I think anyone who's visited Cinema Steve more than once knows the level of contempt I have for the Muslim extremists who threaten to kill anyone who they don't agree with or don't like. It's a contempt that approaches hatred. It's only slightly more severe than the contempt I have for other terrorist and fascist movements, because the Muslims assholes--more often than not--seem to have the tacit, if not outright, approval of their social and governmental institutions. (Sure, the Pakistani and Saudi dictators get upset when the filthy dogs turn on them once in a while, but for the most part they're happy to fund and encourage their psychopathy.)
But that contempt extends to book-burning assholes like the Reverend Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center. He is no better than some demented Muslim imam who encourages the murder of cartoonists, because he, too, is trying to destroy ideas through violent means.
What is needed is more reading, not less. Banning and/or burning books is NEVER the right answer. Thankfully, Reverend Terry Jones represents a tiny minority of Americans. His asinine "Burn a Koran Day" this September 11th will appeal to few outside his demented little flock of 50. Unlike state-sponsored Muslim "holy men" who call for murder and mayhem from their platforms in Iran and Saudi Arabia--and whose see their calls answered all around the world--no respectable American has done anything but condemn Jones and his barbaric behavior.
(Although I feel dirty for being on the same side as Obama and his mouth-pieces, here I am. Thank you, Reverend Jones, you degenerate, syphilitic waste of space. It's just a shame that the Obamatons are so morally corrupt that they will call Koran-burning "un-American", yet support the burning of the American flag as acceptable political statements. Each is equally disgusting in their symbolism.)
Yeah, this guy is a real turd burglar, isn't he?
ReplyDeleteI wonder what will happen on the day of his big burning.
If there is a God, Reverend Terry Jones will be struck by lightning, just for the comedy value. A second-best option would be that some dimwit at the event manages to light themselves on fire along with a Koran.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, all that will happen is that Reverend Terry Jones' equally diseased, but far more plentiful counterparts, will take to burning stuff in the streets of Kabul and Jakarta and Cairo and Islamabad while waving their English-language, government-printed and approved signs. (That they can't read.)
"Barbaric behavior"? Burning a book? Ok, what exactly is the difference between burning this book and drawing a cartoon of Muhammed?
ReplyDeleteTom: One is an act of creation, the other is an act of destruction. One is the communication of ideas, while the other is the destruction of ideas.
ReplyDeleteSo according to that logic, if I burned The Communist Manifesto or Mein Kampf, that would be equally as offensive to you? I can't tell you how many times I hear agnostics, athiests and those on the left say that the Bible is nothing more than a bunch of fairy tales. Wouldn't they think of the koran the same way? So if I were to burn a book of Grimm's fairy tales, is there a difference? And isn't the act of burning something in protest a communication of ideas as well? That's what people say when they burn the American flag isn't it?
ReplyDeleteYes. I consider any and all public book burning events to be equally offensive.
ReplyDeleteThe only idea communicated by burning a book--any book, even one as vile as the Koran--is a hatred of intellectualism and ideas. There needs to be MORE reading, not less.
As far as I'm concerned, holding events to burn the Bible, the Koran, Mein Kampf, and copies of Grimm's Fairy Tales, is the same thing. From my vantage point, the good Reverend here is only a hair's breadth away from being as bad as the Muslim psychos he claims to be protesting.
By the way, I also think burning the American flag and a book like the Koran is the same thing. I consider them equally disgusting acts, and it's why I hate the fact that I am finding myself saying the same sort of things that are coming out of the mouths of Obommunists.
Even a broken clock is right twice a day... although in this case, I think they're right for the wrong reasons. Most of them oppose the book-burning freak because it's insensitive to Muslims, which is something I couldn't care less about.
What about burning record albums, like Disco Demolition day in 1979 in Chicago, when a DJ burned disco records? Isn't that an act of destruction of art? Disco records? You are equally offended at that as well?
