getting a call from the president is a pretty decent goal to accomplish for a protest. doesnt matter, the violence is exactly as unacceptable either way. when you protest islam and there is a violent response, you are basically getting proven right. you are demonstrating that islam is terrible and hates freedom. seems like a worthy cause.
books are not actually sacred. they are words printed on paper. would everyone be nervous if they burned copies of hustler magazine? what if i threatened to bomb you if you did? see what i mean about the blame being 100% not on the shoulders of the burning party?
I didn't say the Koran was sacred but that Muslim's consider it sacred--the nut from Gainesville wouldn't be burning them otherwise. I unequivocally agree with you in that if you commit an act of violence you are responsible for it even though you were 'incited' to commit it. kind of like unsportsmanlike penalties in football, the instigator often gets away with it but the guy who responds almost always gets flagged.
well can we all agree that we dont care what muslims consider sacred? i consider the right to burn things in protest sacred. isnt the logical extension of this that the gainesville dude should not be hassled at all for his koran burning?
Well, I will say that I don't think that the Koran is sacred just because Muslims think so just as I don't think the Koran has no value just because you say so. I also think that arguing that he should not have a Koran barbecue because it will pi$$ off some extremists is just as ludicrous as the imam in New York arguing that the Muslim center should not be moved for the same reason. I certainly don't buy the argument that you should do (or not do) X because it will make me angry and I may hurt someone. I think that is equivalent to placating a toddler to avoid a tantrum. However, I do think it is within the rights of others to make those arguments and use whatever 'soft' power they have to affect the outcome (whether it is preventing the Gainesville nut from having a Koran barbecue or preventing the construction of the Muslim center near ground zero).
well, i am right. do you think that particular strings of letters are sacred? if i bought a 2 terabyte hard drive and put 4 billion copies of the koran on there, then erased them, then wrote a program that would rewrite them and erase them 1000 times a day, would that be wrong? or are korans only sacred when written on paper? do the words imbue magic upon the paper? even if the ideas written had value, like the US constitution, burning cpies of it wouldnt destroy them. its symbolic. it is EXACTLY equivalent to a dude simply saying he doesnt like islam. i agree. and live in new york and worked downtown back in sept 2001. the mosque doesnt bother me at all. but why would we want to prevent either of these things? there is nothing wrong with them.
I guess I wasn't clear enough. I don't think the Koran is 'sacred'. Burning $10 copies of it (or the Bible, or the flag, or Satanic Verses) from Barnes and Noble is fair game. Both you and I agree there is nothing intrinsically wrong with burning the Koran or building a Mosque near Ground Zero. And maybe we both think our country is better off by allowing these things to happen without a fuss. However, we don't run the joint and those with differing opinions are free to exercise whatever influence they have to achieve whatever outcome they desire (as long as a court or legislative body isn't violating the principles of freedom of speech or religion).
