The American And European Discourse Around The Charlie...

Alex Smith Mrs. Tussey Literature 4/14/15 Charlie Hebdo research paper The American and European discourse around the Charlie Hebdo shootings is mostly shock, sorrow, and anger, further fueling the Anti-muslim feelings that were sparked by the September 11th terrorist attacks on the world trade center, while the Muslim discourse is also one of shock and sorrow, but they at least understand why the attacks occurred, as almost all americans do not; we should care about this because it is only the most famous example of something that has happened before, and has been threatened many times. An example of this is the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, which faced multiple threats of violence after publishing 12 caricatures of Muhammad.†¦show more content†¦A video taken by a bystander shows a gunman approaching his black getaway car and raising his finger, thought to be a signal to the driver. A french official has said the two claim to have been avenging the Prophet Mohammed and shouting Allahu akbar, which translates t o God is great†. The suspects were later killed after a hostage situation, and, according to an article by the Los Angeles Times, saying they, â€Å"wanted to die like martyrs.† One way the American and European discourse around the Charlie Hebdo shootings differs from the Muslim discourse is that almost no americans know why the extremists were so angry about a few blasphemous images of the Prophet Muhammad. After all, Charlie Hebdo makes fun of christianity too, with satirical images of Jesus Christ. What most people do not know is, muslims are culturally against any depiction of Muhammad, and even some of the people close to him. Professor Amin Saikal, director of the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies at the Australian National University, says, â€Å"It s simply because Islam has been opposed to any form of icon worship, therefore, there is no accurate drawing of the Prophet and it has been banned from the very beginning.† What is the difference between the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus Christ? The difference between Muslims and Christians is that Christians have, in a lot of ways, demystified images of Jesus Christ, whereas in Islam or in the Muslim world, that has not really been done, says Professor