Some time has now passed since the massacre of the Charlie Hebdo staff. It was necessary to create a temporal space between the event and a reflection on it out of respect for the grieving of the relatives of the victims and the legitimate anger of the people.

None of what I intend to write in this article justifies in any way what had happened in Paris. The killing that took place was savagery pure and simple. No matter how much one disagrees with the line of this magazine one cannot condone such a brutal reaction.

Charlie Hebdo is a satirical publication. Wikipedia describes it as: “A French satirical weekly newspaper, featuring cartoons, reports, polemics and jokes. Irreverent and stridently non-conformist in tone…publishing articles on the extreme right, Catholicism, Islam, Judaism, politics, culture, etc.”

Satire is the use of humour to criticise what is perceived as others’ stupidity or wrongdoing. Usually this is done through exaggeration, irony and ridicule. Satirists make themselves judges of the beliefs of others. In other words, they criticise persons, cultures or sub-cultures from the point of view of their own sub-culture.

Humour requires great maturity of the affect. It requires the ability to see the humour – even if irreverent – simply as a wrapper of the message. Once this distinction is made it will be less difficult to accept satire. Reaction needs to be to the message not to the wrapper.

However, not all are capable of making this distinction, especially when it comes to religion. Satirists would say that it is up to them and, up to a certain extent, it is. They defend themselves claiming the principle of freedom of expression. Saying things does not preclude anybody from contradicting them. There is truth in this position also; however, the world is a little more complex.

The wrapper is also important and even those who can see it for what it is can feel aggravated by it because the human person is not just a mind.

This is especially so when it comes to things which people hold to be sacred, including Religion. Attempts at ridiculing one’s religion are not easily appreciated.

An exponent of Charlie Hebdo said that they have the right to be blasphemous. Possibly, but do they have the right to hurt people? Freedom of expression does not come without limits and responsibilities. Fortunately, few people react in the same way as the Paris terrorists but it does not follow that many are not offended.

Just now there seems to be too much extremism both in the Islamic and the Western worlds

In 2012, Paris police urged the director of Charlie Hebdo, to stand down on his plans to publish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. The editor refused, citing his rights as a journalist, and in the following issue Mohammed was depicted naked and bent over. The French newspaper Le Figaro and Laurent Fabius, the foreign minister, condemned this as being “a silly provocation” and “pouring oil on the fire”.

Not all Muslims are fundamentalists. At this ridiculing of Mohammed many must have experienced repugnance at the bad taste in the same way that Catholics must have experienced repugnance at the depiction of a naked Pope Francis (Charlie Hebdo, July 24, 2013). They would have understood the message wrapped in the humour and evaluated it, probably dismissing it as a subjective interpretation, but I doubt whether they appreciated the humour.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was right in cautioning against turning this attack on the Parisian magazine into a clash of civilisations. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world!

Kevin Clarke puts it very aptly, “Greater social clampdown, isolation or rejection of Islamic people is a course that promises a future of more murderous resentment and hostility.” (America Magazine, January 8, 2015). And, he continues, “There are extremists and sociopaths in every culture and every nation. They must be hunted down like criminals, not treated as political, cultural or ethnic types that justify widespread suppression.”

Outreach and sensitivity to likely allies in the Muslim world is the best and wisest way forward. Unfortunately, just now there seems to be too much extremism both in the Islamic and the Western worlds.