Jacqueline O'Rourke is an independent consultant, writer and activist. Her recent book, Representing Jihad: the Appearing and Disappearing Radical is available from ZED Books.
This is not a debate about “blasphemy”, about freedom of expression; this is a debate about a carefully orchestrated provocation, hate crimes and murder. Is it too much to ask that Americans be a little less “innocent” and that all the players who provoked these violent and surreal events be held