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I have four points on this.
1. Freedom of speech is very important. But so too is respect and courtesy for others, including their religions.
2. I personally did not find anything wrong with the first publishing of the cartoons. I believe people have the right to engage in satire as long as people know it is satire. I also believe that people have the right to protest peacefully against things they don't like, even if this extends to rallies, boycotts of products and so on. Christians will remember the furore that happened when the movie The Last Temptation of Christ was released, depicting Jesus having sexual relations with someone. I'm pretty sure there were lots of protests about that too. It's our right to engage in peaceful protest when we see things we don't like. That's a very important right.
3. It was extremely unwise of the EU papers to repost these cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a inflammatory and stupid way. Freedom of speech brings with it a lot of responsibility, particularly from members of the media. It is interesting that the US and UK have condemned the republishing of the cartoons not because they disagree with the newspapers' right to publish them, but rather for the reasons behind their being published, and the impact they have had on Muslims. It's called being stupid for no reason.
4. It's fine to do peaceful protests, rallies and boycotts, but the morons who are talking about killing and abducting Western diplomats and threatening more suicide bombings and violence over this are the biggest idiots of all. You're entitled to protest, but to threaten loss of life and violence over this is a massive exaggerated response in my option. Two wrongs don't make a right.
My 2c. [img]smile.gif[/img]
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