Former National Security Adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski says the United States should reconsider whether satire should be protected free speech in light of the terrorist attack on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
"We have to take a look more closely at the nature of the so-called satire," Brzezinski, who served under former president Jimmy Carter, said while appearing on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday.
"I've not seen what I'm about to say, but I've been told by some people that some of the cartoons were absolutely appalling and directed at the prophet himself. Now, is that really humor or is that an insult designed to provoke?" he asked.
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Some news outlets, such as The New York Times and The Washington Post, have said they don't plan to publish the cartoons that were what allegedly prompted the attack on the Charlie Hebdo headquarters on Wednesday by Muslim extremists.
However, Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for The Atlantic, responded to Brzezinski, explaining that "in the First Amendment . . . the goal is not to protect inoffensive speech. We have free speech to protect what many people would call offensive speech."
"Our goal in the West is to allow people to say what they want even if it's offensive and painful — that's the principle. That's a sacred ideal of France. It's a sacred ideal of the U.S.," Goldberg added.