Mediocratic Media Morons

Once again, the West has shown its miraculous unfailing ability to misunderstand the Muslim world. This time the issue at hand is the supposed "clash of civilizations." In its latest reincarnation, the "clash of civilizations" is over a series of cartoons that would be unremarkable were it not for their tasteless depictions of the prophet Mohammed. With no context provided, it would seem to the casual Western observer that the entire Muslim world has erupted into irrational fury over a series of images that would be unremarkable had their subject been Christ, and their location the Museum of Modern Art. Let me be quite clear:
THIS IS NOT ABOUT A SERIES OF DRAWINGS
Yes, these drawings were a proximate cause, but they were really just a small match which ignited a powder keg of abuses and frustrations built on top of one another. Had the Muslim world been reacting solely to an intellectual exercise in free speech in an obscure Danish publication, these protests would have ocurred months ago back when the cartoons were published. Most residents of the Middle East live under some of the most venal, tyrannical, and incompetent regimes on the planet. Daily life for Muslims world over is an exercise in frustration, sheer frustration as tangible as hunger or thirst. By all rights the oil-rich Middle East should be the wealthiest place on the planet, but instead it is one of the most wretched.
Under the circumstances, claiming that these are caused by cartoons is absurd, equivalent to saying that people leave a burning theater because they were offended by the play.