Ron:
The most pertinent line of my post was the very last. To make it clear: Worry about muslims taking offense misses the point.
Helmut: "Hey, Hans, that Einstein fellow who works across hall just submitted a paper on the theory of relativity."
Hans: "He didn't process all the patent applications from last week."
1. "Moderate" muslims, as far as they are not unicorns, are useless. They will not stop their orthodox brethren from warring on non-muslims. We're talking "tits on a boar hog" magnitude of uselessness. They are not a factor until they reach a critical mass and your moderate muslim buddy becomes a not-so-moderate angry beard, kafir.
2. Moderate westerners are worse than useless, by directing their ire toward fellow westerners over methodology.
3. Orthodox muslims have no shinloa to give over insinuations of caprine knob-polishing. More than likely the folks beheaded, burned alive, tossed from buildings, crushed by masonry walls, drowned, tortured to death, raped to death, and otherwise murdered by orthodox muslims gave the orthodox muslims very little guff in their presence.
4. Orthodox muslims do not think like westerners. They have different values, different conceptions of right and wrong. They are going to kill you/us anyway. Are they going to kill us again because we spoke poorly of htem?
5. Referring to orthodox muslims in such a manner serves the same purpose as the terms jap, kraut, gook, etc. It sharpens the contrast between the groups and facilitates action and/or attitudes to counter the hirsine-humper threat. Sure, it is not language you would use toward your buddies over a game of rummy, but were one of the orthodox muslims seated at that table, like as not he'd be sawing off your head while you were hollering, "But 'Machete' is not a proper suit! Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!"