On the Muhammad cartoon uproar

Riots continue in relation to the cartoon depicting Muhammad in an unsavory light in the eyes of many Muslims. Iran has now scaled back trade relations with the country for the time being (at least until the issue dies down politically). Professor Ajami of Johns Hopkins University put the issue in perspective tonight on the Newshour.

MARGARET WARNER: I mean, do you think Europeans deserve any responsibility for this, especially the ones who republished them?

FOUAD AJAMI: Well none whatsoever because part of the challenge, if you will, of living and the advantage of living in a liberal society is the willingness to be offended.

And I think what these Muslim populations in Europe, what these Muslim populations are telling us today is that they're in the West geographically but not of West. They don't accept the challenge; they don't accept the difficulty of living in a pluralist liberal society; that they have brought with them the fire from Morocco, from Tunisia, from Algeria, from Egypt and Syria.

And I think these European societies have a problem because they tended to think that there is a battle between America and the Islamic world, and that they are innocent bystanders. They're not innocent bystanders and now they know this. They know this in Denmark. They know this in Holland. They know this in Sweden. And that's what we're really seeing.

We're really seeing millions of Muslims who have come to Europe; they've been granted the chance for a new life. And I think they need to make their peace with this modern society in which they find themselves. And they haven't done it yet.

Ajami is right on, and this is a lesson a lot of people in America and other western nations should keep in mind as well when they fain outrage at something they're supposedly offended by whether they be espousing political correctness or the uptight religious right.