Da Vinci vs Bin Laden

Well, I almost got to see the Da Vinci code last night. I went to the cinema at about 7:15, and found out that not only was the 8pm show booked out, but so was hte 8:30 and 9:30 shows. Also, they wouldn't let me book for tonight either, so will have to go earlier tonight. It wasn't a total loss though, there were sone nice earnest christian types outside handing out copies of the Irish Catholic newspaper which had an article saying why the Da Vinci Code was a load of crap (altho in a polite way).

This got me thinking. Here is a film which is basically saying that everything we've believed in for 2,000(ish) years is wrong, and the most extreme reaction is maybe a few people standing outside the cinema with placards, and the Thai film censor cutting the last few mins where they make the "shocking" revelations. And yet, a few months ago a Danish magazine published a few cartoons showing the prophet Mohammed, and muslims all over the world were rioting blockading danish goods and calling for the death of the cartoonist and for some reason every american on the planet (because while you're rioting there's nothing like a chant of "death to the Great Satan" to keep the crowd worked up). So, on one hand you have a film which sticks two fingers up at an entire belief system, and on the other hand you have a few cartoons about a guy in a turban who may or may not be the prophet Mohammed, shown in a slightly unflattering light. The reactions? On one hand, you have a few people standing outside the cinema saying "no, don't go to see this", and on the other you have burning, rioting and killing. Or:

Christian's reaction to film (for fans of Fr. Ted)

Muslim's reaction to cartoons

Does this strike anyone else as being slightly out of proportion? If Islam was a person, it'd be in anger management classes now, or in therapy. What is it about that particular religion that turns people into suicidal nut-jobs? Sure, the cartoons were offensive, but there's thousands of offensive cartoons out there about Jesus, and do you see any of our uber-religions whackos strapping on a semtex vest? Do you think that there are any cinemas going to be torched over this one, or big crowds baying for Dan Brown or Tom Hank's blood? Islam is a religion of over a billion people, but it looks like the inmates have taken over the asylum, or at least the public face of it.

This debate has ben run a million times on a trillion blogs, so I'm not going to go into it again. I have a few possible reasons though why the fundamentalists have been allowed to go so far:

• The Mongols: Back in 1258 the Mongols sacked Baghdad and kiled the Caliph. The Caliph was the direct descendant of Mohammed, and so was the central authority figure in Islam - sort of like the Islamic Pope. With the Caliphate gone, there was no one central figure to lay down the law when extreme sects started sprouting up. Basically they had no-one with the authority to say "I've been speaking to the Big Man, and he's pissed at you. Quit your fool-acting or you're going to hell".
  
• Oil: It's always bee a case with American forign policy that if it were a choice between spreading democracy and preserving the status quo, they've always gone with the staus quo. if the americans weren't so scared of the Saudis and Kuwaitis turning off the oil pumps they would have gone in and bitchsmacked the first guys to go on about he "great Satan" quicker than you can say "Collateral Damage".