It is just drawings, you are right. At the same time, however, I get the impression that you don't hold anything precious. Really, really precious. I was raised religious and in the past I have felt completely crushed, dejected and downtrodden by the bullying and hate spewed by in-your-face new atheists, and it's not pleasant. Does that justify killing people? Not at all. Am I victim blaming? No. I am simply answering your question of 'how can people do this?' When you trample on people's most preciously held views and objects of worship people can become sad, unhappy, miserable, feel lonely, marginalised, rejected, worthless, victimised, scorned, etc. etc.. Do you really think that the kind of rhetoric coming out of /r/atheism of Charlie Hebdo is going to bring people around to your point of view? How do you build a bridge by ridiculing people's world view? At what point in the universe's existence has laughing in someone's face been an effective method of making friends and influencing people?

People cope in different ways, and some don't cope at all. Some people lose it and get a gun. Why feel solidarity with anyone who clearly doesn't feel solidarity with you? Why subject yourself to social contracts when the majority of participants in that contract hate you and regularly report in opinion polls that they don't trust you or they think you're stupid or that you're a problem?

This isn't complicated stuff. These people are filled with hate because they were mocked to shreds. It's not atheist Arabs getting mown down for writing essays on the perils of organised religion. It's not Science Po or the Sorbonne that's getting raided, mate. Open dialogue and educational discourse is an effective way of bringing positive change. Ridicule doesn't solve any problems, it just makes more. Should we suddenly declare hunting season on every fat kid in Europe and watch them get laughed at by their peers? I mean why not? Obesity is a serious health problem. Over eating is probably more demanding on our resources as a health concern than malnutrition. These kids are going to burden public services. We have to stop them. And apparently ridicule is an effective form of encouraging people to adopt a new perspective and change. Let's make them feel stupid and tell them they are sucking more from society than they are putting in. Would we be wrong to do that? Would be (socio-economically) factually wrong to do that?

At some point bullying - which you're told is bad when you're a kid - becomes ok, even encouraged, when you become an adult. Charlie Hebdo's just bullying. I'm honestly not convinced that this is more about freedom of speech than it is about freedom to be a dick to other people.

In short, what do you expect when you laugh at people who have proven to care more about killing you that staying alive themselves? What does it prove when you don't go home at night and read your kid a bedtime story?