As a slew of negative opinions flew across social media condemning Charlie Hebdo for its lack of respect and its deep racism, it became apparent that many, many people actually have no idea of the power and influence that satire holds – nor the real reason it exists. As Maajid Nawaz explains to his The Daily Beast readers:

Satire is, by definition, offensive. It is meant to make us feel uncomfortable. It is meant to make us scratch or heads, think, do a double-take and then think again. It is supposed to take our prejudices, turn them upside down, reapply them, and make us think we’re seeing something we’re not, until we stop to question ourselves.

In fact, I attempted to explain this very notion to our readers yesterday and even provided a reason as to why – of all the images – Charlie Hebdo chose the one of little Aylan al-Kurdi.

Perhaps using the image of the death of a little boy is extreme to some – but the image is now the most iconic of the Syrian refugee movement and therefore holds so much more meaning and sway than any other.

Before we go on, I would like you to have a good look at the front page of the UK’s Daily Mail:

Do you see that advert for food on the top banner? Understandably, advertising is something that ensures the production life of newspaper, but that’s exactly what Charlie Hebdo is commenting on. In fact, they are actually mocking newspapers – and us:

Juxtaposing images of a dead child next to offers of cheap food “meal deals” is not mocking little Aylan, it is mocking us. It is mocking us for what we miss every single day, hidden in plain sight, and we do not see it because this is how desensitised we have become to human suffering.

Anyways, I’m going to leave the rest up to Maajid – who writes all that I have to say all the more eloquently. #lifegoals

Yes taste is always in the eye of the beholder. But that’s the whole point of good satire. It is not meant to be to our tastes. It is meant to challenge our tastes. Having our fundamental assumptions about life challenged is never a comfortable thing. Bringing this back to the subject at hand, far from insulting him, these cartoons about Aylan are a damning indictment on the anti-refugee sentiment that has spread across Europe. The McDonald’s image is a searing critique of our heartless European consumerism, in the face of one of the worst human tragedies of our times. In particular, this image plays on the notion that while we moan there are not enough resources to cope with the influx of refugees, we simultaneously offer two for one McDonald’s Happy Meals to our own children. The image about Christians walking on water while Muslims drown is — so — critiquing what the magazine views as hypocritical European Christian “love” and truly bigoted claims, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s, that Europe is a “Christian” civilization.

[source: thedailybeast]