get a thicker skin

If you live in the U.S., you may not know it but the rest of the world has its panties in a wad over some cartoons mocking Muhammad that have been printed and reprinted.

The Muslim world is pissed.
Half the West is cowering in fear of reprisals.
The other half stands defiant in "Freedom of the Press" mode.

Here's some decent coverage from the BBC, here as well, and then something paltry from the NY Times (we would not want to actually see any world news, would we?). Here's an interesting discussion on it as well if you read German.

Here's my two cents:
1. Whether it's God, Jesus Christ, YaWEh (or however you type it), Budda, etc., they have all been mocked before in the public media. The world did not end. Christians have a particularly thick skin on this and can give out some handy pointers.
2. By reacting to soothe the situation, Western Diplomats are playing into the hands of extremists.

That said, here's another two:
1. The Press is right.
2. Perhaps some thoughtful consideration should be given before publishing such things if only to avoid a row like this, since in the West when such offensive things are published, Christians, Jews, etc. do not respond by threatening to kill people.

ED. note: After I put this up, I read this email from from Vadim earlier in the day... It seems that everyone is pissed off about cartoons these days. TWO separate stories are in the press right now, one domestic and one international . Makes me want to get out the old pad and pencil.