rjak134 wrote:

While I don't agree with publishing the cartoons just in order to provoke or rile people up (never a good reason to do something!) I think that that is really not the main point with which we should be concerned. The paper has a right to print these cartoons for whatever reason they want, regardless of whether their justification is reasonable or unreasonable. That's their right. They may be wrong to do it, but that should be decided in the court of public opinion.

The real issue to me is that, in Copenhagen of all places, there are riots of Muslim extremists, burning cars and dumpsters, just because some newspapers exercised their right to free speech in a Western liberal democratic society. The increasingly obvious fact that, on a global scale, offending Muslims is a life-threatening act, even in what should be the security of a peaceful democracy like Denmark, is the real headline here. Western societies need to wake up to the fact that there is a real, threatening, an influential strain of Islam that refuses to adapt to Western standards, and believes that, in the end, all Western societies must be forcibly subjugated to Islamic law and we need to start considering seriously what to do about it.

With freedom though, there is a certain level of responsibility attached to it......that applies to we in the western world as well, who live in free societies. 

What to do with Muslim extremists who would set fires, overturn cars, etc., if they're re-published........in a democratic society such as Denmark, treat them as you would any other citizen who break's the law.

The much larger picture?  At this point, I honestly don't know how or even if extreme proponents of Islam can be 'put back into the box'. 

Do you have any ideas?

Peace,
Sandy