that cartoons back

[Touchstone]

Must a defense be agressive? Are we to believe there are no constructive alternatives to mockery and intellectual vandalism?

No, and no.

But that doesn't mean that a defense should not be allowed to be agressive.

And lets not forget who threw the first stone, so to speak. It wasn't the people who drew the "offensive" cartoons, it was the people who said "nobody is allowed to draw cartoons and we will kill anyone who does so."

I never said so, and certainly didnt mean to imply any of the kind. I drew the comparison in order to illustrate how vandals (or trolls if you like) makes a perfect excuse for politics to circumvent the principle of free speech in some cases.

Step back and think about what you've just said--people shouldn't make full use of their rights because if they do then those rights might be taken away.

If that is so, then they really don't have those rights now.

And the people you should be condemning for that are the governments who take the rights away, not the protestors who try to exercise them.

"yelling stupid and angry shit real loud" is a figure of speech.

I understand that; I used it the same way.

Look, IIRC you're in an interracial relationship--some people consider such things offensive. I don't, but if you're saying that people should not be allowed to voice strong anti-muslim sentiments because some people might be offended by that, then why would you not accept the government's right to deny you the right to your relationship, because some people might be offended by it.

I am sorry if I have not made myself clear, but let me try another phrase: Deliberate instigators of mayhem. They are found on both sides of the barricades, and are usually far more succesfull than negociaters of peace.

Who, really, is the instigator here? The people who have stepped over an arbitrary line, or the people who drew an arbitrary line and said "cross that and we'll kill you"?

What I do wish is that people would stop regurgitating the slogans and propaganda of instigators and warmonkers, and in stead use what freedom they have left in a constructive way. This is a time of crisis, and if we respond to our fears and resolve to agression, the end is surely near.

I wish the same. I just don't see it as being one sided. Sure, people "A" could choose not to draw cartoons. But people "B" could just as easily choose not to kill people for drawing cartoons. And frankly, I consider the violent over-reactors to the be the greater danger to our future.