Patterico's Pontifications

9/11/2010

A Little Night Music

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:54 pm



Don’t look so sad, Marina.

Koran Burning: Out. Flag Burning: In

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 1:56 am



The L.A. Times reports:

A Texas evangelist working with the Rev. Terry Jones on Friday gave assurances that no Qurans will be set ablaze today, even though there had been no contact with the New York City imam planning to build a mosque near the site of the 9-11 attacks.

Here’s the part I love:

The plan to burn the books sparked protests Friday in Afghanistan, where at least 11 people were injured. Police in the northern province of Badakhshan say several hundred demonstrators ran toward a NATO compound where four attackers and five police were injured in clashes. Protesters also burned an American flag at a mosque after Friday prayers. In western Farah province, police said two people were injured in another protest.

You know, the American flag is sacred to people, sort of like the Koran is.

Dafydd ab Hugh has a passionate defense of the Koran burning here. I can’t agree with his thesis, as I think the Koran burning needlessly alienates nonradical Muslims. But I agree with this response of his to the handwringing about how the Koran burning would have been responsible for deaths of our troops: “moral guilt fully belongs to those who commit actual murder in response to mere symbolism.” Nothing illustrates this point better than the above passage from the L.A. Times article.. They’re not just talking about burning our flag. They’re doing it. Are we behaving like packs of animals and going around killing people? No. Because we’re not savages. And the radical Islamists are.

As Dafydd notes: “After such a Koran burning, Moslem insurgents will attack our troops. But of course, it’s also a 100% certainty that if the burning is called off — Moslem insurgents will attack our troops. So it goes.”

I’m glad the guy’s not going to burn the books. But the murderers will murder and attack no matter what. If they can’t blame it on this, they’ll find something. They can always justify their violence.

Just like they did nine years ago today.


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