Danish caricatures: freedom of speech or ...?

[serendipity]

Well this has been on the news for a while now, old news even: 12 caricatures that appeared last year in a Danish newspaper are causing a huge riot in the Muslim world.
What's your stance on this: is it freedom of speech and should therefore be okay, or is it rude and an insult and everyone who printed these caricatures (and laughed about them) should apologise?
I think some of them talked about this during a football match. What a combination ay? And since someone is back...

[Oriental]

Well this has been on the news for a while now, old news even: 12 caricatures that appeared last year in a Danish newspaper are causing a huge riot in the Muslim world.
What's your stance on this: is it freedom of speech and should therefore be okay, or is it rude and an insult and everyone who printed these caricatures (and laughed about them) should apologise?
I think some of them talked about this during a football match. What a combination ay? And since someone is back...

Have you seen the cartoons? I don’t think they are that bad. Yes, they may offend somebody but so may the burning of Danish Embassies, the Fatwa on the Danish cartoonists and the upcoming criminal charges against Miss Indonesia for having participated in the Miss Universe pageant.

That said, I think that the timing of the publication of the cartoons is totally wrong, and that the subsequent handling of the emerging crisis by the Danish government was rather clumsy and unprofessional. But what can one expect from a Danish government who is held on a leash by a party on the extreme right, who thinks all Muslims should be kicked out of Denmark?

Ignorant people as those in the extreme right party in Denmark or Islamic fundamentalists for that matter are the troubles of the world. The rest of us, the majority I hope (but I fear it isn’t so), must try to balance things and work for mutual understanding and respect.

[Bafana]

I think they were freedom of speech, however, they were in poor tatse and anyone who has studied the Koran and the teachings of Islam can see why they are so offensive. I think there was a more detailed thread on this subject somewhere else when the story was hot news.