Charlie Hebdo is the French magazine which was the target of last week’s horrific terror attack in which twelve people were murdered. But this was not the first time that the journal has been attacked. Just 4 years ago, the office was firebombed by Muslim extremists, enraged at the satirical magazine’s depiction of the Prophet Mohammed. At the time, the Paris Bureau Chief for Time Magazine, Bruce Crumley, published a surprising column.
Here is what he said about the French magazine’s cartoons critical of Islam in an article entitled “Firebombed French Paper is No Free Speech Martyr:”
Not only are Islamophobic antics (his description of Charlie Hebdo’s political cartoons) futile and childish, but they also openly beg for the very violent responses from extremists their authors claim to proudly defy in the name of common good. What common good is served by creating more division and anger, and by tempting belligerent reaction?
For most of the world, the “common good” of free expression is well understood. But Crumley, speaking for Time, felt that the French Magazine should have refrained from publishing materials that might offend people. It’s a shocking perspective from a journalist. Does he believe that the media should only publish ideas that everyone agrees with? Or is it just Islam that he thinks must be protected from critical speech?
But Crumley doesn’t see it that way. He shrugged his shoulders at the bombing and wrote:
It’s hard to have much sympathy for the French satirical newspaper firebombed this morning, after it published another stupid and totally unnecessary edition mocking Islam.
While the ashes of the office were still smoldering, he made the snide comment:
good luck with those charcoal drawings your pages will now be featuring.
Now, there will be no more drawings, no more political commentary in the form of cartoons, no more materials that might offend Muslims. The majority of the editors and cartoonists are dead, murdered for daring to speak out.
Around the world, people are identifying with the magazine claiming “Je Suis Charlie” (We are all Charlie.) The global outcry is because most people understand that extremist, intolerant attitudes are exactly the attitudes that deserve to be ridiculed. But back in 2011, it was Charlie Hebdo that Crumley accused of being in the wrong.
So where is Crumley today? Apparently he left Time Magazine and now works for Al-Jezeera, one of the only prominent news organizations whose staff is currently debating whether the French Magazine deserves support or condemnation for taking the stand for which so many of its staff paid the ultimate price.
Bruce Crumley, you may not be Charlie… But the rest of us are.
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