Charlie Hebdo attackers alone are liable for actions
Diane Pleninger's letter of Jan. 24 saying essentially that Charlie Hebdo brought it on itself made me remember what I had rather not. By her rule, I would owe Alaska for the trial and incarceration of my rapist. As he told me, if I had not been walking out alone like this, it wouldn't have happened. And I already knew that. Someone else had told me that already. Apparently there is a subclass for whom a female out alone is fair game. I knew — and still I walked "out alone like this."
Yes, Charlie Hebdo was deeply offensive. And those offended could picket, they could boycott, they could picket anyone who sold the magazine; they could boycott them as well. But if someone is offended and picks up a gun, that is HIS choice. And he, alone, is liable.
I am reminded also of the "Take Back the Night" rallies. The point of those is that there are no places off-limits, no times of day off-limits. And no ideas off-limits. Je suis Charlie.
— Pam Siegfried
Anchorage
Walker confronts deficit head-on
but should retain clean-energy programs
Gov. Bill Walker has taken some admirable steps to get Alaska's fiscal house in order and deserves recognition for addressing the budget deficit head-on. Cutting budgets can be an extremely painful process, but in this case it is a necessary evil.
I'm concerned, though, that we may have cut too much in one particular area: clean energy programs. Energy efficiency and weatherization programs are helping reduce energy costs for Alaskans while at the same time creating jobs and spurring economic growth in communities that desperately need more of both. While working on environmentally focused energy projects with a group of AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers from throughout the entire state, I have found this to be true and wholeheartedly support full funding of these vital clean energy programs. I hope that the Legislature will work with the governor to ensure that these programs will flourish.
— Ryan Clemens
Anchorage
Restitution by Charlie Hebdo has no legal basis
How could a call for monetary restitution to be exacted from the Charlie Hebdo survivors and their families be given any credence? The ever-opinionated Diane Pleninger (Letters, Jan. 24) must know that any demand for financial restitution must have a legal basis. So how could the city of Paris hold any Charlie cartoonist or his survivors financially liable for his exercise of his free-speech rights?
Thankfully, we in the U.S. may not appreciate the coarse level of satire reflected in Charlie Hebdo's cartoons, but Michael Carey's column correctly pointed out that in a free society, government-imposed censorship cannot be made the substitute for voluntary taste, discernment and civility. Can Ms. Pleninger point to any situation in an equally free USA where one's exercise of constitutionally guaranteed free-speech rights (outside of the proverbial crowded theater) has led to any required financial restitution?
Ms. Pleninger must also recognize that in the USA (and I must assume, also in France), a person is not liable, financially or otherwise, for the consequences of criminal acts committed by third parties. Thus a Charlie cartoonist exercising his free-speech right could bear no financial responsibility for a terrorist attack on his office by radical, politically motivated criminals.
Therefore, Ms. Pleninger's demand for the restitution and compensation of Paris by "the owners, employees and the estates of dead owners and employees of Hebdo" appears to be little more than emotional rhetoric, but legally speaking, simply all wet.
— Thomas E. Meacham
Anchorage
The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.