After the Charlie Hebdo Massacre in January 2014, Glossy News published many Hebdo-related pieces; and even later on, as well! Some of the material was commentary; but we also had our usual funny ‘fake news’ stories, and various other humorous material. See the reading list following today’s anniversary editorial on Charlie Hebdo.
Quite a variety, as you will shortly see!
There were also some bloggers and even some media outlets, who had the courage and integrity to reprint the cartoons; either in the immediate aftermath, or later on (perhaps around commemoration time in January every year, for example). For example, I reprinted them in Satirical-Industrial Complex.
Of course, I don’t have an exhaustive list of such individuals and publications. Still, here are a few; but please note that I am, of course, omitting anything I deem to be a ‘hate site.’ Let’s never forget that Muslims are not the enemy; jihadists are the enemy.
So, as with everything else, the motivation and the underlying moral or ethical principles do have to be taken into consideration, when evaluating any particular case of republication.
Hence, the EDL, Pegida, Britain First, UKIP, National Front (UK), Front National (France), Ku Klux Klan and various white nationalist and alt-right kooks (USA & all over the Twittersphere) will have very different motivations at stake from true liberals and conservatives and socialists and other mainstream figures who genuinely place a high value on freedom of speech.
Opportunism is rife.
And yet, a principled republication is a truly courageous, indeed audacious act.
As Orwell would no doubt be inclined to say if he were with us today:
In times of trial, satirizing with authenticity, courage and integrity is a truly revolutionary act.
Wallace