For the most part, I agreed with
Jacoby, we are all Danes now.
I concede that the European press has been a bit antagonizing to the situation, but the skewering of a sacred cow should not result in a death threat. Unfortunately, it seems that Islamist regimes, even democratically elected ones (Palestine, Iraq?), are not up for allowing the rest of the world freedom of religion.
I generally reject the idea that "they hate us for who we are". There would seem to be no hope of winning the war on terror if that were the case. If they hate us for what we _do_, then it seems we can modify our actions to achieve peace, or at least show more transparency in our actions. We have reasons for our foreign policies, and reasonable parties should be able to comprehend them. If reasonable people can't comprehend them --say, providing military might to the crepuscular Saudi regime--- then maybe we shouldn't be pursuing those policies.
However, the cartoon incident does indeed seem to indicate they are starting to hate us for who we are. "Who we are" isn't a freedom loving peoples with big cars and big lawns and satellite TV. We are non-Muslim. That's a scary war.