A civilization with more back bone would have stood up for itself when threatened by Islamic idiots calling for the beheading of anyone who dares to insult their "prophet". Instead government officials are giving groveling apologies that must bring a smile to the appeasers. Idiots on the paleo right like Buchanan think the best policy is to surrender and give our new muslim overlords whatever they want, the idiots on the left like Howard Dean think the same thing. Is anyone willing to stand up for western civilization? In this day and age of cultural relativism, the idea that all cultures are superior to the west, standing up for western civilization is seen as being worse than a nazi.
Europe, the cradle of this great civiliation, seems to have forgotten who they are. The birthplace of Democracy, the enlightenment, phiosophy, capitalism, and many advanced sciences don't seem to care if they are overrun by a civilization that has been trying to overtake them for 1400 years. Instead of standing up for their freedom of speech, their freedom of religion, and their democracies, the elites cower in fear and apologize while most everyone else remains silent.
Were the cartoons insulting? To a muslim, absolutely. Do they warrant this violent rampage? Absolutely not. Christians don't burn embassies and threaten to kill those who insult Jesus Christ, Jews don't kill those who mock old testament prophets, Buddhists don't murder those who make fun of their religion. Muslims and muslims alone would react in such a fashion. Which is Ironic on the one hand they take advantage of the rights western civilization offers them, the right to worship, the right to demonstrate and freedom of the press(freedoms they don't have in their own countries) and with the other hand seek to destroy those freedoms because they lost their sense of humor back in the middle ages.
The west, particaurly Europe, prides itself on being tolerant. But tolerance can only go so far, and apply to those who are willing to return that tolerance. These fanatics would not return this tolerance. They seek a special place for their religion, laws that would forbid questioning Islam, basically they want to turn the west into a copy of the muslim countries.
So this isn't really about a cartoon. That is their casus belli, their excuse. This is about a clash of civilizations. What they couldn't accomplish through force of arms in Spain, or at the gates of Vienna, they now seek to do through immigration and high birth rates. They are counting on Europes lack of will to exist, and they might count right. And frankly the prospect of an Islamic Europe shouldn't be appealling to anyone.
