The flagship of freedom. The leaders in democracy. The strongest country in the world. A country that can not and will not be intimidated. France.

France? I know. According to factslides.com, it is a country that has laws against naming a pig Napoleon and a government that gives medals to parents who have “successfully raised several children with dignity.”

But, it would seem that the United States has fallen behind France as the biggest and baddest country on the planet. After an alleged North Korean hacker publicized the president of Sony Pictures email and sent a fax threatening an attack if their new movie “The Interview” was released, the United States banned together and said no to the communist country. They said that they won’t be bullied or intimidated by the only country on the planet that thinks the year is 104; based on the birth of former leader Kim Il-Sung according to factslides.com.

Oh wait. That’s not what happened. We didn’t say anything, only that the movie would be pulled.

Yet, on Jan. 7 after a terrorist attack at the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris left 12 dead, the French government made a stand. There were rallies and peaceful protests all around the world. The newspaper published a new issue with Muhammad on the cover saying: Je Suis Charlie. I am Charlie.

The newspaper and the country stood up to the terrorist and protected one of the building blocks of liberty: freedom of speech. The newspaper printed 1 million copies of their latest issue and will distribute them all over the world. What the newspaper is doing can be classified as commendable and even natural. Any country that stands for democracy and freedom should stand up for what they believe in, so why didn’t the United States?

Well, I guess it’s not fair to say no one tried to stand up and protest. Although it was ultimately Sony’s decision to not distribute the movie, there were a few people and organizations that spoke up about protecting the First Amendment. Both President Barack Obama and the Republican National Convention encouraged Sony and people to support the movie and not be swayed by the threats.

The lack of response or unification by the United States isn’t the reason that France has surpassed the United States in freedom. The reason that France has surpassed the United States as the pillar of freedom isn’t because they stood up to terrorism or that their country reinforced their commitment to freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It is because in a time of peril, they stood as a united front. Charlie Hebdo didn’t get a fax or a formalized threat before the incident. There was no chance to retract the cover or create a new cartoon. All the newspaper had was the aftermath. The destruction and the decision on what to do. They chose right. And, if the newspaper had been formally warned, they still would have printed it.