Speaking of irony...

You know, I almost feel sorry for the Danish people.

Almost.

I can't put it any better than did Ralph Bristol:

The good people of Denmark never knew what hit them, and they still don’t know why. They keep mumbling to themselves, "Why us? We’re tolerant, understanding, liberal, reasonable people. Why do they hate us? I thought they only hated pushy, arrogant, empirical [sic] power-mongers. We’re none of those things."

Certainly not like those pushy, arrogant, imperialistic Americans, right?

"Yeah, but you ran a cartoon they didn’t like."

"Well sure, but it was only a cartoon.  I mean, we do believe in freedom of expression. But we’re liberal, reasonable, tolerant, non-judgmental people."

"Yeah, but you ran a cartoon they didn’t like."

"I know, but it was only a cartoon. We didn’t try to restrict any of their freedoms or put them in jail, or take away any of their privileges or deny them anything we have. We’re reasonable and liberal and tolerant and non-violent."

"Yeah, but you ran a cartoon they didn’t like."

"Why do you keep repeating that?  Haven’t I already told you that it’s just a cartoon? It doesn’t hurt them or repress them or anything.  It’s just one man’s opinion, expressed by a cartoon in a newspaper!"

"Yeah, but you ran a cartoon they didn’t like."

"Will you stop saying that! I know that.  How in the name of sanity does that justify burning our flags, setting our embassies on fire and threaten our lives?"

Sanity?  What does sanity have to do with this?  We're talking about violently fanatical people here.

"Well, my good liberal Danish friend, it is no more complicated than this. These are people who address every grievance with violence and terror. It is what they have been taught to do. It is what they do, and you cannot reason with them. Watch this."

"We don’t want apologies. We will not accept apologies. We want war. We want his hands cut off."

Well, now.  That's sanity for you.

"Who was that? Was that one of Bin Laden’s guys?"

"No, that was a Muslim cleric in your country, a leader of the ‘regular folks’ as Bill O’Reilly would call them."

"Who?"

"Never mind."

"So what are you telling me – that there’s nothing we can do to stop this violence?"

"Don’t look at me. You started it."

"What? We started it? How did we start it?"

"You ran a cartoon they didn’t like."

Perhaps they never will get it.