Story from the BBC:

Anger grows over Muhammad cartoon
Protests have spread across the Muslim world over the publication in Europe of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4673908.stm

Anyone who believes that this infantile rage is religiously based is an idiot.

Anyone who believes that we should in any way acquiesce to this irrational emotional blackmail is a fool.

We absolutely must put an end to this insanity before this insanity puts an end to us.

In case you missed it, this comment was written by one of our fellow North African cruchers who lives in a Muslim culture.

"The war against free speech is not threatned by Islamists, but by democracy's citizens that do not use it; and [thus] will lose it. And this time, there will be no Renaissance 2.0 and no (re)French (re)Revolution, because oppressive regimes have learned so much from the past that it is very unlikely [that] they [will] commit stupid errors like visible persecution and inquisition, dramatic genocides, or naive censorship [that would expose them]. We really [live] in the age of illusion. Worse than lies ... ..."

This comment is simply too pertinent to risk being lost in a longer post.

I am going to go off on a slight tangent here, but its nagging me.

Irrational emotional blackmail is not the sole province of the Umma. Back in 1995 I was staying in my second home in the Philippines, the issue of the time was Flor Contemplación and I was there to witness the events on the ground. What the Wikipedia entry fails to record is the irrational nature of what went on in the Philippines. Violent attacks on Singaporean nationals and others who looked like they might be Singaporean, the destruction of Singaporean owned businesses and attacks on the Singaporean embassy. In heated discussion with family and friends who all supported the action and believed her to be innocent without question or evidence, they were unable comprehend that through these actions they were only serving to ensure the execution was carried out. I am in no position to comment on the truth of the case only God and Flor can do that, but the film about her life holds her up to be a martyr.

Sometimes I think thats it they have gone too far, go for the nuclear option, kill the lot of em, wipe Islam off the face of the Earth, and then I think of people I went to school and Polythechnic with, worked with, and have stayed with on my travels decent hardworking people. So I tone it down and think well just kick them out the country, and then I think of people who I consider friends, Iranian exiles, where would they go not to any Islamic state that is for certain.

However in the UK at least I hope we are moving forward, and attempting to address the issue. We are starting to see the moderate community leaders and even muslim politicians coming forward and speaking openly, though the air time they are given by the media is still substantially less than that give to the fanatic. Local English speaking Imams are being trained and being given an understanding of British culture - this has come from within the Islamic community which in my mind is a healthy sign. Meantime the government is bringing in legislation to ensure all religious preachers and teachers that come to work in the UK at the very least speak English. Maybe this is too little too late, but it is a delicate balancing act if we are not to destroy the very things we hold so dear and are trying to protect.

Having gone to bed depressed about the whole matter

I awoke this morning to a perfectly reasoned debate, which raised some good points and put me in a better mood for the day

Sadly I missed the participants names and can find no link to a transcript or an audio stream. Suffice to say one was a spokesperson from a muslim organisation (which I don't know) and the other a writer (white?, presumably christian, but who has written items which some sections of the christian community consider offensive). Both condemed the irrational imoderate reaction in parts of the Muslim community but not measured peaceful protest. The Muslim spokesperson went on to condem both the re-publication of the Cartoons (the initial publication being taken as a mistake that had been apologised for) and the publication of Cartoons in the ME press which are offensive to Christians and Jews.

Also both questioned the actions of the German, Dutch, French and Spanish publications. The original Danish publication of the cartoons happened months ago and the whole situtation had been more or less resolved only to be stirred up again. These re-publishers claim it is the defence of free speech but what neither of the speakers knew (as don't I) is the political agenda of the publications. It is one thing for a publication whose ethos is liberal, to print them as part of an ongoing campaign for free speech, it is another for a xenophobic publication with a racist agenda to publish them as incitement and then hide behind the cause of free speech.

But the more thought provoking point that was agreed upon was the dichotomy of the situation. I don't know if this exists in the USA, but the general concensus here is that it is offensive for white comedians to make jokes at the expense of blacks, christians about jews, able bodied about disabled and vice versa. Thus comedians perform a degree of self censorship and if they do cause offence it is considered (except amongst the most extreme) reasonable to apologise. Yet when these cartoons cause offence to muslims which they obviously have (though alot of what is being said and done is a conditioned extreme response by people who don't even know where Denmark is, let alone have seen the cartoons to judge for themselves), it is seen as a curtailment of Free Speech for the Danish Publication and Danish Prime minister to apologise for the offense caused.

Also pointed out (by both parties) was that this conditioned irrational and uninformed response - though not always as violent - is also evident in other faiths. The examples given being: The Life of Brian, The Last Temptation of Christ , Behzti (Dishonour) and Jerry Springer the Opera.

The conclusion they reached which I hope we can all agree on, is that we should not confuse the sentiment and the reaction, and that we should all accept the one and condem and actively protest the other.
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As a footnote: This lunchtime's news was wall to wall muslim leaders calling for any protests at the publication of the cartoons to be moderate and peaceful and denouncing the rhetoric and actions of the extremists.