Assisi: An Online Journal of Arts & Letters Volume 4, Issues 1 & 2 | Page 35

On Wednesday,
January 7th, 2015, hooded
gunmen with automatic
weapons interrupted an
editorial meeting at
Charlie Hebdo, a satirical
magazine headquartered
in Paris. The gunmen
murdered writers, editors
and most importantly for
the gunmen, four artists.
The gunmen were French
born Muslims radicalized
by the Jihadi ideology of Al
Qaeda. Charlie Hebdo had
repeatedly published
cartoons by these artists
and others featuring
representations of the
Prophet Mohammed, a
practice forbidden by Islamic doctrine.
‘Civic Virtue’ considers the consequences for public monuments when they are
perceived, fairly or unfairly, as an imposition of the values of one culture upon another.
The violent end for the artists and their colleagues in Paris was similarly motivated.
Typically, when culture wars are engaged, violence is acted upon the artworks that
express the values of the opposing group. As I stated previously, the greatest victory in
culture wars is a version of Capture the Flag. Your group wrestles control of the opposing
group’s object and gleefully dispatches it, under the cloak of