'Clash Over Cartoons Is a Caricature Of Civilization'

I strongly recommend reading the following Article by Philip Kennicott, a Washington Post Staff Writer. I find his analysis, unlike others in the press, to be objective and intellectually stimulating. Here is an excerpt:

Religious fundamentalism forced the issue; political fundamentalism inflamed it. An apology for giving offense is now capitulation to religious tyranny; the basic instinct of moderation is equated with cowardice. A little ink on paper is inflated to proof of a basic cultural incompatibility. So political leaders here speak of "the long war," a conflict with no sign of hope on the horizon between East and West. Now, rather absurdly, these cartoons may become part of the intellectual hardening of thought that will sustain the idea, on both sides of the cultural divide.

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