Cartoon violence is stupid. So is republishing the cartoons.

The controversy surrounding the reaction to the reprinting of Muhammad cartoons originally published Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten last fall has this page bewildered. It's not so much that Muslims are undeniably upset, I don't think Islam receives the respect it deserves from Western governments and the media, and it's not like there's been any real effort from the West to build an understanding beyond the ignorant post-9/11 bleating of "Why do they hate us?". For what it's worth, I found Tariq Ali's Clash of the Fundamentalisms to be a good starting point.

What I don't get is that publications insist on reprinting these cartoons to prove how committed they are to free speech. It's an important ideal, but it's an ideal which has precipitated the deaths of 15 people and counting. Last year's riots around Paris and this year's violent demonstrations illustrate that Europe is simply not prepared to accommodate new immigrants nor their cultural traditions, and it appears any lessons from North America about building a culturally diverse society are being ignored. The U.S. constitution promises life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness...in that order.

The right of a publisher to deliberately piss off thousands of culturally shocked Muslims is trumped by the right of society in transition to grab a little stability. Anyone who feels that the angry Muslim reaction proves the Danish newspaper right is welcome to join me for a tour of the site of the Winter Olympics........of 2002: Salt Lake City. You will however, be required to wear a T-shirt depicting Joseph Smith as a sodomizing pedophile strung out on crystal meth.

Aw, c'mon...people can't be THAT upset...it's for science...