Denmark, Islam, Free speech & Cultural sensitivity

I was rather disappointed that I had a hard time Googling the 12 Danish depictions of Mohammed. I wanted to see for myself what the fuss was about. This was the best I found.

I think this article makes a good point. Most members of most world religions don't get upset when non-believers violate tennets of a faith that is not their own. Orthodox Jews don't find bacon cheese burgers reason to riot. Though the Christian right seems to seek to limit the expression of non-church-approved sexuality by limiting who can marry whom.

So the Muslim world looks a little bad on this one.

But I do think the angry mobs comprehend, on some level, what's really going on here. Religious society (in which everyone follows the rules of the dominant group, irrespective of group membership) isn't compatible with secular pluralist society (in which everyone is free to follow his or her own rules, insofar as those rules don't impinge upon the rights of others to follow their own rules). Something's gotta give. There can be only one. And in our global information age, what's written in Denmark gets read in Riyadh. What's not meant to be a direct attack or intrusion on a tightly controlled idea bubble still has a way of pricking tender spots. And we get riots.