In the case at hand, too many people are claiming that this is purely an issue of freedom of speech, which I think it's not. Jyllands-posten, in my opinion, decided to use its freedom of speech and its position as one of Denmark's papers of record, to provoke the muslim community of Denmark.
As I am not a muslim but I am a secular European, it is Jyllands-posten behaviour, not that of the muslim extremists issuing death threats, that reflects on me by association, and therefore that is the side that I concentrate on criticizing. Especially when I see freedom of speech used to protect bigoted attitudes, only to turn around and issue a half-hearted apology when a boycott starts hurting Denmark's economic interests. At its core, this is an issue of power. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
By bringing up the KKK, I'm trying to make the same point that jyllands-posten's action should be immaterial to the discussion of free speech. Frankly, I've never read the newspaper, nor do I care to. nor do I condemn them because they are so far beyond my scope, I wouldn't bother. For all I know, they are a right-wing Nazi newspaper.
Freedom of speech is sued to put forth bigoted attitudes all the time, especially from obscure corners (as I have heard the mass media Danes portray this particular newspaper). I simply don't see why this particular instance of bigoted free speech merits so much exposure.
