Just offering a different perspective on the burning of the koran on March 20th, that has apparently led to an armed mob in Afghanistan murdering some people. There are some points of comparison in our country -- American flag burning, for example, or the Westboro baptists -- and I think this shows where the real failure is.
This is from the NYT, where one diary reported ten killed and two beheaded. I guess the details are still in some dispute.
There were conflicting reports of the total number of people killed and whether two of the victims had been beheaded. Five Afghans were also reported killed.
The incident began when thousands of protesters poured out of the Blue Mosque in Mazar-i-Sharif after Friday prayers and attacked the nearby headquarters of the United Nations, according to Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, spokesman for Gen. Daoud Daoud, the Afghan National Police commander for northern Afghanistan.
I see the diarists so far haven't seen fit to mention this part, that protesters poured out of mosques and began their assault. But I should temper this with a note from the Guardian article.
[Provincial police spokesman Sherjan] Durrani said that while most protesters were peaceful, others were seeking targets to attack, including shops and the UN compound.
It would be unfair to lump all 20,000 or so protesters together and pretend they're all responsible for the murders. At the same time, I wonder what was said in those mosques. But they're not all interested in revenge killing. Not even close to all. I would guess only a few. Some of them know how to protest peacefully. They should do that. They're entitled to that!
Earlier in the day hundreds of Afghans marched on the US embassy in Kabul.
There's nothing clearly implicating muslim imams in fomenting a riot; for all I know, they called for peaceful protest, which some extremists put to use for the sake of violence. I could be wrong about those mosques.
Looking at our own country, what record do we have on the subject? We have examples like the Westboro baptists I mentioned earlier, who preach xian hate and yet are protected by freedom of speech, to the point that they make a living on it. We have the after-effects of 9/11 with lingering prejudice and violence that continue to this day.
I agree with those that find this expression of free speech execrable. But our society seems to value this free expression, and works to protect it. There are consequences for speaking, however, and I wonder why people turn to lawsuits and murder trials, way out of bounds considering our speech protections. I don't think burning a quran is even necessarily so bad. We can identify the hate behind this particular act, and despise it. But, like a flag burning, it may be a form of protest. It may be something we want to protect, rather than criminalize.
Instead of looking for more revenge through the courts, I look to the religious themselves. Who goes to Pastor Terry Jones' church? Who made this extremist into a preacher? What larger organization, if any, does he belong to? Is he still, as I find here, head of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville? What business does anyone have going to or supporting this church? Is he part of an organized religion that can condemn him or disassociate from him? Who buys his books, like the eloquently named "Islam Is of the Devil"? Where are the protests in America putting some well deserved shame into anyone and everyone that listens to this nucking fut and allows him to persist?
We guarantee the right to free speech, certainly. But people don't have a right to the publicity, to the attention, to the followers and the monetary support for it. This preacher shouldn't have a church to preach in or a following to preach to, not through burning the church down or attacking the parishioners, but by shame. If they have any sense of shame left to them. I'm skeptical.
That pastor shouldn't be making a living preaching hate. He should be flipping burgers if he needs a paycheck. I'd like to think it's possible in this country, to go after these haters and see to it that they can hate, but they shouldn't benefit from it. I suspect I am overly optimistic in that, however. People continue to take the bait from the Westboro baptists in this country. And in Afghanistan, they took pastor Terry's.
Updated by tytalus at Fri Apr 01, 2011 at 04:13 PM MST
Update: I just heard on NPR that pastor Jones released a statement, and thinks other countries should be held accountable for what they do. I.e., bashing the muslim countries again. I certainly hope we can hold him accountable, and show the world that America tolerates but does not honor this bag of scum.