[Igottago]

While I do think its very important, maybe more important than ever, to satirize religion, and Islam in particular, I also question the motives of some of the people beating the freedom of speech drum. I think some people are using it as an opportunity to basically pile on a group of people and ethnicties they don't really like. Its becoming a bit of a cover for opportunistic bigotry.

Let's face it. Islam as a whole is not ready for the type of satire directed at christianity or judism. Why? A huge portion of muslim population of the world don't live in western liberal democracies, where the population is used to religion being pushed to the sidelines and general free thinking and criticism is a part of every day life. Until that happens, which could take a long, long time, its always going to be a hot issue. And there are a whole series of political and cultural issues that come into play with allowing that to take place.

The very idea that the religion is open to criticism just isn't true in parts of the world. So the options are
a) be as inflamatory as possible and hope they don't get angry and just "get it", while at the same time irritating a lot of people that aren't extremist
b) be a bit more diplomatic and senstive while espousing the values of democracy and free thought, and hope that in time, those values become a larger part of the societies that are the biggest offenders of religous extremism.

I think some people on both sides of the issue want nothing more than open hostility at all costs, they are not open to a real solution. Those are the voices that need to be drowned out by people of reason.

And I actually think the latest Charlie Hebdo cartoon does a great job of tackling the sensitivity and complexity of the issue. Its a defense of free speech, a satire of Islam, and displays some level of sensitivity at the same time.