'"our" way is not necessarily the only valid way of looking at things'

Yes, Guest me, I agree with your comment above (I hope I haven't quoted it out of context). My concern is that many in the Muslim world believe that "their" way (reinforced and controlled by imams and theocracies) is the only way of looking at things.

Let us remember that the original cause of offence, the cartoons, were published in Denmark. I don't pretend to be an expert on Denmark, but as I understand it, their society, like Britain, permits lampooning of the "great and good". Far from being oppressive, a situation where a pauper may laugh at a prince, or a peasant at a prime minister, is something that I, along with most Westerners, I suspect, find liberating. Most Muslims come from countries or societies which do not allow this kind of behaviour, where one is expected to kowtow to those with greater economic, social or religious power. In this context, of course they find these cartoons shocking. But they were published in Denmark, not in the Muslim world. If Muslims don't want to see them, they don't have to go to Denmark. As I understand it, it is Muslims who made these cartoons widely available in Mulsim countries; I'm not aware that the Danes had any intention of exporting them.

Are we to exist in a situation where we are allowed to laugh at ourselves but not at certain other groups in case they threaten to kill us? Who's oppressing who here?