The idea that all cultures are equal is as crazy as the idea that all peoples are equal or all people are equal.  There're not.

 
That's not what he said. He said that there are radical elements in many cultures, an observation that is empirically true. To say that there are idiots along the fringes of most cultures is not to say that "all cultures are equal", whatever that clunky little cliche is meant to mean, precisely. I agree with NickDoe that the brutish excesses we've seen from some Muslims is not something peculiar to Muslims -  not in the least.

However, I do think there is something to be said for the general observation that angry reactions to disagreeable opinions seem to be more prevalent in Muslim societies. This, I suspect, has much to do with what most Muslim societies are - poor, less developed, less free, more oppressed, more autocratic; societies whose fabric is woven from traditional religious norms. There are many ways to react to Jyllands-Posten: the way one does will likely be influenced by one's social and cultural milieu. The Oxford-educated professor of Constitutional law at Harvard will react differently from a poor peasant with an elementary education gained at a religious school, living under a tyranical aristocracy in the ME.

Our world, our modernity, has made humans more alike each other than at any other time in history - but we're not all enlightened, everywhere. 

Aurelius.

Posted at February 5, 2006 2:33 PM in response to Freedom to Offend

Site's beautiful. Very good work, people.

Posted at February 5, 2006 1:06 PM in response to Welcome to the new TPMCafe!

"Law Brokers". Lol.

Posted at January 25, 2006 3:19 AM in response to Department of Semantics