Poll: International Burn a Koran Day

[AvsJoe]

Silly me, I thought that the thread title was "International Burn a Korean Day". I was freaked out!

 

[Kurokami]

Kind of off-topic... But building a freaking mosque on groundzero is a freaking horrible idea. and dont come here and tell me they didnt know it would make a scene...
Why not build a monument to Hitler in Auschwitz while we´re at it?

(I do realize that the mosque - hitler isnt the best comparison, since not all muslims are terrorists, but really...)

Please read the above. You're a bit misinformed and bigoted, and I would like to bring you forth into the world of cultural harmony. To be a little bit less gentle, very few muslims are terrorists. The people in that building would NOT be the people who carried out the 9/11 attacks, and I doubt that they would sympathize much with them either. These muslims are mostly American citizens living in New York who were under attack on that day just as much as any other American citizen in New York.

Now, I'll listen to your side of this--if you can convince me that a cultural center near Ground Zero is a bad idea, I'll listen to you.

As he said above, they must have KNOWN it would make a scene. Look I'm generally the first one to sa-, hold up. Just read above. I realize Muslims aren't terrorists, I realize they aren't "evil" or anything more than most other religions, but comeon! Want to build a monument? Go ahead, that's fine as it involves the greaving of others. But building a mosque, a building that foolish people associate with the attack AND blocking the ground for grieving from others can't seem to be a good idea, can it?

 

[maninahat]

You can go say anything you want, draw any cartoon, and make any joke about anyone you want... UNLESS it's the muslims; then it becomes taboo. That is how terrorism wins, by making you afraid at the mere thought of doing something that'll piss off the guy with bomb.

I'm not concerned about the extremists; they will always find some reason to hate regardless of what Americans actually do. I'm more concerned about the opinions of moderate muslims who would have been otherwise blameless and unsupporting of terrorists. When you start doing things that normal, rational people will get upset over (like burning their holy books or obstructing perfectly legitimate building plans), that is when things will get more serious. By antagonising the moderates, you're encouraging them to get into the same boat as the terrorists. It suggests "we won't distinguish you from the bad guys, so you might as well side with them".

 

[Furious Styles]

Even if they do worse, we have to rise above it and prove that we don't have to stoop to such base tactics. If we don't we're no better than the extremists.

 

[Roamin11]

Sept 11th is burn or Koran day?? OOOOHHHH now this comic makes a lot more sense with context

http://www.explosm.net/comics/2168/

But, I do belive that when you are burning symbols there is no higher ground here, its probably better that the day got canceled anway.

 

[Something Amyss]

Honestly, I think it's stupid, offensive, and probably only serves to stir a pot of religious tension.

But I do believe they're within their rights to do it. If I'm going to defend free speech, I can't make exceptions based on what personally offends me.

Now, if they hold a "National Kill Muslim" day, I have a problem.

 

[Ekonk]

So basically you're saying that two wrongs make a right? Regardless of 'who started it' its still wrong and it's just increasing the idea that all Muslims are bad or terrorists. Instead of burning the Quran why doesn't he do something useful with his time, like I donno, preach about his religion?

I agree with my horror-movie buddy here. (also, hi)

This is ridiculous.


Not to mention that WE ALL KNOW WHAT BURNING BOOKS LEAD TO, DON'T WE?

 

[DanielDeFig]

At the end of the day, does it really matter? There are more than enough copies of either scriptures, so as long enough are left for historical records it makes no difference.

(if you haven't guessed it, i find religion to be a complete waste of humanity's time, as it serves no propose in this day and age. It was a very effective way to keep a sense of community whilst simultaneously keeping control of the masses in ancient times, but thanks to proper infrastructure and scientific development there is no no longer any need)

 

[coldfrog]

Since this somehow leapt up to the top recently, this

even simpler: did this priest deserve such a backlash? he was doing what muslims have been doing to his flag for the past 20 years.

See, to me these are actually two different things.

Burning a flag says "I don't respect your political choices, I think they are wrong, and presumably if we could talk reasonably we could outline what we think is wrong with them."

Burning religious text is saying "I don't respect your right to believe in something and live your life the way your holy god told you, and since there will never be proof that either of our religions are right, I'm basically telling you that you are wrong and I am intolerant of you."

Obviously intolerant pricks can burn flags for no good reason but hatred, and intelligent protesters could certainly argue that burning a book is within their rights (like many others here, I hate burning books, whether I believe what's written in them or not) but this is how I see it.

There's nothing more patriotic (and therefore nothing more egotistic) than a flag, and so burning a flag in my eyes is a shunning of that country's ego.

