PrintSeptember 10, 2010
What the Burning Quran Issue Says about Us
Is it just me, or does Islam's repeated threats of violence and mayhem at every provocation -- real or imagined -- strike anybody else as the actions of a spoiled child's tantrums? And if they're such a religion of peace, what is it we have to fear from their tantrums in the first place?
(Then again, they are protesting the notion of thirty people burning a few Qurans with hundreds of Afghans actually burning American flags and actually shouting "death to the Christians." Can we have a little proportionality here?)
Moreover, does our continued feckless caving into this religion of peace's repeated threats strike anyone else as the misguided actions of a wimpy, enabling parent? Sure looks that way to me.
To be clear, I have no interest in -- or support of -- Pastor Terry Jones' Quran burning exercise. To me, it's like the balloon boy stunt -- just not as cute. Conversely, I get queasy with all of our opinion and political leaders feeling the incessant need to line up and make sure that they denounce this action the first, the loudest, and with the most self-righteousness. There is quite a competition going on for this, by the way -- yet none of them have breathed a peep about what the Afghan protestors have already done.
Truth be told, the only part of this story that is newsworthy is how it illustrates a continued Neville Chamberlain-style appeasement policy on the part of our leaders towards Islam (that well-known religion of peace). It is nauseating and self-defeating. This is nothing more than an extension of the American left blaming us for the attacks of 9-11.
This is right in line with this whole idea that we must have some sort of Oprah-like journey of self-discovery to see what it is that is so bad about us that provokes this religion of peace to lash out in such ghastly actions. It just must be our fault. This logic goes hand in hand with Barack Obama's numerous apology tour speeches and the idea that we have to prove how good we are by allowing a mosque at Ground Zero.
Whatever the issue is, when it comes to Islam's war on America, the burden of proof regarding moral standing is always on the United States. Murderous acts from followers of the religion of peace are legitimately provoked by something "the great Satan" is doing or has done -- and everything that the "great Satan" is doing must be filtered through the prism of whether or not it is a provocation or not.
It is childish and ridiculous and obviously counterproductive.
We have shed much blood and treasure all across the globe in defense of others, and in return, the only real estate we have asked for was enough soil with which to bury our dead soldiers. Were we the imperialists that many claim, most of the entire world would be ours by now. In the name of freedom, we have captured much of it at one time or another.
That we are not perfect is merely an obvious fact that joins us to every other society in world history -- including the Soviet Union and every Muslim nation. If one of the imperfections of our freedom is that our people have the legal right in our country to be grossly inappropriate, so be it. So we have an aberrant preacher and a handful of followers in Florida who plan to burn a few Qurans. Big deal. The entire church congregation wouldn't fill up the underwear aisle at Wal-Mart.
We have a president who spent twenty years in a Chicago mega-church led by a pastor running down our very own nation and palling around with folks of your faith while claiming to be a Christian. Our free society allows that -- and it allows for Terry Jones to do what he will do, too.
This does not excuse any retaliation on the part of any Muslims for whatever does or does not transpire at Terry Jones' church on 9-11. Moreover, it does not excuse the continued cowering in fear of this peaceful religion from any of our political or opinion leaders.
Nothing guarantees the continued and increasing tantrums of a spoiled child like scared, enabling parents and their refusal to stand up to the child. If our leaders continue to play the part of the pusillanimous, scared parent, the religion of peace is guaranteed to continue their tantrums and threats of violent retaliation for every imagined provocation.
This is a terrible cycle, and if we don't stop this, they will in fact become our masters. It has already happened to a great degree in the U.K. And to me, this is the story of the proposed Quran burning and what it says about us. Nothing more. Nothing less.
