My Rights are Tired

Seldom has the "right to a free press" received such a workout as it's getting with the publication of the "Mohammed cartoons" in Denmark and elsewhere. I think publishing these cartoons was the dopiest idea since William Lloyd Garrison burned the US Constitution in public. Yes, yes, the press has the right to publish satire. But in a purely practical sense, why in the world would you do something like this when you know what the reaction will be? There's even less sense in the re-publishing by other outlets. I have the right to burn an American flag (at least until Scalito and Roberts chime in) but I wouldn't do it in front of the Camp Lejeune Enlisted Men's Club. Here's a rule: don't purposely do things as an academic exercise that end up getting lots of people killed.