I published 3 of the forbidden Jyllands-Posten cartoons earlier today. Since then I have read a couple of dissenting views of people I respect who argue that the publishing (and re-publishing) the cartoons is merely an effort to goad Muslims into acting on their base instincts.

Hugh Hewitt likens the cartoons below to a Tom Toles cartoon earlier this week depicting a quadruple-amputee soldier that drew the ire of the Joint Chiefs. Hewitt argues that the original publishing of the cartoons and everyone else's re-printing of them fails to show "a decent respect for the opinions of mankind." In most cases I would wholeheartedly agree with Hewitt, but here I cannot. Muslims are arguing that they are a special case -- and caving to their threats curtails all our freedoms.

Some have likened these cartoons to Andres Serrano's infamous "Piss Christ" -- a piece of "art" that consisted of a crucifix submerged in urine. While Christians decried the "art," wrote letters and made efforts to ensure that there was no public funding for the "art" -- if the "elite" want to spend their own money on that crap, they're welcome to -- I can recall no death threats, armed gunmen storming museums or other public places, etc.

In short, there's a proper way to respond to this sort of thing in a free society, and you can't instruct Muslims on how to behave if you're so scared of what they might do that no one ever dares offend them.

You hear this sort of logic from secular humanists all the time -- most often when it pertains to religious speech in the public square. Religous speech, of course, "offends" their atheistic sensibilities and they "demand" their right not to be offended. This just in: there is no such right. If you live in this world, you're going to be offended sometime by someone somewhere. If this troubles you, then you're going to have to practice that hermit thing.

Respect, to some extent, is earned, not given. Yet Muslims throughout the Middle East and around the world are outraged by these relatively tame cartoons -- the worst of the bunch appear below -- and demand death and violence for publishing them, but nary a whisper of "respect" is heard when their own newspapers and magazines publish the worst sort of anti-Jewish and anti-Christian blood libels.

Backing down only encourages this sort of violence further on down the road.