A recent column by Ann Coulter (which I won’t quote or link) would make you think Arabs react to art through violence and Westerners react to art through more peaceful means.

If you assumed that, you would be wrong.

Art has long had the power to stir up the masses, even in the West:

Art is one of the most potent tokens of currency in the marketplace of ideas. If you ever doubted that, just look overseas, where Muslims are rioting over cartoons of the prophet Mohammed. Depending on your perspective, they’re either satire or blasphemy.

It’s easy to distance ourselves from what’s happening over there. After all, some say, you didn’t see Christians torching buildings and storming embassies when Andres Serrano displayed his infamous “Piss Christ” Ñ a photograph of a crucifix submerged in a glass of the artist’s urine.

But Westerners aren’t immune to getting violently worked up over art.

Perhaps it’s not “Arabs” or “Muslims” who are prone to violence, as Ann would have us believe. Maybe it’s really right-wing fundamentalists, a group of people marked by an attitude that’s independent of culture: a morbid love for the clash of cultures.