MuslimsEgyptian blogger Big Pharaoh is asking a question that has been haunting me for the past couple of days. He wonders:

"A question to my fellow Muslims and Arabs: isn’t this picture more of an insult to Islam than the silly J-Posten cartoons? And don’t you think it can easily be an inspiration for similar future cartoons? Just 2 innocent questions here."

With all due respect, I have to agree with Big Pharaoh here. While I still regard the cartoons as offensive — exhibiting a terrible stereotype of millions of Muslims out there — some of the reactions to the cartoons, including, let’s see — the storming and torching of embassies, throwing grenades onto the grounds of a French embassy and harassing European nationals, and more — have caused more harm to the image of Muslims and Arabs than the actual publication of the caricatures did. Anyway, like fellow Jordanian blogger Naseem, I’m ‘sick of the word cartoon.’ Let’s hope this is the last post I write about this particular topic.