+
upworthy
More

Jon Stewart Takes On The Terrorist Attack Against Charlie Hebdo

"Our goal tonight is not to make sense of this, because there is no sense to made of this."

The horrific murder of 12 people by terrorists at the satirical newspaper Charles Hebdo shocked the world. Jon Stewart started his show on a serious note to address it.

"I know very few people go into comedy as an act of courage, mainly because it shouldn't have to be that. It shouldn't be an act of courage, it should be taken as established law. But those guys at Hebdo had it, and they were killed for their cartoons."

Watch him say what needs to be said.


It says a lot that these cartoons were so threatening to the ideas of a small extremist segment of society that they felt the need to take lives. Cartoonist Ted Rall, who occasionally got death threats after 9/11 from Americans (including from an actual police officer), put together his thoughts in the aftermath and also said what needed to be said.

Think of the rage behind the gunmen who invaded Charlie Hebdo's office yesterday, and that of the men who ordered them to do so. It's too early to say for sure, but it's a fair guess that they were radical Islamists. I'd like to ask them: how weak is your faith, how lame a Muslim must you be, to allow yourself to be reduced to the murder of innocents, over ink on paper colorized in Photoshop?

I highly recommend reading his whole article. Think about that. This was simply ink on paper. That was the dangerous power of a cartoon.

And, ironically, the violent acts of these monsters only stood to make the speech they hate more powerful. They've turned a paper with a weekly readership of 60,000 into an international phenomenon. And they've reinforced the very narrative they seek to end.

According to the BBC:

French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo will go to print next week, in defiance of Wednesday's apparent militant Islamist attack.
Ten journalists and two police were killed when masked attackers opened fire at its Paris headquarters.
Columnist Patrick Pelloux said the decision to continue to publish will show that "stupidity will not win".
It will have a print run of one million copies, compared with its usual 60,000 a week.
It will be half its usual length at eight pages long.
"It's very hard. We are all suffering, with grief, with fear, but we will do it anyway because stupidity will not win," Pelloux told the AFP news agency.




Or as my old college professor and favorite cartoonist James MacLeod drew it:

My thoughts are with the folks at Charlie Hebdo. Let's make sure this tragedy isn't ever thought of as a victory for intimidation and violence. Ideas trump mindless violence, even in death.

#JeSuisCharlie. (I am Charlie.)


Time travel back to 1905.

Back in 1905, a book called "The Apples of New York" was published by the New York State Department of Agriculture. It featured hundreds of apple varieties of all shapes, colors, and sizes, including Thomas Jefferson's personal favorite, the Esopus Spitzenburg.






Keep ReadingShow less

Joey Grundl, Milwaukee pizza guy.

Joey Grundl, a pizza delivery driver for a Domino's Pizza in Waldo, Wisconsin, is being hailed as a hero for noticing a kidnapped woman's subtle cry for help.

The delivery man was sent to a woman's house to deliver a pie when her ex-boyfriend, Dean Hoffman, opened the door. Grundl looked over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with a black eye standing behind Hoffman. She appeared to be mouthing the words: "Call the police."

Keep ReadingShow less
Photo by Katerina Holmes|Canva

Mom in tears after another parent calls about daughter's lunch


People say having children is like having your heart walk around outside of your body. You send them off to school, practices or playdates and hope that the world treats them kindly because when they hurt, you hurt. Inevitably there will be times when your child's feelings are hurt so you do your best to prepare for that day.

But what prepares you for when the child you love so much winds up accidentally healing your inner child. A mom on TikTok, who goes by Soogia posted a video explaining a phone call she received from a parent in her daughter's classroom. The mom called to inform Soogia that their kids had been sharing lunch with each other.

Soogia wasn't prepared for what came next. The classmate's mother informed her that her son loves the food Soogia's daughter brings to school and wanted to learn how to cook it too.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pop Culture

Listen to this organ in Croatia that uses the sea to make hauntingly beautiful music

It's a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.


In 2005, a Croatian architect designed a 230-foot-long organ that turns the rhythm of the waves into actual music.

Nope, not nonsensical bellows or chaotic tones. Real, actual, music.

Keep ReadingShow less
Modern Families

A comic from The Oatmeal illustrates how we're missing the mark on happiness.

I do the things that are meaningful to me, even if they don't make me "happy."

By Matthew Inman/The Oatmeal. Used with permission.

How to Be Perfectly Happy


Matthew Inman is the Eisner Award-winning author of The Oatmeal. He's published six books, including New York Times Best-Sellers such as "How to Tell if Your Cat is Plotting to Kill You"and "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances."He enjoys running marathons, writing comics, and eating cake.

You can read more of Matthew's comics here.

Keep ReadingShow less
Health

Sweeping UN study finds that 9 out of 10 people worldwide are biased against women

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways.

Photo by Joe Gardner on Unsplash

As the U.S. ramps into an all-too-familiar presidential election cycle where the only viable candidates left on the ballot are men, the UN announces a study that may—at least partially—explain why.

The Gender Social Norms Index released yesterday by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) offers a look at gender equality as measured by people's personal gender bias. The data, which was collected from 75 countries covering 81% of the world's population, found that 91% of men and 86% of women show at least one clear bias against women in the areas of politics, economics, education, and physical integrity.

In other words, 9 out of 10 people worldwide—both men and women—are biased against women in vital areas that impact the world in major ways. Splendid.

Keep ReadingShow less