The Globe, as a newspaper, has a vested interest in freedom of speech. Few people understand the importance of allowing ideas to be exchanged and stories to be shared the way that people who work in a newsroom do.

That is why attacks on that freedom hit home a little harder for us than for most people – these are also attacks on our ideals and our profession.

The Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris on Wednesday proves that point in a painful way.

A satirical, irreverent, even sometimes offensive publication, Charlie Hebdo traffics in humor and does not pull any punches. It skewers any and all authority figures with glee. And it was punished for that in a monstrous way by those who wish to silence any opposition they encounter.

Charlie Hebdo is not a perfect publication. Its antireligious leanings can be their own form of zealotry. But it should be able to push boundaries without fear of violent retribution. There is nothing wrong with finding some of what Charlie Hebdo has published offensive. There is nothing wrong with wanting the magazine to change its ways.

But a world where the content newspapers and magazines publish is determined by people holding guns is an alarming concept.

The terrorists who killed cartoonists intended to silence them and their work. We cannot let that happen. We need to talk more, think more, share more. We need to exchange ideas and discuss why we felt a particular joke went a step too far and does more harm than good. We need to be brave and kind in equal measure.

The Globe is not Charlie Hebdo. We are a college newspaper at a fairly small school. But we take pride in our work, and we try our best to uphold journalistic values such as honesty and fairness. We do so without fear of retribution, and we are lucky for that.

We count ourselves among people who know the importance of free expression. We are not a satirical magazine with a large circulation. Mais nous sommes Charlie.