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Don’t be naive: this isn’t about the racism of the French state. It’s about a trio of fanatics who murdered innocent people for insulting Islam in a bid to frighten others from doing the same. And when Canadian news outlets avoid running the cartoons, the effort succeeds.

In his email to CBC staffers, Mr. Studer continued: “We wouldn’t have published these images before today — not out of fear, but out of respect for the beliefs and sensibilities of the mass of Muslim believers. Why would the actions of a gang of violent thugs force us to change that position? This isn’t the time for emotional responses or bravado. There are better ways to honour and stand beside our fellow journalists.”

It would be more honest to admit we’re scared.

We owe it to the people who died to stop cringing.

If you want to see evidence of this, here’s an example. In the hours after the massacre, cartoonists from around the world channelled their grief and outrage into their art. Cartoons flooded the Internet in tribute — some of them later appeared on front pages.

Many of them are brilliant. Most of them are touching. They speak to a genuine and deeply felt sorrow. But I have yet to find a single one that depicts the Prophet Mohammed. There are broken pencils, bloody ink, terrorists being assailed by pens inscribed with the word “freedom.” Yet none had the courage to exercise the freedom to do what Charlie Hebdo routinely did: draw a silly, blasphemous cartoon.

We owe it to the people who died to stop cringing. We owe it to them, and to our audiences, to show the world what they died for. The only way to mitigate the real risk of violence that a single publication faces is for all publications to act likewise. By spreading the risk around, we minimize it. Publish the hell out of that thing. Put it everywhere. Spray paint it on walls.

The fanatics can’t kill everyone. They can’t target every media outlet. The “Muslim street” can’t riot forever. Sooner or later, it’s for the fanatics to make peace with a non-medieval worldview that can tolerate satire, dissent, and the art of offence.

On Thursday, I opened the papers and saw a lot of headlines along the line of: “We are Charlie Hebdo.” But most editors in this country weren’t brave. Until they get more courage, we’re not Charlie. Charlie is dead.

National Post