Okay, has anyone else been following the whole Miss World, Nigerian riot debacle?

I thought about commenting on this yesterday, but didn't find the time. Meanwhile, I didn't think the story could get any more ridiculous and tragic at the same time.

But it has:

A north Nigerian state has issued an Islamic fatwa calling for the death of a journalist who wrote an article on the Miss World pageant that sparked riots.

What was so offensive that she wrote? She said that the prophet Mohammed wouldn't mind Nigeria hosting the Miss World Contest, and that he might even choose a bride from among the contestants.

This of course touched off massive rioting in which over 200 people were killed, and now the Nigerian government has sanctioned a state-issued fatwa for the journalist's head.

Hmm...that seems reasonable, doesn't it?

This is exactly the kind of disgusting depravity you get in the absence of basic freedom of speech and religious tolerance and plurality.

I find it interesting that just last week a new ad campaign was started up in America, coupling Christians and environmentalists, using the slogan "What Would Jesus Drive?".

Blasphemous, right?

So why haven't there been riots? Why haven't angry mobs burned down the ad agency that's putting these spots together?

Could it be that because of freedom of speech and religion that even the religious majority doesn't flip their nut when somebody mentions Jesus, or (god forbid!) makes fun of him?

Now, you'd think there'd be condemnations from all around the globe against Nigeria, for the oppressive intolerance that fosters this idiotic hideousness, wouldn't you? Well, you'd be wrong.

Even the organizers of the event blamed (guess who?) the media:

But the contest's bosses refused to accept that their presence had contributed to the spiralling tensions, and instead chose to blame the media for forcing them out of Nigeria with negative coverage of the events.

"Nigerians are not against us," Miss World president Julia Morley said. "What is against us is that Miss World is a global show and therefore becomes a political football.

"Quite honestly, you -- not individually -- but you as a group, you pulled Nigeria down and you allowed Nigeria to be humiliated," she told reporters at the pageant's Abuja hotel base.

So let me get this straight...a newspaper suggests that Mohammed might marry a Miss World contestant, and this justifies burning down the newspaper, rioting to kill hundreds, and issuing a death sentence against the reporter who wrote it. And nobody is blaming Nigeria for this?

What the hell kind of world is this?