No. But neither is it a reason TO print them. Look, if Jesse Jackson was murdered for his latest racist rantings, we should all condemn the murder. It would not obligate us to reprint his racist rantings. That’s all I am saying. The cartoons are irrelevant. It is the murder that is relevant.
The cartoons supposedly provoked the murderers. Therefore they are not irrelevant.
That’s a bad comparison. Nobody has organized a world-wide campaign to intimidate Jesse Jackson into not saying racist things. They have done that with regards to “depicting Mohammad”.
If you respond to such bullying by capitulating, you only invite more of it.