Despite comments I have made by way of venting my frustration, I have tried to remain tolerant and open-minded. I have tried to understand where they're coming from, and to respect those who feel offended and have tried to resolve that feeling through reasonable dialogue with the offenders.
Even killings are forgivable. Horrible, but forgivable. Many of the killers are people who were raised in cultures that taught them there was no alternative, that if they didn't strike first, then we (the evil demonic West) would annihilate them, just because we can. They're messed up in the head. By western lights, one might call it institutional insanity.
Now. There was an anti-cartoon protest outside the UN building in New York City. It was entirely non-violent. That's fine. Many gathered to protest against the violence that overseas Muslims have been committing in the name of the stupid cartoons. Wonderful, and thank you. Some demonstrators wished to air their feelings that their religion had gotten unfair treatment in a culture that gets sensitive about the rights of black people, women, and alternative lifestyles. Fair enough. If African-Americans can acceptably protest insulting cartoons about Martin Luther King as discriminatory, then by all means Muslims should have the same right.
This is entirely reasonable, coming from American Muslims:
I'm sad that they feel discriminated against, and glad they're making their voices heard. We can only live in peace as a culture if open dialogue takes place so that we know where the boundaries of taste and courtesy lie.
This, however, is NOT:
Might I point out the swastika in place of the stars on the American flag (it's a bit hard to see). And do take note of the swastikas added to the frigging STAR OF DAVID on the Israeli flag. Excuse me?! You, the SOB holding up that sign, are someone with access to a free and outspoken press, educational materials, and certainly not least, personal experience with the culture that you're comparing to the Nazis. You damned well know better. You know better than to buy into that bullshit propaganda. You know better than to believe that the western nations are some unified, monolithic Vatican-controlled Jewish conspiracy. You know better than to think that all Americans are out to get you for being Muslim. And you know better than to pretend that the US had any freaking part in those cartoons! Have you not checked your computer, TV, or cell phone in the past two weeks? My god, our press is firing anyone who dares to print them! Because we want to show Muslims that we're not out to get you. We want to show respect; we want to remain on terms as peaceful as we can manage with the ideal of Islam and its followers.
You, the SOB holding that sign, are an American. Possibly you're a citizen. If not, then what the hell are you still doing here? If you hate us that much, then go back to your dictatorial, oil-dependent country that lies to you at every turn, persecutes anyone who dares rub working braincells together, and throws women into caves when they hit puberty. Go back to your beloved Middle Eastern country where your children will be enslaved by extremist propaganda and taught how to be killers from the age of eight, where your wife will be stoned if she tries to hold a job so that your family can have enough to eat, and where chances are good that running, drinkable water is as scarce as wi-fi. You don't have to stay here if you hate us that much, if we're that uncivilized. You and everyone who agrees with you is perfectly welcome to crawl into a hole in the middle of the Sinai desert and never come out again. You'd be doing the world a favor. I think I can promise that if you ignore us, we'll all be perfectly happy to ignore you.
Welcome to the difference between anti-discrimination protest and hatespeech. Learn it, love it, live it.
