Editorial: The attempted murder of free expression
There is a conventional wisdom that says that terrorism wins only when we give in to it.
That, most assuredly, is something Charlie Hebdo did not do.
Today, in the wake of the heartache, fear and anger of the last several days in Paris, are there lessons to be drawn from that? Is there sense to be made out of self-styled martyrs, decried even by Hezbollah, whose only real accomplishments were widespread grief?
Look, Charlie Hebdo was never our particular cup of tea. Since the massacre that took place there Wednesday, it's been described repeatedly in media shorthand as a newspaper, but that's a bit like calling "The Daily Show" a newscast.
Better descriptions would be satirical, irreverent, offensive, outrageous, anti-religious, provocative.
There's one more word you could use to describe it: Unafraid.
This was a publication that spit in the eye of terrorism and seemed to revel in doing so even when the French authorities warned of the fuse it could be lighting.
There are journalists, some in our own newsroom, who don't see the staff of Charlie Hebdo as colleagues, who find the publication's work to be so distasteful as to wish to be disassociated from it. But freedom of expression isn't freedom only to be agreeable. It is true freedom only if it is a freedom to be disagreeable, too.
Unpopular ideas get a full airing only if that is so. Entrenched ideas get a proper challenge only if that is so.
The progress of civilization has been based on those two responsibilities.
Some unpopular ideas turn out to be right but not all are; full airings reveal them for what they are. Many entrenched ideas are right but some are wrong; sound ones survive the challenge.
Freedom of expression is at the heart of this, which is why our society cherishes the First Amendment and must continue to do so.
Which is why we honor the courage of its many practitioners, the many believers of freedom who risk and sacrifice and toil on its behalf.
How do we make sense of the murders at Charlie Hebdo?
It's difficult to make sense of them. Ultimately, they represent one more heartbreaking battle in a long and anguished war between liberty and intolerance.
We endure, as we said at the beginning, by not giving in. By maintaining our vigilance. By practicing tolerance. By valuing free thought and expression.
By steadfastly remaining unafraid.
How do we make sense of the murders at Charlie Hebdo? The best answer may be the one that comic Jon Stewart provided his "Daily Show" audience Wednesday night:
"Our goal tonight is not to make sense of this because there is no sense to be made of it. Our goal is to keep going."