User Rating: / 2
PoorBest 

Wednesday, 08 September 2010 17:46

Written by Reg Henry

       At the risk of disturbing a lively conversation about art and other matters, I wish to take up Centinel’s point about the disgusting exhibitionism shown by the Florida minister who intends to burn Qurans on the anniversary of 9/11.
       To me, it is proof of two things:
       1) the Devil has somehow persuaded certain people to be unwitting stooges in his grand scheme to paint Christianity as hateful and intolerant (Pastor Terry Jones is merely the latest is a long line of people who have stepped up eagerly over the years to play Judas).
        2) We live in the age of the self-indulgent jerk, who knows all about his rights and nothing of his responsibilities. Never mind Judas, the Rev. Terrible is doing the work of Osama bin Laden, whose unceasing pitch has been to portray Islam as under attack by the Crusaders.
         American soldiers are likely to die because of this stupid prank — which moved Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Kabul, to state the obvious, that the “images of the burning of a Quran would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan — and around the world — to inflame public opinion and incite violence.” Actually, all the anti-Muslim venom concerning the New York City mosque has also been a propaganda boon to al-Qaida, a point made in a recent story by The New York Times. (I am sorry but at this remove I do not have the link).
         Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had a wise observation about the book-burning: “It is regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world’s attention, but that’s the world we live in right now.”
         Sadly, it is the world we live in — and it is a ridiculous world when such a nobody can commandeer the world’s microphone and make the world’s leaders comment upon him. I wish the media would not give him the oxygen of attention, but I know what would happen if the media ignored the story. They would be accused of being politically correct, of censoring criticism of Muslims, so for the media it’s damned if you, damned if you don’t. That is also the world we live in.
         One last thought. Yes, he has the right of free speech under the First Amendment but I sometimes wonder whether invoking that piety is not a way of saying that good people can’t make sensible distinctions. The classic saying about the First Amendment is that people have a right to free speech but do not have a right to yell “fire” in a  crowded theater — on the theory that to do so would cause a panic and people would be hurt or injured in the stampede.
          But what is the difference between burning Qurans and yelling fire in a theater? As a practical matter, I can’t see any. Both are going to cause a stampede and both carry the high risk of people getting killed or injured.
          And both are disgusting.