Professor Drezner Recommends

Read this.  There's some of the usual blah-blah-blah about not going out of your way to be insulting to the easily insulted because blah-blah-blah, but this I do think is quotable:

... the people who killed people; protesters, thugs, militants, whomever, are ultimately responsible for their actions. If the U.S. government is going to discourage our own idiots from provoking people, then the governments of Egypt and Libya should act to corral those within their own nations who would storm an embassy on the pretext that a film offends. Well, barely, a film. A piece of anti-Muslim bigotry that was made to make the filmmakers feel good and others feel bad. If, as an American, I feel embarrassed that so many of my fellow Americans are bigots, I would, as an Egypt or a Libyan, be even more horrified that the majority in my country seemed unable to stop (and barely condemn) the even more deplorable violent religious extremism of a minority.  

Hey, I do take exception to the idea that "so many of my fellow Americans are bigots."  It's just that the bigots, haters, and fringe-dwelling wingnuts make a lot more attention-grabbing noise than all the non-bigots who are just trying to live our lives.  Frankly, I don't think I like the idea of the US government discouraging idiots from provoking people, because ... Well. But the point about the free will, conscious decision-making, and moral agency of the mob is accurate.