Reply #6: Blah, blah, blah.

[laconicsax]

What drivel! Muslim extremists are actively trying to stifle others' free speech. They do it in the form of threats, violence, and murder. Using those tactics to force others to comply with your view is terrorism.

This is absolutely reprehensible and has no place in the modern world.

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This is the prophet Muhammad. I am under no rule, law, or tradition that forbids my depicting him. The notion that I should be prevented from doing so because a small group of vocal fanatics want to impose their religion on the entire world is patently absurd.

The author of this piece wants us to just shut up and let a bunch of terrorists (they use terror as a means, that makes them terrorists) dictate laws to the rest of the world. He can go fuck himself. The idea that Muslims who act sensibly and don't resort to violence should be lauded is bullshit. The vast number of Muslims who don't resort to violence are simply doing what's expected of them as members of society. People shouldn't be congratulated for behaving like responsible adults just because other people can't. We don't give out gold stars to drivers who stay on the correct side of the road, we don't reward people for not committing rape, why the hell should we reward people for not trying to intimidate people and governments into bowing to a narrow-minded ideology?

The idea that by standing up to the bully, we're really hurting the little guy is also absurd. Unless he can actually show that standing up to extremists is harmful to non-extremists, he doesn't even have an argument. Part of being a member of a free society is understanding that you may have to deal with things that you may personally find offensive and when that happens, you can choose to speak out against it in a responsible way.

Free society is a contract--you get to live as you wish, and in exchange, you can't tell someone else how to live. If a person can't handle that, then they're welcome to leave.