Book Burning

I am finding this whole Koran-burning thing very distasteful, but I must say that those who oppose the action are in some ways even more distasteful to me than the group doing it.

For one thing they are the same people, for the most part, who criticized opposition to the “Ground Zero Mosque,” opposition which took the form of “they have a right to build it but it’s a bad idea.” They are now saying the church has the right to burn the Korans but that it is a bad idea. As is so common, another’s argument is specious, but the same argument used in defense of my own cause is valid.

I’m a little uncomfortable with high military being used to dictate what form of speech may be uttered, or not, for fear of “harming the troops.” It rather approaches the accusations of “being unpatriotic” that I’d hoped had gone out of fashion, and this nation has never before used proclamations of generals to limit free speech.

This book burner is gathering far more publicity from those who are trying to deter him than he is from his followers. This is what our media does; provide publicity seekers that which they seek, regardless of their reason for seeking it. As usual, if they would merely ignore this egregious person his action would have little impact on the nation because few would even know of him. Due to their endless prating and their needless airing of his face and his meaningless and hateful words, his actions of hatred will harm this country far more deeply than would otherwise be the case.

Finally, if actions should be refrained from based on the concept that they might inflame Islamic opinion against this nation and its foreign troops, then someone should suggest to President Obama that using unmanned drones to fire Hellfire missiles into the homes of innocent Pakistani civilians in the middle of the night should stop.

Update: The other side of this is, of course, that I would love to go down to Florida and personally beat this jackass into a pulp to prevent him from accomplishing this bit of hateful stupidity.