Understanding the Charlie Hebdo shooting

1. Je Suis Charlie At least twelve people were killed by gunmen armed with automatic weapons at the Paris office of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. [Vox / Dara Lind, Amanda Taub, Libby Nelson, and German Lopez] Charlie Hebdo has repeatedly printed cartoon covers depicting and poking fun at the Prophet Muhammed; in 2011, that led to a firebombing attempt against their offices. [Vox / Amanda Taub] Here's an in-depth explanation of the magazine and its style of humor. [Vox / Libby Nelson] Its editor-in-chief Stéphane Charbonnier and three of its cartoonists were among those killed. Eight journalists died, as did one person at the front desk, one visitor, and two police officers. [Vox / German Lopez] Eleven more are wounded — four seriously. [Vox / Dara Lind, Amanda Taub, Libby Nelson, and German Lopez] The attackers got away; there are preliminary witness reports tying them to al-Qaeda, but that and any other terrorist group ties remain unconfirmed. The French police have identified three suspects: Said Kouachi, Cherif Kouachi, and Hamyd Mourad A Charlie Hebdo staffer explained in a 2012 interview that they intended to mock extremism of all forms, not Islam as such. [Vox / Max Fisher] Cartooning is arguably more prominent, and more central to public debate, in France than it is in the US. [Slate / Bart Beaty] Twelve political cartoons in response to the attack. [Vox / Libby Nelson] Thousands across Europe responded with rallies in solidarity with Charlie Hebdo, wielding signs saying "Je Suis Charlie" ("I am Charlie"). [Vox / Dara Lind] German Lopez: Charlie Hebdo's drawing helped to "maintain the balance between free speech and self-censorship, in part by limiting the power of extremists and in part by not allowing offense-takers to dictate standards for everyone else." [Vox / German Lopez] Ezra Klein: "This isn't about Charlie Hebdo's cartoons, any more than a rape is about what the victim is wearing, or a murder is about where the victim was walking." [Vox / Ezra Klein] Former Onion editor Joe Randazzo: "If it turns out that members of Al Qaeda or some other radical 'Islamic' sect carried out this attack, the saddest, most profoundly ironic thing about it will have been that the satire worked…" [MSNBC / Joe Randazzo] "… It so threatened its target, cut so deeply at the truth, that it resorted to the most cowardly, most offensive and despicable form of lashing out." Ross Douthat: "When offenses are policed by murder, that’s when we need more of them, not less, because the murderers cannot be allowed for a single moment to think that their strategy can succeed." [NYT / Ross Douthat] 2. Misc. Five criminal cases that Serial should take on. [Slate / Justin Peters] Illinois will start automatically putting 3 percent of wages into retirement accounts for workers in the state without 401(k)s or other plans. [NYT / Josh Barro] The downsides of being your own boss. [NY Mag / Jennifer Senior] Is reliance on English as a lingua franca holding back science? [Slate / Boer Deng] What it's like to be a Reddit meme — and what it's like when that meme starts to fade. [Washington Post / Jessica Contrera] Read the latest Vox Sentences here!

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