It seems I may have not hit the issue directly on the head in my initial blog post. The firestorm of violence sweeping the muslim world should cause us all concern, because it directly challenges our sovereign freedoms, and as thus is an attack on free men everywhere. Freedom of expression. Freedom of speech. Freedom in general. These words become meaningless as soon as we surrender our capacity to make decisions for ourselves to an aggressive monotheistic religion, or a dogma of any sort. The publication of cartoon depicting Islams 'prophet' mohammed is one of those freedoms. Would we all stop eating meat if it directly challenged some wacky religions notions about vegetarianism? What if the fanatics of this religion turned massively violent because of it, would we give up?
The freedom of the press is a basic liberty of our culture. If the muslims cannot accept this, then that is their problem. I see countless things everyday which I find deeply offensive, yet believe in freedom to the extent that I accept others misdeeds, transgressions, and outright insults. I expect others to honor this basic precept as well, even muslims.
So if I see an islamic protest burning an effigy of the Danish prime minister, I will speak up. All that is required for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Oppose the radicals. Confront their ignorance. Be strong.
