If Charlie Hebdo had been published in Britain

This article is worryingly accurate.

http://www.spiked-online.com/newsite/article/what-if-icharlie-hebdo-i-had-been-published-in-britain/16443

Reply 1

Drewski

I take it the writer of that article has never read Private Eye, then?

Reply 2

yo radical one

Original post by Drewski

I take it the writer of that article has never read Private Eye, then?

Private Eye is nothing like Charlie Hebdo

It's more of a smug guardianista comic book, I don't see why people draw the comparison.

Reply 3

Drewski

Original post by yo radical one

Private Eye is nothing like Charlie Hebdo

It's more of a smug guardianista comic book, I don't see why people draw the comparison.

Because, while the humour is done differently (I personally find neither all that funny) there is still plenty in both for people to get righteously offended by.

Reply 4

yo radical one

Original post by Drewski

Because, while the humour is done differently (I personally find neither all that funny) there is still plenty in both for people to get righteously offended by.

I Googled around other Charlie Hebdo comics and it seemed to have far fewer hang-ups in terms of its willingness to offend

Private Eye seems like fashionable dissent, they attack posh Toryboys, bankers, Blairite Labour politicians and of course Rupert Murdoch.

Reply 5

username1315644

The article is probably correct, we don't have a very liberal left in this country. I think Private Eye is much more careful with who it targets, usually as stated, safe right wing targets, where you are not going to enrage Guardianista's and student unions.

How many news outlets in this country have published the Charlie Hedbo cartoons? Even when running the story, clearly a time where they are relevant?

Reply 6

#Ridwan

Original post by yo radical one

Agreed, Private Eye only ever criticise people who it's fashionable to criticise. It's still a good publication but there's nothing in Private Eye that comes close to Charlie Hebdo.

Reply 7

Jean-Luc Picard

Private Eye is satire done properly, Charlie Hebdo is just racism dressed up as satire.

Reply 8

#Ridwan

Original post by Jean-Luc Picard

Private Eye is satire done properly, Charlie Hebdo is just racism dressed up as satire.

Criticising antiquated centuries-old fairy tales isn't racist.

Reply 9

El Salvador

Well, Bristol Uni SU already banned it, so...

Reply 10

scrotgrot

Comparing it with Private Eye doesn't really fly, anyway the Canard Enchainé fills that niche in France.

I think Charlie's editorial stance is something that could only really have arisen in France. Wikipedia describes it as "anti-racist, anti-religious and left-wing", which is basically a more in-your-face, less bureaucratic version of what Republican France itself stands for. In the spirit of satire, I would say it sounds just like the people who prosecuted the Terror.

In my view, our left wing is much more conciliatory and consensus-building. Where it is belligerent, it tends towards identity-based authoritarianism rather than citizenship-based libertarianism, as someone said above.

France doesn't really have "patriotic" right-wing tabloids and it doesn't really have irreverent panel shows - stand-up has only just caught on there. I would say Charlie fills some amalgam of this niche in French society.