Speaking of assaults, that was a neatly timed / placed kick at the fresh smoking corpses at Charlie Hebdo. Lucky for you that "the Stranger" is always a bastion of uncontroversial good taste.

A mental exercise for you: Jon Stewart and his writing staff are executed by a radical faction of Log Cabin Republicans for his effeminate impression of Lindsey Graham. Does the American Left Media join the likes of David Brooks in condemning homophobia in late night TV?

This was a shallow and callous cheap shot on an issue you should care deeply about, Mr. Schmader.

Is Charlie Hebdo actually racist or is it using apparent racism to criticize racism? From what I can tell, the latter is more likely, which makes the people criticizing it (like Mr. Schmader above) look foolish. Seriously, you are taking a satirical newspaper's cover at face value and then saying "RACIST!"?

Feel free to explain HOW they are racist before you tell them how they have to write their paper to prevent being (justifiably?) attacked.

Whoops. Did I just misread your article without understanding its deeper context and say that you might support terrorism? My bad.

Y'all commenters seem to be confusing "I can see how people might be upset at being reviled, mocked and socially excluded" with "kill everyone, I love murders, rub it all over me," even though those sentiments are easily distinguished.

"If Charlie Hebdo wants to underscore that nothing is sacred, an upcoming cover should make fun of today's tragic massacre."

Done, apparently.

Thanks for your comments, druiddude and delirian. I was running with the idea that the stupid pointless awfulness of the massacre was clear to all who knew the facts, but I can see how my item could read as 'shallow and callous.' So I've added another couple sentences, in hopes of correcting the emphasis. (You still might disagree with my take, but at least my true feelings are represented in words.)

Thanks for commenting on Seattle Opera's wonderful production of Tosca, and particularly their fine soprano Mary Elizabeth Williams. She's singing only one more performance, on Friday Jan. 23rd -- when we'll be attending.

Phone S.O. at 206-389-7676 for tickets.

Thanks for the mention, David, and I think your revisions make an important distinction for your readers.

I don't share your assumption, sadly, that most deplore the barbarity of the terrorists. Many on the left in the U.S. have disparaged Charlie Hedbo for perceived racism, and the right opposes the extremes of free (non-commercial) speech.

OpEd hacks on the right such as the NYT's David Brooks made hay quite quickly, comparing the murders to the silencing / boycott of conservative voices on U.S. campuses.

There is a rush to frame the debate. I would urge you, if you allege racism on the part of the magazine, to write more in-depth on the subject, as context is needed for something as complex as political / social humor in translation.

Same goes for labeling the publication as "perverse". Many (not me) would apply that label to your colleague Mr. Savage's advice column.

As to the author's quotation marks around "satire", I feel that whoever these dead cartoonists were, they were committed to their publication, their ideas, and their craft. A shitty mailman is still a mailman, and so on, and deserving at least of a simple professional title sans "ersatz" editorialization.

Dearest David Schmader,

Don't listen to those fools. You are a great writer, your cleverness is appreciated, & as always, you make a good point. Those stupid troll-y haters can kiss off. I, among many others, adore your style.

Je suis, Charlie!

Oh, dear, stinkfog! I don't like wind storms and Arctic chill, but shit!
Hopefully with the brutal realities of climate change, stinkfog doesn't have any sequels.

Heal well and soon, Dylan!

@6: rdpence: Thank you for the Seattle Opera ticket information on Tosca!

@5: David: Don't ever let the trolls get you down! You ROCK!

And speaking of rocking......GO, SEAHAWKS on Sunday hosting Green Bay in the Legion of BOOM!!

Do a little research before you parrot the intolerance of others.

"The Koran does not prohibit figural imagery. Rather, it castigates the worship of idols, which are understood as concrete embodiments of the polytheistic beliefs that Islam supplanted when it emerged as a purely monotheistic faith in the Arabian Peninsula during the seventh century.

Moreover, the Hadith, or Sayings of the Prophet, present us with an ambiguous picture at best: At turns we read of artists dared to breathe life into their figures and, at others, of pillows ornamented with figural imagery."

http://www.newsweek.com/koran-does-not-f…

Charlie H was a tragedy, no doubt, and although, obviously, there is no way on Earth anybody should have been shot for what they did, there is such a thing as disrespect and provocation.
Common sense should tell people that pissing off the radical Muslim faction is not a good idea.

Not that they should bow in fear, and shut up, quite the opposite, but wow, if you're walking past a snarling dog, you don't go and kick it.

"In closing, a modest proposal: If Charlie Hebdo wants to underscore that nothing is sacred, an upcoming cover should make fun of today's tragic massacre."

Right, because you shouldn't be allowed to lampoon religious figures unless you are also willing to mock recently deceased friends who were slaughtered right in front of you. They are satirists; not nihilists. Those two things are not mutually inclusive.

Love the logic there. Binary thinking is the best!