When I started out as a rookie journalist my first editor told me that we don’t make jokes about people’s names, disabilities and their religion. The latter is certainly up for debate, but I personally tried to adhere to this ever since. I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I find most of the cartoons of Charlie Hebdo distasteful, offensive and – being a huge fan of stand-up comedy – what’s probably even worse, not funny at all. Having said that, I completely disagree with those Hungarian and international journalists who believe that the French magazine should tone down their sketches. A big problem with such (self) censorship is that you need somebody who will decide which cartoons, op-eds, articles or songs are too offensive and which will be the ones that don’t irritate terrorists. That’s no longer freedom of expression, that’s a negotiation. And we don’t negotiate with terrorists for one very simple reason: if they see that their way produces results they will neither tone down their act, nor will they hire somebody to decide which terrorist acts the infidels find too offensive.
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