Much thanks to everyone who helped put this diary on the Rec List.

I am heartened by the thoughtful comments and the value being placed on learning context and debating in a civil manner at the Top of the Rec List. This is a lesson for me to try to stay true to that ideal when I am confronted with upsetting news on a topic that I am not familiar with.

Charlie Hebdo just released the cover image for their next issue. It speaks for itself. You can see it here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...

One last update from a message sent to me:

"Take it from a French person who verified : bleu-bites (in the cartoon with Marine Le Pen) simply means rookies, newbies. Un bleu has been a rookie or a new recruit in the army since the 19th century. Bite derives from a slang word 'bitau' meaning a new student, the word comes from Switzerland (Genève) 'bisteau' for young apprentice."

Thank you (and the other poster) for the assist in improving the translation of these cartoons.

I strongly disagree with any poster below that posts about "the Arabs" or "the Jews". Generalizations about an ethnicity do not foster reasoned debate. Were he still alive today, Cabu would draw a cartoon making fun of such comments.

I also strongly disagree with any comments generalizing about "the Christians", the "Muslims", etc. There is great diversity of beliefs and practices within any major global religion (or other belief system). Comparing certain strains, trends or movements within religions is a different matter, of course. Although it is not the topic of this diary.