Is this Hypocrisy..?

Here is the hypocrisy and it lies in you: you compare Muslims lack of condemnation of those that murder with the West's lack of condemnation of those that made an insult. The two are not comparable all the best urban

Naseem..I think I am a non-muslim, not yet an atheist, but somewhere close to that at times. :) And as far as I remember, I have condemned the making of that clipping and so has Lamby. And a few others have too. To me, such ridiculing is like the HIV infection. You cant expect it not to reach the AIDS stage.

Actually it is an untruth to state that Muslims do not speak out loudly against those that are involved in acts of terrorism. The majority of those in the Islamic faith oppose the extremists and indeed there have been many clerics that have spoken out. Part of the problem here is that many in the west are not hearing this. You must remember that this movie that has been produced is offensive to all Muslims, because the religion bans the use of any pictures showing the profit Mohammed. This is offensive to all Islamic people and this has given rise to the protests around the film. This is not the first time that pictures of Mohammed have caused friction (the Danish cartoons spring to mind) and I guarantee it will not be the last time this issue raises its head. Yet this is where the west has a different view. According to to "freedom of expression" rules in USA, Canada, UK, Europe, and other nations people have the right to use characters like Jesus or Mohammed in fictional stories and they cannot be prosecuted for it. At one time though criticising the Christian church was considered blasphemy and could lead to prosecution and imprisonment in certain European states. Here though times have moved on and films depicting Christ are taken with a pinch of salt and generally ignored. I would argue this the way we should react - ignore the film and it will be consigned to the dustbin of history. The same would have also been true of the book Satanic Verses, which the Iranian Fatwah simply served to ensure became a best seller. We should all oppose the making of such films because of the trouble they cause. Yet there are always some who simply do not care, especially if they can make money out of the situation. Personally I sit in the middle here with Christians in my family and Muslims in my wife's family. I love them both, that is a fact.

I love the freedom of speech (most of the time) and I support people's right to treat all subjects with criticism. In the West, we are used to seeing images mocking Jesus, God, etc. Sometimes people complain that they take it too far, and their voices are also heard. I think that most Muslim countries do not live in countries that have free speech. To them, they don't realize that the government does not condone these videos, they just don't stand in their way, just as they don't stand in the way of other videos. To me, violent protests over media really doesn't make sense. It seems like there are just some imams and other leaders who are exploiting Muslims for political gain. I would be much more impressed if they showed some sort of positive solidarity and outcry against more commonly accepted injustice, like the murder of Muslim civilians by Western security forces. Or some of the inhumane practices of the Taliban, which are not compatible with Islam! Have you seen the video that caused the uproar? Those filmmakers were lucky to be noticed, because it was complete crap! No one would have watched it if not for the uprising against it. They were just provocateurs. Many Muslim countries are facing serious social and political issues. It would be more helpful for those people if the discussion could be moved to problem-solve for their issues and create a more positive global picture for Muslims.