Canadians on the Danish Muhammad cartoons (continued from yesterday)

Here are some responses to the thread I was participating in yesterday. I always seem able to get a rise out of some people :)

When I see that someone has been reprinting those cartoons, I fear for their safety. So far, there hasn't been any violence that I know of toward any such person in North America. On the other hand, it's becoming clear what even very minor accidental slights (the Mohammed teddy bear) can lead to outside the US. It's just prudent to realize that what happens routinely outside the US (spasms of violence directed towards those who express insufficient reverence towards Islam) could also happen here, given the right population mix.

and

Yes, it says your friend is a histrionic fool. Really, what about any of those cartoons put his wife or children in danger? What about them exposed muslims to violent hatred? Maybe the bomb turban one (the most offensive in my view), but is there any reason to think that a bearded guy with a donkey in the sun is going to inspire some bigot to go on a killing spree?

and my response:

In a society that is overwhelmingly hostile to a minority, it is natural for a member of that minority to feel fear. The xenophobia and nationalistism that are all too common now and expressed above by failing to distinguish between Muslims and homicidal extremists and general fear of Islam is a perfect example of that hostility.
Denunciation of extremist violence is a given; it does not belong in the same sphere of debate as criticism of free speech and censorship.
I don't believe that it is the place of government to limit speech of any kind. The anti-Islam and anti-Muslim movements must be exposed as the bigotry that they are – and this must be accomplished through public consciousness. The proponents of these views do not deserve to be prosecuted for holding them – they deserve to be humiliated, intellectually tarred and feathered. We have accomplished this as a society in regard to other groups. It is time to apply those lessons and stop allowing it to be a debate that is acceptable in the mainstream.