The Pen Is Always Mightier Than The Sword

I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
-Voltaire


The horrific attack on Charlie Hebdo magazine in Paris, France shocks the conscience of the world. Anytime 12 innocent people are murdered in cold blood it is a tragedy beyond words. But the fact that these people were artists and journalists makes it even worse. They didn't sign up to fight on a battlefield. They signed up to write articles and draw pictures.

The massacre wasn't random. It was a carefully orchestrated act of retribution against a satirical magazine because they published cartoons criticizing and mocking Islam. We know this because as the masked murderers fled the scene they told witnesses "We have avenged the Prophet Muhammad."

On the surface, the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo is seen as an attack on free speech, free press and the freedom of expression- and it is. But more broadly, it is an attack on the West. It is a violent condemnation of Western values, Western culture and the Western way of life.

The terrorists' goal wasn't just to avenge Muhammad, it was to scare the West into censoring its views, silencing its freedom of expression. It sent a very terrifying, straight-forward message: we, the terrorists, will decide what you can write and what you can draw, and when you go too far we will kill you for it.

The last thing the West should do is capitulate to extremists. Instead, it must do the opposite: speak out louder and more forcefully than ever before.


TO ARMS, COMPANIONS

One of the biggest points of contention among the media in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo attack rests on whether or not to re-publish the magazine's most offensive cartoons. Many news networks like CNN, NBC & Fox have chosen not to, arguing that they are too "insensitive" for viewers to see.

This is a colossal mistake.

We must publish them all because the failure to do so amounts to nothing more than a raising of the white flag. It represents a surrender to extremism. It hands the terrorists a major literal and figurative victory that they so desperately desire: not only did they terrorize us but they achieved their goal in silencing our free speech as well. A double-win. This is sure to motivate future terrorists to do the same thing because they know it works.

Instead, we must unite. We must stand up to terrorism by making our voices heard, by expressing ourselves freely, more loudly and courageously than ever before. In doing so, we will send the strongest possible rebuke to the terrorists: you may strike some of us down, but we remain unafraid, our values undeterred.


THE PEN IS ALWAYS MIGHTIER

In 1839, English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton coined the phrase "the pen is mightier than the sword." But the idea itself has been around much longer, with some variations of the phrase dating back all the way to 500 BC.

It's a simple message: communication trumps violence.

Sure, swords and guns reign supreme in the present. But the ability to communicate through speech, written word and artistic expression is forever. You can kill a man, but you can't kill an idea.

In this case, the idea is Western philosophy: the universal rights of man, openness, freedom of expression, freedom of speech, equality, the rule of law.

The Charlie Hebdo journalists and cartoonists upheld this idea. We must honor their legacy by proudly exercising our right to speak freely: a right they celebrated, defended and died for.

It's often said that every US drone strike creates 100 new terrorists.

It's my hope that the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo creates 100 million new progressive-thinking people that choose the pen over the sword.