Quran Burning: Stupidity on All Sides
So there's this wingnutty church in Southern Florida (need I say more, really) that's promoting this mass burning of the Quran that they want to stage. Clearly they must have some clever media people, because the whole thing hardly sounds worth national news, let alone international news. I don't know how big this church is, but I'm sure this whole thing will just be an insignificant handful lunatic assholes throwing some books into a bonfire. I don't think I need to tell you why they're stupid. I'm no fan of the Quran either (but probably for very different reasons from these troglodytes) but I'd think that reading it and talking about it might be more constructive than burning some paper with ink on it (a waste of resources if nothing else).
But somehow news of this "event" found its way into international channels, and now Muslim extremists around the globe are in an uproar over it, as they are wont to do. They have every right to take offense, I suppose. I may disagree with their presuppositions, but in the world view they've grown up with, defaming this particular collection of printed words is serious blasphemy. Where it gets especially stupid is that there are reports, in light of this, of mass protests against America and even someone burning President Obama in effigy. Now that's just stupid--as if the actions of one podunk megaevangelical church in Florida in any way represents the entire United States, let alone Obama, the SEKRET MOOSLIM himself -_- Then again, given the utter insanity in this country in recent weeks over the Cordoba House, I'm more inclined to actually sympathize with Muslims who think that Americans are out to destroy their religion and culture. I'm not even certain of the accuracy these reports of protests and effigies specifically over the Quran burning. I'm just going by what's being reported in the mainstream media, which we all know likes to make shit up. So I'm giving them a lot of slack here--but they're still a bunch of whiny-ass titty babies who need to grow up and get over themselves.
And finally, we have reports to today that General Petraeus and others are warning that this book burning could enrage extremists in Afghanistan and put US troops in danger. Maybe there's some truth to that. But this smells just like another Cordoba House: Gen. Petraeus is suggesting that a particular group give up their first amendment rights because what they want to do might not be "prudent" or something. I think it is a tasteless, ugly, and maybe even dangerous thing to do, but they still have every damn right to do it, and not Gen. Petraeus or anyone else has the right to stop them. And honestly, it would probably be difficult to draw a direct line from "book burning" to troop deaths. Even if a violent Taliban extremist explicitly cited the book burning as a reason for attacking Americans over the next week, it's hard to say he wouldn't have anyways. The kind of person who would react violently to this already believes himself to be in a holy war with the Western world and Christianity, and would probably have at some point acted the same way anyways.
Of course, this warning from Gen. Petraeus makes the book burners look even stupider, with a healthy dose of hypocrisy. These are exactly the same kinds of people who slap "Support the Troops" stickers to their SUVs and whine about how we can never, ever second guess our military commanders. Of course, I'm constructing a straw man here. Maybe they're actually smart enough to realize what I just wrote--that their actions aren't likely to cause any more violence than there might have been anyways. But...I doubt that.
Edit: And speaking of Cordoba House, I just read Ed Brayton linking to this awesome New Republic article that states exactly my thoughts on the topic, but better written. Part of the article is behind a pay wall, but Ed quotes the best parts. "Why doesn't Rauf just move the mosque? That would bring the ugliness to an end. But why don't Palin and Gingrich just shut up? That, too, would bring the ugliness to an end."
But somehow news of this "event" found its way into international channels, and now Muslim extremists around the globe are in an uproar over it, as they are wont to do. They have every right to take offense, I suppose. I may disagree with their presuppositions, but in the world view they've grown up with, defaming this particular collection of printed words is serious blasphemy. Where it gets especially stupid is that there are reports, in light of this, of mass protests against America and even someone burning President Obama in effigy. Now that's just stupid--as if the actions of one podunk megaevangelical church in Florida in any way represents the entire United States, let alone Obama, the SEKRET MOOSLIM himself -_- Then again, given the utter insanity in this country in recent weeks over the Cordoba House, I'm more inclined to actually sympathize with Muslims who think that Americans are out to destroy their religion and culture. I'm not even certain of the accuracy these reports of protests and effigies specifically over the Quran burning. I'm just going by what's being reported in the mainstream media, which we all know likes to make shit up. So I'm giving them a lot of slack here--but they're still a bunch of whiny-ass titty babies who need to grow up and get over themselves.
And finally, we have reports to today that General Petraeus and others are warning that this book burning could enrage extremists in Afghanistan and put US troops in danger. Maybe there's some truth to that. But this smells just like another Cordoba House: Gen. Petraeus is suggesting that a particular group give up their first amendment rights because what they want to do might not be "prudent" or something. I think it is a tasteless, ugly, and maybe even dangerous thing to do, but they still have every damn right to do it, and not Gen. Petraeus or anyone else has the right to stop them. And honestly, it would probably be difficult to draw a direct line from "book burning" to troop deaths. Even if a violent Taliban extremist explicitly cited the book burning as a reason for attacking Americans over the next week, it's hard to say he wouldn't have anyways. The kind of person who would react violently to this already believes himself to be in a holy war with the Western world and Christianity, and would probably have at some point acted the same way anyways.
Of course, this warning from Gen. Petraeus makes the book burners look even stupider, with a healthy dose of hypocrisy. These are exactly the same kinds of people who slap "Support the Troops" stickers to their SUVs and whine about how we can never, ever second guess our military commanders. Of course, I'm constructing a straw man here. Maybe they're actually smart enough to realize what I just wrote--that their actions aren't likely to cause any more violence than there might have been anyways. But...I doubt that.
Edit: And speaking of Cordoba House, I just read Ed Brayton linking to this awesome New Republic article that states exactly my thoughts on the topic, but better written. Part of the article is behind a pay wall, but Ed quotes the best parts. "Why doesn't Rauf just move the mosque? That would bring the ugliness to an end. But why don't Palin and Gingrich just shut up? That, too, would bring the ugliness to an end."