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Idiot Plans Burning Quoran... Entire World Cares?

We are now entering the fourth day of covereage of "pastor" (are there any credentials for that title?) Terry Jones' plan to burn a bunch of Quorans and probably accidentally incinerate his admittedly impressive facial hair:

Surprisingly, the whole world still seems to care. President Obama has condemned the plan multiple times, most recently during a press conference this morning, where he suggested that Jones, were he to go through with the plan, would be personally responsible for the loss of American lives. The President isn't the only one who thinks so. Everyone from Sarah Palin to Robert Gates has spoken out against the burning, with Gates going as far as personally calling Jones to talk him down.

When Palin, Gates, and President Obama all agree on something, you can be sure their position is fairly unassailable. And of course, no actual person with thinking parts wants Jones to go through with the plan (with the possible exception of Sam Elliot, who is worried about competition at his next audition). But regardless of the righteousness of their motives, I find Jones' critics' approach to this situation a tad misguided.

First, it just strikes me as odd that the actions of this single person, who appears to be what scientists call a Moron, could hijack international discourse for nearly a week. What morons choose to do with their excessive free time should really not concern people who think, in America or elsewhere. Especially when the moron's actions are confined locally and lauded by only a few even bigger morons who consider the Great Moron a spiritual leader. Like, seriously, we are caring about that? What if a six-year-old girl came home, found a Quoran, and used it as a bed where her Barbies could get it on? Would this spark an international outcry as well? There has to be some level of stupidity we are willing to just ignore, collectively, as a culture. I think that level should be just below whatever Sarah Palin is willing to condemn as idiotic.

Second, I have a real problem with holding this mustacioed man of diminished capacity responsible for the actions of extremists and opportunists on a global scale who plan to react to this stupid publicity stunt by killing people. Like the Middle East is just this inanimate death and fire machine, and if someone throws the switch, it starts up through no will of its own. Extremists burn American flags all the time, but we would still condemn any American who responded by killing innocent people, right? For some reason, the same rules don't apply in the Middle East. We've just come to expect that extremist Muslims will react to any provocation with violence, and even if that turns out to be true, it's still insulting that we don't even acknowledge their culpability anymore, choosing instead to blame the stimulus. Engaging in an evil act often enough that it becomes rote should not abdicate a person's--or sometimes, a culture's--responsibility for that evil act.

Guess what: if enough people like a book enough, someone else is gonna want to burn it. That's just the way it is. Harry Potter fans have been dealing with this sad fact without violence or international uproar since they were 8-years-old. Maybe it's time everyone else grew up too.

Full post as published by Nuts & Boalts on September 10, 2010 (boomark / email).