Interesting conversation

The other night I had a very interesting conversation with a bunch of Danes. The cartoon drawing of Mohammad the Islamic Prophet was brought up. This part of the conversation came up right after I tried to convince them that all the followers of Islam are NOT terrorists and the Middle Easterners living in other parts of the world don't all have connections to clans back home or are parts of jihad. Yes this mentality still exists, and although there are many Muslims currently living in Denmark, there is a negative feeling toward them. These guys I spoke with also said that it is not fair that the girls who live in Denmark are given special treatment during PE classes just because they cant show themselves to guys and that they should conform to the society they are living in. Conform on all aspects of the new society. So, basically I asked, because the majority of Danes are not Muslims, Jewish, or Atheists, but are "Christians" that everyone should conform to Christianity and live a Christian life with Christian values. And of course they said no, that wouldn't work. And that, that is not the same thing, hmm... WHAT?? Are you serious?

This in itself was a heated conversation, but the cartoon conversation is what really put me over the edge. I am surprised at the narrow minded thinking from the Danes in this conversation actually, and thus the reason for this blog entry.

For those of you who are living in a bubble and don't know about this, The Danish newspaper; The Jyllands-Posten published twelve editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad. One in particular that we discussed was one that had a bomb as his hat.
Now, these guys said there was no reason Denmark should give any sort of an apology for any of these drawings. That the "Danish humor is Irony, and that was the kind of humor in the cartoons". They also said that these drawings were meant for Danes, who understand this kind of humor, not for the rest of the world. No one should get so upset over them.
They also said it was a huge disrespect that the Danish flag was burned in retaliation to these cartoons.

Now, I want to know what you think about this. I have my opinions and any of you who know me will know how I feel about this.

I am completely against this kind of "freedom of speech". I think that the Danes should have actually thought about this before publishing them. I understand that cartoons have been a means for Danes to communicate issues, etc. but to think that the Muslim people shouldn't be mad or feel any sort of animosity toward the Danes for doing this.. is ridiculous. What is more funny is that after saying this they got upset about the issue of the burning of the flag... hmmm, really?!?
There was nothing I could say, every point I brought up, all they could talk about was the flag burning fiasco. And how they had no right to do that. Ironic?

Obviously these guys are not only narrow minded, and ignorant. This kind of mentality is what keeps all forms of hatred like stereotyping and racism so prominent and in circulation all over the world, leading to wars, conflicts, etc.

Do all Danish people feel this way? Or the majority of them? Or do they feel like this was the wrong way to approach this, and a bad call of the newspaper?