This is what I think. Muslims have been subjected to a hell of a lot of dehumanization in many parts of the world over the last several decades, by people who (rather self-righteously and self-congratulatory, in my opinion), consider themselves more enlightened and just plain better than Muslims . (Some of the physical depictions of Muslims in those cartoons being excellent examples... some of those depictions are incredibly dehumanizing and/or demeaning.)

Many cultures would be pretty well up in arms because of this type of treatment, and they would be justified in this.

I don't notice Muslims spending a lot of time dwelling on this kind of treatment of them as people. What I notice is Muslims expressing their righteous indignation at what they perceive as disrespect of their religion.

I think there is a very human and a very understandable reason for this. In the Muslim religion, the self is turned over entirely to the care and the direction of the creator concept ("Allah" - which is the Arabic word for "God"). It would not be consistant with this subordination of the self to "God" to complain about things suffered by the individual. But Muslims are human just like everyone else... they have feelings, and shabby treatment can get to them after a while just like everyone else.

But because of their beliefs, they don't have any kind of outlet for those feelings. The only way they can express their very valid feelings of anger over their treatment at the hands of the Western powers is to do it in a way that they can feel is in service to "God". It's a way of coping with injustice that doesn't challenge their perception of themselves as good Muslims.

I don't think rubbing their noses in the shabby treatment they're receiving from Western countries is a good way to fix the problem. That sort of thing is what is causing the problem in the first place.