Some people who have commented on the killing of the cartoonists in France have pointed out how terribly offensive those cartoons were, not just to Muslims but also to women, gays, and liberals. “It’s like waving a red flag in front of a bull,” they say, with the unspoken implication that these cartoonists knew what they were getting into and as such, probably should have censored themselves and then they would still be alive.

Well, a bull analogy is appropriate, but instead it should be about the bull’s smelly by-product.

Free speech is annoying. It is obnoxious and insulting, and someone will always be offended.

Tough. No one deserves to be attacked like that for what they say. Even the idiots at Fox News have every right to spout nonsense, insults, and lies.

We have to protect speech we hate or else the concept of “free speech” is meaningless. Speech we all agree with doesn’t need protection.

I admire the French here. They have stood up to these murderers, and have said that they won’t give in. The magazine is continuing to print without any change in their editorial process.

Sony Pictures could learn something from them.