There is a satire news outlet in Paris, France known as Charlie Hebdo. They are known for being very outspoken and unafraid to share their opinions on nearly everything, no matter how controversial they may be. They were notorious and commonly seen as quite raunchy and dirty, as well as unprofessional. Unfortunately, they happened to offend some people who decided to do something rather terrible about it.

On Jan. 7, two gunmen armed with assault rifles pulled up in front of the building that housed the Charlie Hebdo offices. They forced one of the employees to open the front door and then proceeded inside. They found the offices and proceeded to gun down eight journalists, two police officers, a visitor and a caretaker; totaling 12 victims at Charlie Hebdo alone.

The men who committed this act were Islamic extremists who had been offended by the newspaper’s repeated depictions of the Prophet Muhammad, as depictions of the Prophet are banned under Islam. They were later identified and chased through France until they were shot and killed on Jan. 9 by law enforcement. The act of terrorism drove France’s alert system “Vigipirate” to its highest level. The attacks committed are the deadliest acts of terrorism in France since the bombing of the Vitry-Le-François train station in 1961.

Many countries have condemned these attacks and stated that they are “barbaric.” Cartoonists and publications all across the world are putting in their statements on the events and are condemning such actions. They are hoping that by spreading the word, and showing that they aren’t afraid of these men, something like this will never happen again. The people of France joined in these efforts with peaceful demonstrations, holding signs that said “Je Suis Charlie” which means “I am Charlie” in French. They did these to demonstrate that they did not fear the people who did this and would rally against them.

[A newspaper] should not have to fear someone kicking in their door and murdering them for speaking their mind.

This attack raises a lot of the same issues we’ve been hearing about for years now, but this is now considered bigger because it was pulled off in the heart of France. This strike was close to home and in a very populated area, and raised many security questions for France, which have been responded to with increased military occupation in the city of Paris.

The main issue people are debating is the freedom of speech. It has been said that a paper such as Charlie Hebdo, no matter how disliked or vulgar it may be, should have the right to voice their thoughts and opinions without fear of persecution. This violent response puts a hamper on such voices, and many fear the censorship of papers in order to avoid such events, which they state is letting the attackers win.

The events that occurred in Paris are truly tragic. A newspaper, while it may have been controversial, should not have to fear someone kicking in their door and murdering them for speaking their mind. The saddest thing is that this only increases stereotypes and fear of people who follow Islam. With these extremists committing these atrocities, people tend to forget that the very large majority of Islamic people are just that; people. They are no different than someone who follows Christianity or any other religion. They are people with a different belief system who do not desire conflict. No one wants to live in constant fear. The important thing to take away from this is to be sure we focus on the fact that these men were extremists who were working for a specific organization, and  not represent the entire Islamic population.

There is a similar situation with police right now, since there are videos all over the internet showing “dirty” or “crooked” cops. Don’t forget that for every video of a bad police officer, there are hundreds to thousands more who do their job every day to protect us. This goes the same for someone who is Muslim. For every video or news article you see of extremists, there are so many more who are just trying to go about their daily lives and not be persecuted for their religion. We’re all just people in the end, and we have to work together to make this world a place we want to live in.

-Cameron MacDonald