Christianity can be mocked with impunity and only its hardest-line supporters urge “more restraint”; never do we hear “it was an unintentional offense, but now that we know we offended, we should back off” as a response. Judaism – wellnow, Judaism has been a punchline of rude jokes for hundred of years, and ditto: few calls for restraint, no heed paid to those. Why should Islam be treated differently?
Oh yes: because those who take the most offense, rather than just making placards and protesting vociferously, tend to behead people. We should reward this behavior?
THIS is why we need to keep the cartoons coming: because to back off on them sends exactly the wrong message to the most offended. How we manage the middling-offended – that’s tricky. But cultural assimilation to the extent that Western civil liberties remain the unchallenged should be absolutely non-negotiable.
