Vive Charlie Hebdo

Freedom means having the liberty to say disagreeable things. Statements no one disagrees with need no protection. The French revere free speech just as Americans do. The First Amendment of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution affords Americans protection of the right to speak. Both the French and US defend controversial speech. The vast majority of Muslims abhor the murder of innocent people. This group is more numerous than those who perpetrate slaughter after slaughter, like the massacre we have just witnessed today at the offices of the Paris-based satirical publication "Charlie Hebdo". The silent majority of Muslims who want to live in an ordered society must chase the evil-doers from their ranks. Until the good Muslims prevail, the West might be justified in treating that great world faith with suspicion. We who cherish free speech must defend that notion that sadly now is literally under savage attack.