11 dead in French satirical magazine shooting

[Jacob]

And while thankfully the levels of physical violence and weaponry are much lower in the academic context, verbal vitriol and nasty backbiting is commonplace.

Henry Kissinger said it much better, though.

But could he write better than Ide, Rushdie or Berkut (in that order)?

I'd rate Berkut and Ide above Rushdie in terms of the raw passion of their prose.

Ide and Rushdie can hit the same levels of flowery inane pretension, but Rushdie does so more consistently.

In terms of clarity, I'd probably have to give a slight edge to Rushdie, though he does have the benefit of editors. However, Ide and Berkut can both express themselves clearly and do so on a regular basis.

As for interesting subject matter, I place Berkut and Ide neck to neck, but ahead of Rushdie.

[Berkut]

Anyone can write better than me.

Well, almost anyone.

I think I am generally very clear in my writing, but take about ten times as many words to get the same message across as many others (and Malthus is actually one person who I admire for being able to say the same thing I am trying to say in a fraction of the space).

This post is a good example of that, in fact.

[Maximus]

You are well-known for your bigotry for French-speaking people in Canada

and thus the joke becomes reality.

[Jacob]

A bit of interesting context on Charlie Hebdo for those of us who aren't French: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/charlie-hebdo-gouaillesatireislamjournalism.html

[Grey Fox]

Fuck You!

or is it Allah Ackbar?

Your latinised arabic is as good as your French irrévérence comprehension skills, Renard Gris.

That is true that I have no idea how to write that properly­.

Languages evolves & spelling changes. It's hard to swallow, I know.

Specially for you, since you are not able to be proficient with any spelling. 
How's your Nouvelle orthographe btw?

Unlearn, my kids are not in school yet. I will start learning it in the fall of 2017.

[Admiral Yi]

A bit of interesting context on Charlie Hebdo for those of us who aren't French: http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2015/1/charlie-hebdo-gouaillesatireislamjournalism.html

How do you get rid of that drop down thingy that blocks the text?

[Malthus]

Yeah, if only Salman Rushdie knew how to write...

So you are making an argument that we shouldn't read what Rushdie actually wrote but we should make allowances and read in something he didn't actually say because you say he is a good writer?  Now that is some twisted logic right there.

By the way, have you ever tried to read one of his books?

Exactly.

[Berkut]

Great article, and it speaks to the point Rushdie was making - someone feeling disrespected is the *inevitable* result of freedom to challenge ideas, especially sacred ones.

Hebdo was in the business of offense as a means to an end. Their entire purpose was to be offensive, to be disrespectful in order to jam down our throats that no cow is so sacred as to be exempt.

I don't doubt that if they had taken aim at some of my cherished ideas, *I* would find it disrespectful - being disrespectful was pretty much the point.

The key to a liberal society is that we are in fact allowed, and even should be encouraged, to look at ideas, all ideas, in a critical manner, and the fear that someone might find your critique "disrespectful" cannot and should not be a check on your willingness to express it.

I don't think we would all be better off if we all acted like Hebdo and set out to piss each other off when discussing things we don't agree on, by any means. Productive discourse happens more often when the people involved try to respect one another's views and positions when held honestly.

[Malthus]

Great article, and it speaks to the point Rushdie was making - someone feeling disrespected is the *inevitable* result of freedom to challenge ideas, especially sacred ones.

Hebdo was in the business of offense as a means to an end. Their entire purpose was to be offensive, to be disrespectful in order to jam down our throats that no cow is so sacred as to be exempt.

I don't doubt that if they had taken aim at some of my cherished ideas, *I* would find it disrespectful - being disrespectful was pretty much the point.

The key to a liberal society is that we are in fact allowed, and even should be encouraged, to look at ideas, all ideas, in a critical manner, and the fear that someone might find your critique "disrespectful" cannot and should not be a check on your willingness to express it.

I don't think we would all be better off if we all acted like Hebdo and set out to piss each other off when discussing things we don't agree on, by any means. Productive discourse happens more often when the people involved try to respect one another's views and positions when held honestly.

I like the way a commentator I cited upthread put it:

1) The right to blaspheme (and otherwise give offense) is essential to the liberal order.

2) There is no duty to blaspheme, a society's liberty is not proportional to the quantity of blasphemy it produces, and under many circumstances the choice to give offense (religious and otherwise) can be reasonably criticized as pointlessly antagonizing, needlessly cruel, or simply stupid.

3) The legitimacy and wisdom of such criticism is generally inversely proportional to the level of mortal danger that the blasphemer brings upon himself.

[Duque de Bragança]

Fuck You!

or is it Allah Ackbar?

Your latinised arabic is as good as your French irrévérence comprehension skills, Renard Gris.

That is true that I have no idea how to write that properly­.

Languages evolves & spelling changes. It's hard to swallow, I know.

Specially for you, since you are not able to be proficient with any spelling. 
How's your Nouvelle orthographe btw?

Unlearn, my kids are not in school yet. I will start learning it in the fall of 2017.

This new spelling has been there for quite a while.

[Grey Fox]

This new spelling has been there for quite a while.

Yes however I haven't been in a class in 10 years.

[Duque de Bragança]

And neither did I, yet i'm familiar with it.

[crazy canuck]

Ok, the Duque wins the spelling contest.  Lets move on.

[Syt]

German "Postillon":

http://www.der-postillon.com/2015/01/terroristen-haben-gewonnen-wir-sagen.html (German)

Under a cartoon drawing of hairy butt cheeks (not sure if SFW everywhere?):

Paris (dpo) - Overwhelming victory for the terrorists who killed twelve people and injured others in the attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo: changing plans, Postillon will not tell their readers which prophet these slightly hairy ass cheeks belong to. The editorial staff will not even announce which religion he's part of.

"Skin color and hairiness allows thousands of conclusions as to the identity and level of holiness of the person shown here," says a Postillon editor who prefers to stay anonymous and is currently residing in an unknown location. "As you can't even see genitalia, it could even be a hairy prophetess, or a prophet with an extremely short penis. It's also possible that the prophet has an erection."

Editors furthermore pointed out that mainstream Christianity alone knows over 50 prophets, depending on interpretation. Manichaeans, Mormons and other religions know many more. The Quran knows at least 25.

Terrorists who consider themselves to be in a Holy War may study the amateurish scribbling by an unknown artist as long as they like. But even if they kiss it they won't learn the identity of the prophet whose ass cheeks are shown here.

[Eddie Teach]

Amazing how Quebec still chooses to be part of a land filled with virulent francophobes like Malthus.