Some food for thought:

1) Note that is isn't the particular message of the cartoons that angers 
Muslims, but the reproduction of *any* image of the Prophet (my 
understanding is that this is considered blasphemy).

2) Very few people believe in absolute freedom of speech; even in the US 
we draw the line for hateful, obscene, and defamatory speech. I don't 
have a particular position on where the line should be drawn, but I 
doubt it would go over very well in the West if a Muslim paper published 
a cartoon of Jesus raping a four-year-old.

Chris

Matt Rudary wrote:
> I completely agree with you that newspapers shouldn't be intimidated 
> into not printing this. It's a real shame, though, that the cartoons 
> aren't terribly clever or funny. This may be the reason that they 
> haven't been reprinted in US newspapers -- why print something insulting 
> to people without making a point? Further, I don't think US newspapers 
> have as much to worry about with respect to freedom of the press as 
> European papers do. It's thus more important to the European papers to 
> assert that right.
> 
> Matt
> 
> Daniel Reeves wrote:
>> And by the way, I'm completely serious about this. I think this is a 
>> way that improvetheworld can literally improve the world.
>>
>> Also, please don't be shy about chiming in on this.	Once the first 
>> message is sent it's really no more burden for people to delete the 
>> whole thread (as long as you leave the subject line intact).
>>
>>
>> (PS, I can see from the web logs that lots of you have viewed the 
>> pictures already so don't pretend you're not listening! :)
>>
>>
>> --- \/   FROM Daniel Reeves AT 06.02.04 17:03 (Today)   \/ ---
>>
>>> A Danish newspaper recently published cartoons depicting Mohammed and 
>>> muslims as terrorists.  Muslims are up in arms about it.  In fact, 
>>> they've burnt down the Danish and Norwegian embassies in Syria, as a 
>>> start.
>>>
>>> It's all over the news but no US newspaper has the backbone to print 
>>> the cartoons.  I guess terrorism works. So this is an opportunity to 
>>> fight for free speech by helping make sure the agenda of the radical 
>>> religious right backfires.	And so, improvetheworld brings you:
>>>
>>>  http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/dreeves/itw/mohammed
>>>    (or google improvetheworld)
>>>
>>> Oh, and since muslims are calling for boycotts of Danish products in 
>>> response to those cartoons, you should also buy more Danish stuff.	
>>> Like Legos.
>>>
>>>  ,
>>> Danny
>>
>>