So you're saying that people should just avoid doing anything that could possibly offend extremist muslims?
It is peoples' own choice if they want to heed this or not. I personally would avoid angering any group of murderous extremists, no matter their religious affiliation.
This is, of course, precisely their strategy. By being irrational and murderous every time their demands are not met, they slowly advance in the cultural war.
First, they stop us from drawing their prophet. Once that gain is cemented, they can start agitating for something else: maybe they'll tell us that our eating pork is offensive to them. And it'll take a while, but by a combination of extremists who actively kill people who eat pork and "moderates" who merely sit around tut-tutting and saying that while they personally deplore violence they can certainly see how somebody else might get upset about it.
Then alcohol, then unveiled women, then... who knows? The eventual goal is, of course, to eradicate everything other than Islam, and while I don't think you can get there from here, I can at least see how they think you can get there from here.
As such, I applaud anyone who is willing to stand up and say "No, sod off" to the whole idea.
For instance, Random House recently bowed to pressure and did not publish a novel about Mohammed's 9 year old wife.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9350312...
It is peoples' own choice if they want to heed this or not. I personally would avoid angering a group any group of murderous extremists, no matter their religious affiliation.
I might be crazy but to me that reads as "people should just avoid doing anything that could possibly offend extremist muslims".
Similarly, if you want to leave your laptop on a park bench and walk away, that's your prerogative, but you should know the possible consequences.
Which is pretty common sense... If you don't want to be hated, then don't commit hurtful and damnit actions.
The political argument is whether citizens of other countries, specifically western countries like the United States, should respect other countries who have a clear majority religion that isn't necessarily Christianity.
you can vote me down, but that is the reality.
Freedom is not free, and I appreciate everybody who defends it at their own personal risk. But part of that freedom is that it is your own choice to take that risk.
When someone tells us to shut up or they will kill us, Americans have only talked louder.
Our principles have never been free of cost.