I see the manifestation of freedom of expression.

I also see provocative statements, but the goal is certainly to reach as many as possible, not unlike the flaming statements we often read here.

And, above all, I see the recognition it's not just a battle between "good" and "evil": I agree with that.

Intellectuals know what's going on outside of the US and the West and they also know the short and long term history. Well, intellectuals have conservative and liberal tendencies, like the rest of the US. They probably have a much wider scope of tendencies (like there is in Europe):social-democratic, communist, socialist, environmentalist, catholic, neo-liberal (liberal means conservative in continental Europe, BTW),nationalistic conservatism, etc......
And those ideas are possible thanks to...democracy.

Raoul