This issue of cartoons inciting such a level of violence is awful. There seems to be nothing productive or enriching coming out of this controversy. No lessons learned. No discussion. It’s hard for me to believe that riots or fires or deaths of protesters in any way shed a better light on an already sore subject. Coping with prejudice shouldn’t involve self-destruction. Nor should it invoke quid-pro-quo invocation of vileness, as this Guardian article reports. The problem at hand is the defamation of a peaceful icon with a symbol of violence. Ironically, the reaction to the problem only mirrors the problem itself.