ReplyDeleteI suppose book-shooting is the same as book burning. Here's a video that might offend you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLzN7IxdhrA&feature=player_embedded
ReplyDeleteI said book-burning shows a hostility toward intellectualism. Art has little or nothing to do with my position.
ReplyDeleteI think I've been as clear as I can be. So, now I would like to know why (or if) you think Reverend Jones is doing something worth supporting? Why do YOU support public, politically motivated book-burning? Or do you support it on a case-by-case basis?
These are all interesting points and I'm trying to understand. Most people I know who want nothing to do with religion or religious people think that the Bible, Koran, etc. are anti-intellectual books. I know many people who think Christians are all stupid and burka-wearing, stone-throwing muslims are all living in the past. Muslim women can't even drive cars in certain countries. That's advanced and intellectual? I would think that atheists or agnostics would not care if a book where they get these ideas is burned. Drawing a cartoon of muhammed offends muslims as well, so I'm trying to understand the difference. The koran could be seen as art, too.
ReplyDelete[This reply was too long to be posted. I tried to chop it down without making it incoherent, but I'm not sure I succeeded... :)]
ReplyDeleteFirst off, anyone who says a book is anti-intellectual is a bit of an idiot. Perhaps even full-blown morons, depending of whether they also get worked up about "In God We Trust" being on dollar bills.
Secondly, anyone who thinks modern Christians as a whole can be compared to Muslims as a whole is a drooling idiot or a disengenious demagogue. After all, no mobs have stormed Reverend Jones' church and murdered him and his congregants even though many Christian leaders have called them all un-Christian. Where are those mobs, if Christians are just like Muslims?
I have no problem with people who want to practice their religion in peace, be they Muslim, Christians, Bhuddists, Jedi... whatever have you. I have a problem when they start trying to force their beliefs on others through oppression, intimidation, and threats of violence. Mainstream Christians don't behave in that fashion today, nor do they endorse such tactics. Mainstream AND extremist Muslims alike do, otherwise they wouldn't all make excuses or offer praise for the shitheads who issue fatwas for the killing or artists, or for governments that try to stamp out other religions through any means necessary. Do Mexicans burn mosques and murder Muslims who worship there as a matter of course? Do Egyptians burn churches and murder Christians who worship there as a matter of course?
I don't care about Muslims being offended. I find it annoying that the whole world is expected to cow-tow to the juvenile sensibilities of a culture that encourages idol-worship and poor impulse control, with its nonsense about Mohammed being "the perfect man" and proclamations that it's okay for Muslims to murder and maim anyone they consider an enemy of Islam and/or irritating.
I don't like book-burning. I don't like book-burners. I don't think there's any comparison to what Reverend Jones was planning to do--now that it seems he's called it off, it's past-tense--and "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day", other than the similarity that both hurt the feelings of Muslims who have the emotional development of three-year-olds. At best.
"Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" created something without destroying anything... at least not anything that a rational and emotionally mature person can identify. I don't think you can say the same about Reverend Jones. "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" was an act of defiance against the repeated claim that all of us submit to the will of Muslims and do as they believe, despite the fact that they shit all over OUR beliefs with the oppression of women, the denying of freedom of expression and religion, and so on. It even became an act of defiance against the power structure in the United States, as even our own government started issuing statements in support of Muslim religious sensibilities. What exactly was Reverend Jones standing up in defiance against? What was he trying to say that hadn't already been said?
I guess I'm also at a loss for why anyone would want to be captured on film, looking like you're following in the foot-steps of Adolph Hitler and the Nazis.
Or, if you want to consider the Koran a work of art, why anyone would want to be associated with the likes of the Taliban.
Islam in its modern form is without a doubt one of the most hateful and destructive philosophies to be practiced, but what exactly does a public burning of Korans accomplish in regards to it? Nothing, as far as I can see. So it's a pointless act, in my view. Not to mention anti-intellectual.
(By the way, have your friends who like to say the Bible and Koran are anti-intellectual actually READ either book? My guess would be that most of them haven't.)