Speech comes with responsibility

The recent incident at the offices of Charlie Hebdo is truly a tragedy. I do strongly believe in the right to freedom of expression. However, we must remember that with great power comes great responsibility, and the ability to express oneself freely is nothing if not great power.

My junior high government teacher taught us something that has always stuck with me: You have the right to free speech, but that doesn’t mean you can yell “fire” in a crowded theater (if there is no fire). Just because you have the right to do something doesn’t always mean that you should.

The people at Charlie Hebdo knew that depictions of Muhammad were against Muslim law and that such images disrespect Islam and infuriate many Muslims. They also knew that there are extremist Muslims who will take severe measures to avenge such disrespect.

I think what some of the Charlie Hebdo staff did is analogous to poking a hornet’s nest with a stick. Everyone knows that doing that is bound to make the hornets mad. So why is anyone surprised that some people at Charlie Hebdo got stung?

Debra Miller

Hayden