Yapar

Mikail

Assignment argumentative essay 2

1)
Charlie Hebdo, "irresponsible" self-proclaimed newspaper, paid a high price for its freedom.
Employees of the satiric weekly fell in front of armed terrorists, on January 7th. A drama
which indirectly boosted the debate on the freedom of speech, and its possible limits. As a
Muslim, it would be hypocrite to claim I am Charlie . Yet as a human, it is impossible to
accept what happened. Freedom of speech is the right for one to express his thoughts on a
topic, following blindly a group or a mass is not representative of it.

Earlier in this year, a group of terrorist claiming to avenge the prophet Mohammed killed
twelve people at Charlie Hebdos press, in the middle of Paris. This act arose the gathering of
thousands and thousands of people all across the world to fight for freedom of speech that
represented Charlie Hebdo. It is a right that every human in the world has, yet few people
respect. For instance, Many Muslims complain that France aggressively prosecutes antiSemitic slurs, but that they are not protected from similar racist speech. There is a double
standard in which free speech applies to those who mock Islam while Muslims are penalized
for expressing their own provocative views.

Moreover, it is known that Charlie fired a cartoonist who drew antisemetic cartoon. After
all he was just provoking, which is legal and so French. One of the French philosopher Levy
was all for firing this cartoonist, but at the same time for cartoons provoking Muslims in the
name of freedom.

Caricature must be able to deliver a useful message for all those who will see it with
humor. Religions, in this case, must be able to be represented in a caricatured way, without

Yapar
Mikail

necessarily offending believers. If the pencil is a weapon, it is not indispensable to use it as a

mean of provocation.

Nowadays, it is every human's right to express their thoughts. Unfortunately a line has
been drawn, a line that should have never been traced. This line represents the edge of what is
acceptable or not. If one person insults you, you will most likely not appreciate this person. As
mentioned before, when freedom of speech starts to be offensive, it is the moment when this
alleged line is crossed.

In conclusion, freedom of speech is a human right. All humans of this world are allowed to
say whatever their thoughts are. It should not be a matter of religion. Sadly in today's society
a line has appeared with which this ability to say whatever we want is restricted. Voltaire said:
" I disagree strongly whit what you said, but I will stand to the death to allow you to say it".

( Words: 453).