 people and injured 11 others during their attack on the offices of French magazine Charlie Hebdo. The Charlie Hebdo shooting, which was directed by Islamist terrorist group Al-Qaeda, has brought up pertinent questions with regard to the freedoms of expression within the French society.

France, being a society staunchly undergirded by secular views, has seen irreverent magazines like Charlie Hebdo blaspheming certain religions without any government response. However, after the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo, French authorities aggressively enforced laws against supporting or justifying terrorism, arresting those who praised the Charlie Hebdo shooting. Some argue that therein lies a double standard as the government is not consistently secular – nothing is done to prevent Charlie Hebdo’s religiously offensive publications, while arrests are carried out when people support terrorism towards a religiously offensive magazine. Should the government not apply the same yardstick when dealing with these two groups, since they are both religiously motivated? If the French government is truly secular, should it not be accepting towards both groups? From the outset, this argument seems convincing. …show more content…

Acts that cause harm to others should not be tolerated, and terrorism not only causes direct physical harm, it often brings about fatal consequences too. When religion is used as an excuse to create harm and hurt other members of a community, it is deemed to have gone out-of-bounds. As such, the French government has rightfully stepped in to send a clear message that religious fundamentalism and terrorism are not tolerated in a

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