There appears to be some misunderstanding about my recent post on Charlie Hebdo. Apparently it is being taken as dismissing the courage and decency of the Hebdo authors, or somehow saying that they brought their fate on themselves.
Let me make something clear: the Hebdo authors are amongst some of the bravest in the world, and are willing to stand up where far too many kneel. I have nothing but the highest respect for them.
I wrote that post in something of a state of shock, because – from the excerpts that were then available – I’d only come across them attacking “fear of Islam” as “cretinous, absurd and lots of other things but it is not a crime.”
What shocked me is that decent and brave people could manage to get something so wrong.
I’m very glad, now that I have read the full letter, that it is in line with what we’ve really come to expect from Hebdo. For this reason, I’m taking down the old post.
