-UPDATE: At Least 22 Killed So Far in Quran Burning Protests
by Dr. D ~ April 4th, 2011
(Image via Wikipedia)
According to reports 2 more died on Sunday in Afghanistan during the continuing protests over the Quran burning in Florida. This brings the total count of deaths to at least 22 along with hundreds of injuries.
The most popular prevailing slogans for the protesters were:
“Long live the Taliban” and “Death to America”
Meanwhile the mobs continued to be out of control in some cities smashing businesses, burning autos and tires plus vandalizing schools for girls (which the Taliban opposes).
There were also widespread protests in Pakistan over the weekend but no violence or deaths have been attributed to the Muslim mobs responding to the Quran burning in that country.
Both US President Barack Obama and UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon condemned the violence but also referred to the burning of the Quran in Florida as an act of:
“Extreme intolerance and bigotry.”
Pastor Terry Jones responded to critics of the Quran burning by saying that the whole religion of Islam should be held accountable for the violence:
“Islam is not a religion of peace. Muslim dominated countries can no longer be allowed to spread their hate against Christians and minorities.
“They must alter the laws that govern their countries to allow for individual freedoms and rights, such as the right to worship, free speech, and to move freely without fear of being attacked or killed.”
Response: We agree with the President, the unfortunate Quran burning was an act of “extreme intolerance and bigotry.” Plus it never should have happened. However, the act is not a valid or moral excuse for all of the violence or killing.
Pastor Jones had been warned that violence would be the results and probably many folks would die if he chose to carry through with his threat to burn a Quran. Therefore the largest weight of moral responsibility for the deaths really should be his.
Islam in the Middle East is what it is. The fact that many Muslims are intolerant of other religions and many countries in the Middle East do not allow freedom of religion for Christians and others is a problem which will only be exacerbated by the actions of pastor Jones and his ‘church’.
Meanwhile, all of the goodwill that has been fostered over the last few years by allied troops freeing the Afghani people from the extreme rule of the Taliban seems to now have been wasted with thousands now seemingly supporting the Taliban and proclaiming ‘down with America’. This turn of events can also be blamed squarely upon Pastor Jones. *Top
April 11th, 2011 at 2:59 pm
So your argument can be cleanly summed up as. ‘Muslims are mindless animals and Pastor Jones was wrong to rattle their cage’, because that is the only way that your argument makes sense.
When a person kills another person whom says something offensive that they disagree with the first person is clearly responsible, no matter how provocative the second’s action.
However if a person provokes a bear and is mauled by it we tend to place the blame on the person as the bear doesn’t have the mental capacity to do otherwise.
In a free society a person should have the right to burn any book that they themselves own, they should be written off as nut-jobs, but they are not responsible for irrational reaction to their actions. Unless of course Muslims really are mindless animals, but in that case my vote is that we thin their population and use that land for something useful like pork instead; pigs rarely kill people after all.
April 11th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Victor:
That is not my ‘argument’ at all. Muslims are not mindless animals but are responsible for their actions and for the killings. However, Pastor Jones was wrong to ‘rattle their cage’. His actions were used by some very smart people to incite thousands who are somewhat ignorant but conditioned by their culture to consider defiling a Quran or insulting the ‘prophet’ as among the worst possible offenses–even worse than killing others.
Your idea about ‘thinning’ the population is just as bad as those who would kill and injure others over a burned Quran- only even more inexcusable since you are supposedly smarter than those folks and would actually know what you are doing. However the ‘pig’ reference really indicates to me that you are only joking even if it is not all that funny.