Dream Dumpster

Charlie Hebdo is not a magazine I would normally read. Don’t get me wrong – I love satire, which is not necessarily what Charlie Hebdo does. Satire, to be affective, needs to offend for the purpose of making us think deeper. At times Charlie Hebdo does succeed in showing the absurdity of power relationships through its cartoons, but more often then not, it seems to offend for the sake of developing a niche market that might prove profitable. And yet, based on their financial difficulties, it seems their brand of humor has not been all that popular.

I too have found Charlie Hebdo’s irreverent portrayal of religious symbols offensive. A cartoon of toilet paper marked “Bible,” “Torah” and “Quran” with the caption: “In the toilet all religions,” does not engender meaningful conversations concerning the complexities and nuances of individuals who claim a spiritual and/or religious worldview. More disturbing is…