We need not to make it pointless and heated though, I'll summarize. So two ideas here, correct me if I'm mistaken.

One is positive to showing that we won't listen to another culture when they have so many and powerful extremists among them, showing we will stand our ground with our own norms and values.

The other is positive to showing that we shouldn't make a culture angry by means that are not so bad for us, but are for this other culture, to show understanding and willing to find another way to deal with the rotten apples.

Both ideas will not solve the problem. Rather they depict how we want to look like towards this other culture. Do we show how our share of the world is important to us (freedom of speech on all accounts), or will we show respect to those who practice the Islam truthfully and work with them together to solve their rotten-apple problem?


In my opinion, while the latter idea sounds like it would work better, in reality it is not. The hatred towards us within Islamic extremists is so big, they'll take any chance to declare war to us, whether that be drawings or any other reason. So if we make a habit about not making drawings of Muhammad (exactly like how we treat drawings of swastika's), shouldn't we also remove anything else that makes them angry? They eventually don't care if we draw Muhammad or have a church in our city centre. It's all the same for them: a reason to tear us down.

I think adding these small respectful courtesies is beyond the line. We have been very generous adding mosques to our countries, and truthful Muslims are welcomed here, but have you counted the churches in their countries? We have shown enough respect, it's time they show respect from their side to us. But I'm open to be reasoned.