I think the shooting of Charlie Hebdo raises all sorts of issues: about the rights of free speech, acceptance between cultures, and the extremists that live in our society. On one hand, Charlie Hebdo’s political cartoons offended many of the Muslims living in France and some could say he brought the attack on himself. On the other hand, Charlie Hebdo had the right to free speech and, of course, no one deserves to be killed by a terrorist. I think the main point of this tragedy is we need to promote general acceptance between cultures today. If Charlie Hebdo had not felt the need to write political cartoons that depicted Muslim beliefs in a negative light, he would not have sparked the attention of Muslim extremists. Similarly, by teaching young people in our society to accept others for who they are, extremists might not have as easy of a time recruiting members. Perhaps I am oversimplifying the situation, but if people were taught to seek friendship with each other despite differences, violence and hatred of people from different religions and cultures would not exist, or at least would not be as common.
