Seduction of the Innocent: For those old enough to remember, those four words put the final nails in the coffins of several comic book publishers in the early 1950's. It was the title of a book by Friedrich Wertheimer, who claimed that reading comic books, with their images of violence and death, caused kids to become juvenile delinquents, even criminals. When the smoke cleared, the only publishers left were DC (home to Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman); Timely (which would become Marvel, home to Spider-Man and Captain America); and MLJ (which renamed itself after its most popular character, Archie); and EC (which, after everything else they published was banned, was left with a little humor magazine called "Mad").

Comics -- actually, single-panel cartoons -- are at the heart of a political firestorm once again. A Danish newspaper -- Jyllands-Posten, only one of the many published in Denmark -- reported the story of a children's book writer who could not find a single artist to illustrate a book featuring Mohammed, the great prophet of Islam and author of the Koran. In response, they invited a dozen artists to draw cartoons about how difficult it was to draw Mohammed -- an act considered a taboo among Muslims, but not expressly forbidden by Islam. Some cartoons are innocuous, others provocative, but in a society like Denmark's where press freedom is enshrined in law and tradition, unremarkable.

This was done in September 2005. Fast-forward to February 2006. A group of Muslim clerics from Denmark journey to Egypt, carrying not only the twelve cartoons but three more which they faked and passed off as additional cartoons from the same paper. The result? There's rioting in the streets of cities in Muslim countries; there's demonstrations in the streets of European cities, many of which have sizeable Muslim populations; and the Egyptian ambassador to Denmark, after meeting with the Prime Minister, states that the government of Denmark must do something to appease the Muslim world.

This is even after the Prime Minister explained -- politely, I would hope -- that the Danish government couldn't censor the free expression of ideas, even if they offended the Muslim world. Freedom of the press, you understand. No government interference. The Muslim world -- at least that part of it whose voice is being reported by the mainstream media -- cannot understand why the Danish government will not step in and stop this outrage.

Since then, things have spiraled. Muslim countries are refusing to buy Danish products. Embassies of European countries (and of the EU itself) have been put to the torch. The editors of Jyllands-Posten, considered a controversy-stirring paper even before this, are under police guard because of threats against their lives.

I find the Egyptian ambassador's choice of words interesting. Denmark must "appease" the Muslim world. Those who have studied history -- even those who are still with us who were alive during World War II -- remember how appeasement worked with the Nazis. Austria vanished; Czechoslovakia was eaten piece by piece; and still there was war, long and bloody.

It took a long time for the concept of rights of the individual, as enshrined in the Bill of Rights, to spread throughout the rest of the world. We've been working on it for over 200 years ourselves, trying to get it right, trying to get all the kinks out. Some other countries have accepted the concept; others have not. What we are hearing today is the scream of outrage from some of those who have not, who believe in freedom of expression only if their own sensibilities are not offended.

The problem with freedom of expression is that it's a double-edged sword. Yes, you can say or write or express any and all opinions you have, with a reasonable expectation that no level of government will be coming after you to shut you up. But the other side of that is that everyone else has that same right, even if what they're saying offends or insults you. The freedom protects you both. Having it any other way means that it ultimately protects neither of you.

The ones who need to apologize, who need to appease if you will, are those who are screaming for deaths because a religious taboo has been spectacularly broken. First off, the original twelve cartoons were published five months ago. In this age of the Internet (and yes, it's in all those Muslim countries too), if these cartoons were truly offensive there would have been protests and marches the day after they were printed. A five-month lead time? Please. It's not like someone gets offended, then waits a half-year later to decide to protest.

Besides, death for printing a cartoon? It's offensive to even think that our actions have to be goverened by the most thin-skinned amongst us. Besides, even ignoring Christianity's doctrine of forebearance, one can go back to Judaism's doctrine of appropriate response -- you remember, the one that goes "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life"? The Bible is not superseded by the Koran in Islam, if I recall what I've read correctly. Jews, Christians, and Muslims are all "people of the Book", and Moses and Jesus are considered great prophets and teachers within Islam (not slighting Muhammed at all; he's considered the last prophet).

So where are the seduced innocents? They're the ones in the "Arab street", the ones screaming and burning flags and calling for death as the appropriate punishment for a cartoon. They've been seduced by their leaders, regardless if those leaders are the monarchs of Saudi Arabia, the increasingly less secular rulers of Egypt, the despots of Syria, or the theocrats of Iran, into thinking that their problems are all the fault of the non-Muslim world, and that by screaming loudly enough, by shooting off enough rifles in the air, by playing to the global audience enough, their problems will disappear as magically as if a genie were granting a wish.

The Muslim world was once one of great warriors and even greater scholars and rulers. At some point, it stopped seeking answers, stopped exploring the worlds without and within, stopped questioning their society and their faith, in a way that Christianity and Judaism never quite did, even in their darkest years. Islam stagnated, and no amount of street protests can undo that. But the "Arab street" is seduced into this belief, and its innocents are indeed being led astray.