Cartoon Violence

It is no secret that the lessons of tolerance have yet to be learned in most of the Muslim world. Nonetheless, the acts of the newspaper editors who published the cartoons that have enraged so much of the Muslim world were egregious in the extreme. These publications were particularly offensive because the editors chose to publish them in full knowledge that they were deeply insulting and offensive to a large segment of the world's population - a population already inflamed by war, sectarian strife and the inumerable assaults of the modern world.

I believe strongly in free speech and freedom of the press, but yelling fire in a crowded theatre is justly punished as a crime. The fury, hatred, and violence aroused was a predictable consequence in the world we live in. So why did they do it? To defend freedom of the press? Hardly. It was a pure gesture of contempt from smug bigots in their comfortable democracies.

That said, Islam had better face up to the fact that it is but one player in a world of many religions, and that it must give tolerance before it will deserve it. Moreover, it is a very weak player in that world, and their are many inside and outside the religion who wish to provoke a battle that it can only lose disastrously.