How can a crudely acted and produced movie, not in theaters but posted only on YouTube, cause so much violence and turmoil throughout the world? The answer lies in the complex interlacing of politics, religion, and national/international freedoms inherent in the world today.

The film, Innocence of Muslims, has sparked a firestorm of protest all over the Muslim world, with riots breaking out and several U.S. Embassies attacked in Middle Eastern countries. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, a 55-year old man from Cerritos, California has been blamed for a number of recent riots that have been occurring because of the film that he directed and produced.

Undoubtedly the film is anti-Islamic and has sent a negative message to many people across the world. Nakoula has been previously convicted for countless drug charges and has used many aliases to hide his identity. Filmed here in Southern California, the associated actors have claimed that they had no idea what the film was about and want nothing to do with the charges that are being filed. How has this affected our surroundings? Are the citizens in Southern California being accused of also following the anti-Islamic lifestyle?

Could it be that we as Americans don’t have that much care for what is said about our own religions on a daily basis? If you remember a 2006 film called The Da Vinci Code, it called out and put many questions to the Christian religion–but yet no riots happened because of it. True enough, what Nakoula did is not acceptable and very disrespectful. But why is it that so suddenly we make a big deal out of something that we are protected for in the Constitution? The riots have caused chaos and have been on the local news for quite some time now.

I believe that Nakoula should be convicted and sent to jail because what he did is defiantly not easing the tension between the U.S. and Islam.