Cartoons of Muhammad v Burning Poppies

Following on from my argument in defence of freedom of expression, whether or not the expression might offend or not, it got me to thinking about a attitudes to attacking symbols across the board.

On the one hand, we've just seen the murder of some cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo by a handful of extremists for some offensive cartoons of the prophet Muhammad. The attitude of France and the world leaders that joined in the 'Je Suis Charlie' rallies was that Charlie Hebdo had a right to offend anyone it pleased.

There have been a mix of responses from within Islam to this idea. Some have argued that the cartoons don't bother them. Some have argued that they dislike the cartoons, but respect the right of the cartoonists to draw them. Some have used it as a platform to argue for further limits on freedom of expression that would make offensive images of the prophet Muhammad illegal. In response to the last opinion, it's very easy to point at cartoons ridiculing and attacking other faiths, but it occurs to me that there are blind spots in this argument.

In Britain, we have seen small handfuls of angry Muslims burning poppies. This is something I dislike as I have massive respect for the risks our servicemen take serving our nation, whether or not I think our government sending those servicemen into that conflict is a good idea or not. Then again, that doesn't mean to say I think someone should be arrested for burning a poppy, just because the majority, me among them, dislike poppies being burned.

There needs to be a shifting in attitudes away from curtailing everybody from being able to say something for risk of causing offence and moving towards the listener arguing with it or just ignoring it if they don't like it.

There's a nice little quote from the Quran that supports this idea.

And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel [evil] by that [deed] which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity [will become] as though he was a devoted friend. 
But none is granted it (the above quality) except those who are patient, and none is granted it except the owner of the great portion (of the happiness in the Hereafter i.e. Paradise and in this world of a high moral character). 

There's also another popular quote from Christianity that supports the idea: 'Turn the other cheek'. There may well be other quotes from other religions and ideologies that support this idea. Basically, the idea is a very good one.

People finding it within themselves not to mindlessly lash out if they are offended is the way to approach these questions, not to prevent things being said in the first place through threat of punishment or murder. To do that completely undermines the principle that was being violated by murdering the Charlie Hebdo staff.