Let me just preface this by saying that the reaction from the Muslim community is fully overblown. But I'm going to say that the article (at least the snippet in the first post) is comparing apples to oranges. The situation described in the article is incidental; the beef is just there and is not solicited for any purpose relating to Hinduism. But these cartoons were solicited to examine just what Danes thought of Islam, and it's clear that many Danes don't think too highly of it. The cartoon sketchers were thinking about Islam when they drew the cartoons, the butcher at the supermarket was probably just thinking about beef and not Hinduism.

As far as them being upset, why shoudn't they be? Religion means different things to different people. Islam is a very involving religion. It's the only one I can think of that requires 5 prayers a day, a month of fasting, and a pilgramage to the city of its founding. It is also the one thing that held the Arab culture together during the last several centuries of occupation. It's akin to someone burning the American flag. People in other countries probably don't care, but Americans probably will get upset. All of you are going to jump on this and say "But they're killing people and burning flags and buildings." This is certainly true and certainly not acceptable. However, I don't think protesting, or withdrawing ambassadors, or writing letters demanding an apology, or boycotting Danish goods is unacceptable. We may not their reasoning, but its certainly their right to be upset.