The massacre of cartoonists in Paris has caused widespread sorrow and darkness to a profession that is usually chipper and humorous. Islamic extremists methodically took out cartoonists working for Charlie Hebdo after the cartoonists published a drawing of the Prophet Muhammad. This supposedly angered the group of extremists to the point of violence against unarmed people.

The massacre of these cartoonists has led me to believe that free speech is not as perfect and golden as we think. Yes, we all have the right to say what we want (to some extent) and express ourselves as we wish, but there’s a line that has to be drawn between freedom of speech and obscenity. It’s one thing to poke fun at political pundits or troubled celebrities, but when it comes to blatant disrespect of a religion, that’s taking it too far. From what I’ve seen of Charlie Hebdo’s cartoons, I’d say a decent amount of them are quite controversial. I’m not saying these people deserved to be murdered in cold blood, or the extremists have justification for killing people,  but those who published a cartoon that depicted Muhammad had to have known the problems publishing something that religiously sensitive would cause. People get very into their own religions and as history has shown again and again, those people are ready to defend their religion no matter what it takes.

As for the depiction of a gloomy Charlie Brown character, I believe it is representative of the sadness shared by those who show support for the Charlie Hebdo company. Charlie Brown, which is a young character in the actual cartoon, seems to be middle aged in this rendition, and I believe the reasoning for that is that cartoons are usually synonymous with children, but in this case, cartoons bring out emotions in not children, but adults.

The slogan “Je Suis Charlie” is an obvious coming together of citizens all over the world. I am Charlie is a slogan that has no direct subject, so I am Charlie can mean something to everybody. “I am Charlie Hebdo, I work at the company, and I was directly effected by the massacre” could be the words from an employee at the company. “I am Charlie Hebdo, I am from Paris and I am effected because this is my home” someone could say from the area. Perhaps someone could even say “I am Charlie Hebdo, I am from the United States and I want to show my support”. The slogan could also be a way to explain that if this can happen to Charlie Hebdo for expressing free speech, it can happen to any of us as well. So perhaps the slogan is a call to action too. Either way, the slogan puts out an extremely powerful message to everyone.