Whether purposeful or unwitting — which is quite possible by the way — our disposition to the narrative of the East/West divide, the invading hordes, the clash of civilizations is a timid yet omnipresent undercurrent in mainstream consciousness.

Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, says he was not necessarily “emotionally offended” by the cartoons, but he did find them to be “in poor taste.”

I am not Charlie. I am not the terrorist either. I do not have to be Charlie to loathe the terrorists, and I do not have to resort to terrorism to register my displeasure with Charlie.