Is the world getting more depressing, or am I just getting old enough to realize it's always been this way?

So. A newspaper prints some nasty cartoons, and thousands of rioters start burning down embassies. I really don't have the time, or patience, to give a long and detailed account of everything that's wrong with this picture, so here's a short summary of my opinion:

1.) There's a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech. You can criticize the way people warp religion into hate or violence or intolerance, you can even criticize aspects of the religion itself, but when you start making fun of the religion in general, that's the equivalent of making fun of culture. Here we go: "People who like cats are stupid. People from Russia are stupid. People who are Hindu are stupid." Those statements are all pretty much equivalent to what was printed in that newspaper. Are those statements okay? No. Is saying "Muslim extremists pick and choose verses of the Koran in order to justify killing innocents, and this is stupid" okay? Yes. Is saying "I don't agree with Islam and what it preaches" okay? Yes. Is saying "Islam is stupid, and hence the people who believe in it are stupid" okay? No.

And yes, religion and culture and race go hand-in-hand a lot more than people would like to admit. You don't have to be Indian to be Hindu, just like you don't have to be Arab to be Muslim. But countries were changed drastically because of religion, and religion is oftentimes a strong facet of culture (or is more culture than actual faith—see Japan for details). So you can't just bash a religion and hide behind, "People choose religion, so I'm just bashing their choice!" The entire world is not a mix of cultures and religions and choices like America and Canada—if one of the major facets of someone's culture has been Islam for 1500 years, that is a very strong piece of culture, and even if she doesn't choose to be Muslim, her family may be Muslim and town may be Muslim and culture may be heavily influenced by Islam. Can't bashing hurt her, too, even if she's an Arab without being a Muslim? So keep in mind that when you start bashing Hindu in general, or Islam in general, or Judaism in general, you're starting to bash culture and even race. That is not okay.

2.) There's a THICK line between peacefully protesting and burning down buildings that are symbolic of entire nations. A word to all you Arabs/Muslims/dictatorship governments/whatever out there who think burning down embassies is a good call—every time you're pissed for being made fun of or marginalized or treated like a nutcase, RESPONDING WITH VIOLENCE IS NOT GOING TO GET PEOPLE TO LISTEN TO YOU OR RESPECT YOU. Seriously, I'm getting so sick of trying to argue "the other side" here in the West, because this "other side" is always in the news for Violent Response Of The Day.

Me: "A lot of Arabs, Iraqis, Muslims, etc. have plenty of reason to distrust and dislike the West, since America picks and chooses its Middle-Eastern targets based on complete self-interest. What's the difference between Saudi Arabia and Syria? One has an asshole government that plays nice with the US, the other has an asshole government that doesn't. Guess who's getting nailed in 'the name of freedom and what's right'?"

Someone else: "Yeah, but does that make it okay for freedom fighters to kidnap and behead members of the press?"

…NO! NO, IT'S NOT OKAY! IT'S NEVER OKAY! EVERY TIME SOME NUTCASE MUSLIM EXTREMIST KILLS ANOTHER INNOCENT, MY JOB GETS HARDER! ISLAM ISN'T ABOUT KILLING INNOCENTS! STOP RUINING MY LIFE, BIN LADEN ET. AL! NOBODY'S GOING TO DEFEND YOU IF YOU KEEP KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE, AND TRUE MUSLIMS EVERYWHERE ARE PAYING FOR YOUR INSANITY!

Hey, let's have a (translated) quote from the good book itself:

"And make not God's (name) an excuse in your oaths against doing good, or acting rightly, or making peace between persons; for God is One Who heareth and knoweth all things." Koran, S. II, 224

Thank you, Koran! I couldn't have said it better myself.