And what were they supposed to have done that qualifies as a "shitrag"?
basically, to be politically incorrect. they're old-school anarchists. they are not racist, but they use and exaggerate racist rhetoric to dirty the racist politicians' pr squads. they are irreverent to the point of frank insult. they are the bad kind of satire (throw shit everywhere and laugh about it). but as far as i'm concerned, even if i don't read them, they have their place. i prefer the canard enchainé, who targets fewer but with more intensity. conservation of satire, if you will.
the only critique i can make of charlie hebdo is that it's not my cup of tea.
oh, and for anyone who cares to cite the "but they drew a minister as a monkey! racists!" yeah, that's because one of the front national's (extreme right wing party) goons called christianne taubira a monkey (racist insult). they just highlighted it to show how stupid the one responsible was.
they're not funny, they're the journalistic equivalent of 4chan, humor-wise. they use shock tactics and dead baby comedy. but they're not a shitrag.
even then, i dare you to read what they say about the catholic church. trust me, in one article they basically said we should abandon the term "cardinal" and replace it with "pedophile". does that make them christophobic or generally antireligious?
charlie hebdo, unlike other satirical french journals is not meant to be taken at face value. when the canard says "hollande is doing a shit job and here is a cartoon of him eating a sandwich dripping mayonnaise on a peace treaty", it means exactly what it means. when charlie hebdo does a shocking cartoon, it's meant to shock and make you think. thus the gratuitous nudity, penises, and puke and shit.
if they're islamophobic, then we're all hypocrites. because they don't give a fuck. that's their mantra. they're dickheads by all accounts. but they're not racist or islamophobic. and that's the toughest thing i can do on this forum is to try and convince you guys of that. charlie hebdo is indiscriminate, they're not racially or politically or religiously motivated. they trash everyone equally. in the 90's and 00's they ran 23 covers about the catholic church and the pedophile scandals including showing the pope benedict xvi sodomizing a choir boy while wearing nazi regalia. in interviews, after being asked if they did this as an anticatholic act, they answered "because it was funny. next week it might be about jews, or about bhuddists, or about muslims. but there is one thing we'll keep on doing, and that is to make fun of people".
just because i tell a joke about jews does that make me antisemitic? no, it means i have a politically incorrect sense of humor. same deal. i'm sure you all laugh at some grim things (the bad jokes thread, for example, is rife with horrible jokes including genocide). they just make money off it.
... i don't like the paper and i won't call them heroes of free speech (being dickheads), but i won't abide for victim blaming either. and even then, you basically said they deserved it. nobody deserves to get shot for a sick sense of humor.