I just came across an article that I thought was fantastic. A woman extremely critical of Islam suggests that we fight Muslim terrorists rather than simply bend to them and their threats.

This woman is probably one of the bravest women in the world. She's standing up in a society that no one, much less a woman, dares to stand up in.

I agree with most of what she's saying. I don't think that we should continue accepting this kind of behavior from radicals, but on the other hand if we did what this woman is proposing, the violence would get a lot worse before anything gets better (if it ever would). It's all about an attitude that the West has adopted so eagerly. It's a "just keep your head low and apologize, and maybe they'll go away" attitude. Whenever there's a flare-up in the Middle East, the root of the problem is never properly dealt with (not that I have much of an idea on how to) - but it's like giving a pacifier to a screaming child.

The way the west treats Islamic fundementalists is such a double standard to how we hold ourselves. People desecrate the religious symbols of Christianity all the time. Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the cross, even taking the Lord's name in vain is extremely common (using the excuses of "art" and freedom of speech, of course). And if a Christian were to object, screams of "fascist" or "anti freedom" would ring out across the media. But if people were to say the things about Islam that they say about Christianity, we would have already gone into World War III. It's almost insulting that we expect this kind of thing from the Middle East, but would never tolerate it on our home front.

It begs the question of how and why this double standard came about, and whether or not anything will change. I wonder if a country would stand up and say "no, we will not tolerate these kind of threats". Or what would happen if they did.

Edit: I apologizing for classifying people/groups incorrectly, and minimilizing the issue. As Chris pointed out to me it's a much larger issue than this. However, I wrote this very early in the morning and couldn't think entirely properly.