Why I Do What I Do

Robert Spencer articulates why some infidels (like me) feel the overwhelming need (compulsion, really) to draw--and speak--freely:

It is, in the first place, an irresistible human impulse to tweak the humorless and self-important; it can in many cases also be a healthy safeguard against tyranny. The figure that cannot be mocked or ridiculed is the one that holds all the cards, all the power. Opposition, dissent, free exchange of ideas depend upon the ability to cause offense without taking one’s life in one’s hands. That’s why the Muhammad cartoons published last week all over the Internet were not an exercise in obnoxiousness or gratuitous offense. They are, rather, the foremost battleground in the defense of the freedom of speech today. Every newspaper in the country should be printing them today, to show they are not cowed and will defend free speech.

Agreed, but they won't, because they're too afraid to, and because it's easier and safer to play dhimmi. Just look at what it took to intimidate "iconoclastic" Comedy Central into throwing free speech to the wind--one phone call from an irate kid with a kooky website. Not much "safeguard against tyrany" there.

Update: Speaking about tweaking the humorless...