these cartoons aren't really funny...

so, the furor over the islamic cartoons rages on... once again, there's plenty of blame to go around.

let's take the publishers first. man, they are dumb. yes, there is the freedom of speech. it's a nice freedom to have. not a right to be taken lightly or trivialized. however, i'm not exactly familiar with european laws, but there must be limitations. what were these people (publishers) thinking when they published cartoons of Mohammed with a bomb wrapped in his turban (i've seen the image by the way)? they are nothing less than insensitive. maybe inciting is the better word? how about spreading hatred? stupid, stupid people... what were they trying to achieve?

western governments, like denmark, are pretty much hiding behind this right of free speech when they say they can't control an "independent" media. it then must be rather odd that danish embassies are offering apologies to the muslim populations of their host countries. maybe they should pass some laws against hatred of a particular groups of people (if they haven't already) and enforce them (which they don't seem to want to do).

now the "muslim" reaction. i italicize muslim to discriminate between real muslims (98 percent who worship peacefully) and the 2 percent who are the criminal fanatics. i can understand the reaction of real muslims. they're deeply offended but they're not going out there promoting violence...once again their religion is being dragged through the mud not only by some stupid Westerners but also by the reaction of the idiot extremists. it's those idiots who are threatening innocent people with death or kidnapping that are disturbing. they are not doing Islam a favour when they go off the rails like they usually do.

judging by the mass protests, this basis for this outrage has gone way beyond the publishing of a few caricatures of the Prophet. the rage and despair displayed in the news reports are incredible...

in the meantime, people and governments are screaming at one another but no one's really listening...

anyway, allah wa'akbar.