Then there's the 'free speech' issue that's being used to further the red herring smokescreen. Free speech doesn't give anyone the right to say or do anything they please. If you yell fire in a movie theatre and cause a stampede, or shout bomb in a plane and cause a panic, you can get prosecuted. So, why should these extremists who make a movie expressly designed to provoke violence from Muslims not be prosecuted? Free speech, like any of our rights, comes with obligations.
Every empire in history has suffered from the same hubris our current Western one does. We, and all the others, see ourselves as the bestower of the gifts of civilization upon the poor backward folks in the hinterlands. The Roman and English Empires had the same thoughts, so too the Greeks, the Persians and each of the Chinese Dynasties. Each time the leaders and prosperous citizens are aghast when the natives no longer want the 'gifts' their bring brought to them. Each time the once easily oppressed outliers gain strength while the central empire becomes arrogant and decadent. History clearly shows we in the west aren't exceptional, in fact, it's surprising that a widespread rebellion against the Empire hasn't happened earlier.
The protests themselves are indicative of deeper problems, of millions of unemployed young people with little or no future in a world of contrasting poverty and incredible wealth, of a foreign policy that demonizes Muslims as "terrorists" while it unconditionally supports the terrorists in Israel. In case you haven't noticed, The US fights its drone wars exclusively against Muslims, betcha the the Muslims have noticed. Betcha they've noticed our invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, our torture in Abu Ghraib and Bhagram and Guantanamo, our labeling of Muslims as terrorists. Well, now they've gone and burnt down a KFC... hopefully they know this means WAR!
