If you really want to know the winner in the France’s most brutal slaughter in 50-years, it has to be Charlie Hebdo itself. Ask yourself: do you know who is Charlie Hebdo prior to the mass killings? You may try to act smart and answer that Charlie Hebdo could be a comedian or Justin Bieber’s stepbrother. In reality, nobody would have give a damn about this Charlie guy but thanks to three stupid Islamic terrorists, it was a free advertising for Charlie Hebdo.

 

In a latest twist not to surrender (unlike the cowardice shown by Sony Pictures) to the threat of terrorists, Charlie Hebdo magazine will publish 1 million copies next Wednesday instead of its usual 60,000. However, the paper will be 8-pages long instead of its usual 16. That’s a cool 1,566% increase in publications and potential revenue. According to its columnist Patrick Pelloux, the mission is to show that “stupidity will not win”.

In case you didn’t know, Charlie Hebdo was founded in 1970, and got its name from the American comic book character Charlie Brown from the series “Peanuts” (with “Hebdo” being French slang for weekly). Unlike other magazines, the cartoon-reliant newspaper sells by provoking readers over current events with irreverent cartoons taking potshots at everything from celebrities, presidents, the Pope, Islamic radicals and religions.

 

Financially, Charlie Hebdo wasn’t really profitable and has recently launched an appeal for donations to keep the business going. Now that majority of its cartoonists have been brutally murdered, the French couldn’t be more united than since Napolean Bonarparte’s revolution. Google is reportedly donating £250,000 (US$380,000; RM1.35 million) to the satirical French magazine. Money is the last thing Charlie should be worry, for now.

So, you see, Charlie Hebdo was not such an influential and powerful magazine at all, judging by it’s pathetic 60,000 circulation. That’s a small drop in the ocean of 66 million France population. And it’s not even half of Malaysian most racist and extreme newspaper Utusan Malaysia, which had roughly 178,000 circulation in 2013. Only idiots would make a mountain out of a molehill. But these idiots did help catapult Charlie Hebdo to the world map.

 

Seriously, does Charlie Hebdo only insult the Islam? Obviously not. They target everything under the sun – Jesus, Prophet Muhammad and even Michael Jackson. Depending whether you’ve a sense of humour and could see through the provocative message, you may laugh or become a terrorist. Here’re top-10 Charlie Hebdo supposedly controversial and insulting caricature, and judge for yourself if the magazine only targets Islam.

 

{ 1 }  Sharia Hebdo (2011)	Toying with the similar pronunciations of “Charlie” and “Sharia” in French, Charlie Hebdo renamed its Nov. 2nd issue as “Charia Hebdo”, and announced the Prophet Muhammad as a “guest editor”.   In the cartoon, Muhammed says, “100 lashes if you don’t die of laughter!”. The issue triggered hacking to Charlie Hebdo’s website and replaced with “No God but Allah”. The offices were also firebombed.
{ 2 }  Love (2011)	This Charlie Hebdo’s December cover shows a Muslim man kissing a Charlie Hebdo cartoonist with a message that reads “Love is stronger than hate”.
{ 3 }  Michael Jackson (2009)	Ashamed of being black, Michael Jackson had wished he was a white. After Michael Jackson’s death in 2009, Charlie Hebdo mocked him – he got what he’d always wanted.
{ 4 }  A Celebrity (2006)	Charlie Hebdo attacked the French television network TF1 for picking up an American reality shows. The covers says, “TF1’s latest in reality TV” and features a crucified Jesus yelling, “I’m a celebrity – get me out of here!”
{ 5 }  Veiled (2007)	Charlie Hebdo proved it does not discriminate, with equal opportunity for everyone. In this special cover, it published cartoons depicting a Jew, the Pope and an Islamic fundamentalist shouting “Charlie Hebdo must be veiled”
{ 6 }  DSK for President (2011)	When Dominique Strauss-Kahn arrested in New York on charges of sexual harassment, it caused a tsunami in French politics, and an idea to Charlie Hebdo.   The director of IMF (International Monetary Fund) had been a leading candidate for the French presidency in 2012. In this July cover, Charlie Hebdo celebrated it with DSK parading through shower of condoms.
{ 7 }  Pope Goes Too Far (2010)	Charlie Hebdo has been mocking the Catholic Church for many times. But after Pope Benedict XVI contradicted himself with numerous confusing statements about approval of condom use to prevent disease, the magazine mocked him with this cover.   It depicted the Pope holding a Durex condom declaring “This is my body!”. The headline reads, “The Pope goes too far”
{ 8 }  Look, No Hands (2001)	In 2001, just months after the infamous deadly September-11 attacks, it ran this issue featuring Osama Bin Laden bragging about carrying out the attacks with “no hands.”
{ 9 }  Birth of Jesus (2014)	Is it too sensitive to talk about Jesus? Not to Charlie Hebdo and in this cover, it shows the true history of baby Jesus.
{ 10 }  Sex Scandal (2010)	The Pope tells a bishop to “Go into movies, like Polanski…” A comment referring to sex scandals in the Catholic Church.   Roman Polanski, a film director, had been long accused of rape of a 13-year-old American girl. He fled to France and avoided visiting countries likely to extradite him to the United States.

 

Other Articles That May Interest You …

• Charlie Hebdo Slaughter – The Last Straw That Broke The Camel’s Back?
• World Cartoonists Strike Back – With More Je Suis Charlie Cartoons
• Obama’s Hanging With The Wrong Crowd – Najib Praises Terrorists While His Boy Hails Hitler
• Mahathir vs Najib – Feng Shui vs Black Magic
• Hail Cyber Terrorism, Sony-Hollywood Surrenders Tamely To North Korea
• Meet Major Mariam, The First UAE Female Top Gun Who’s Bombing ISIS
• Now Everyone Can Fly … Into Malaysia Undetected

Tweet

January 9th, 2015 by financetwitter

If you enjoyed this post, what shall you do next? Consider: