I'll take Missing the Point for $400

So cartoons were drawn, adding fuel to the fire of resentment of anti-Muslim sentiment in Europe. And violence broke out, resulting in burning embassies and dead protesters. And I hardly know what to make of the scale of it, of the cartoons, of the level of response. But I gotta say that this quote from the Vatican just made me want to bang my head on my desk:

"The right to freedom of thought and expression... cannot entail the right to offend the religious sentiment of believers," the Vatican said in its first statement on the controversy.

It feels difficult to explain Western enlightenment values to those from a different cultural milieu -- by which I mean Islamic nations -- but when the Vatican's notion of "freedom" includes "but not TOO free," then it rather feels like the likelihood of success has just dropped to zero . . .

Update: Tom Tomorrow captures my sentiments about the whole fiasco pretty well, from the freedoms at stake to the poor choices made by many involved.