A book of any kind contains knowledge, and burning a book is like shunning knowledge and learning, saying I refuse to even consider this information worth knowing, and therefore are proclaiming their ignorance.

And if a guy is going to try proclaiming his ignorance essentially to the entire country, he deserves any backlash he gets.

On a side note "I'm going to burn some of your stuff because you burned some of mine" is just incredibly childish. People on both sides can be haters, and it would certainly help our image if people didn't rise to those challenges. But, to mis-quote Highlander, there must always be one.

 

[Marcu5]

lol religion

you sir, win!

 

[Truehare]

however, muslims frequently burn american flags, american effigies (it was almost ironic to see arabs burning effigies of Obama to protest the burning of a symbol of import) and all sorts of things, is it that much of a outrage for a christian to want to do the same?

now its a simple question, is it wrong to ostracise a christian for burning a important symbol of a religion who routinely burn important symbols of his?

Before even reading the rest of the thread or commenting on the topic at hand, I have to ask you: is Americanism a new religion that I was unaware of? Because burning American flags is not the same as burning bibles, which would be the equivalent of christians burning the koran. If as eye for as eye is what you want, then go burn their flag, not their sacred book.

I guess I already stated my opinion, then. Muslims never burned any bibles (as far as I know), so christians burning korans is provocation, not retaliation. Not that I have any special simpathy for muslims (or for christians, by the way; I'm totally neutral), but in this case you can safely say that a christian "started it".

EDIT: burning books is plainly wrong, no matter what they say. Just remember who were the biggest book-burners in history and see if you want to be like them...

And don't get me started on the global warming problem...

 

[Tanis]

If they want to burn bibles & American flags, and then riot every time someone draws a picture or names a bear Muhammad, they can 'suck it'.


This is not a theocracy, religion does not rule here...at least on paper.

While I can understand 'being the bigger man', when you're at war sometimes you have to be the
bigger bully.



Also, it's just a book.
Paper, maybe some leather, and ink.
Get-over-it.

That begs the question of why burn the Quaran in the first place?

There are over a billion muslims in the world. They are not all on the same 'team'. Burning the Quaran is an ignorant act, and would degrade our own morals- western society is based on the freedom to choose your own path, not the shunning and persecution that dominates in other places. Better to burn the terrorists responsible for enforcing those kinds of intolerance and hate.

Same reason you burn the American flag...in protest.

 

[William Dickbringer]

Kind of off-topic... But building a freaking mosque on groundzero is a freaking horrible idea. and dont come here and tell me they didnt know it would make a scene...
Why not build a monument to Hitler in Auschwitz while we´re at it?

(I do realize that the mosque - hitler isnt the best comparison, since not all muslims are terrorists, but really...)

agreed to you oh and did they ever say anything else about what they're doing with ground zero

O.T. I'm sorry but I'll never think burning a book will be a good idea unless it's for warmth

 

[whycantibelinus]

Kind of off-topic... But building a freaking mosque on groundzero is a freaking horrible idea. and dont come here and tell me they didnt know it would make a scene...
Why not build a monument to Hitler in Auschwitz while we´re at it?

(I do realize that the mosque - hitler isnt the best comparison, since not all muslims are terrorists, but really...)

It's actually a pretty decent comparison, not all member's of the German army were Nazi's either, in fact most of the German army at the time were just poor Germans trying to get money for their family, but they all get a bad wrap because of not standing up to the more extreme element of the army, Nazi's.

I'm not saying that Islam is Nazism, I'm just saying that all the peaceful Muslims are getting their reputations tarnished by a bunch of extremely bad apples.

OT: On the one hand I can see the guy's frustration and wanting to express himself, but on the other hand should someone really do something so rash and childish as to stir up an entire group of people into anger? I think there are more productive ways he could have stated his disapproval of Islam. Would I have done it? No. Would I have driven by, laughed, and called the guy an idiot? Sure. I think what he has done is his right, but he probably should have thought twice about it before doing it, it makes him seem like a hate monger.

 

[Deshin]

I'm not concerned about the extremists; they will always find some reason to hate regardless of what Americans actually do. I'm more concerned about the opinions of moderate muslims who would have been otherwise blameless and unsupporting of terrorists. When you start doing things that normal, rational people will get upset over (like burning their holy books or obstructing perfectly legitimate building plans), that is when things will get more serious. By antagonising the moderates, you're encouraging them to get into the same boat as the terrorists. It suggests "we won't distinguish you from the bad guys, so you might as well side with them".

If they're normal, rational people then they'll look at it and say "Well that one nutjob burning our holy scripture doesn't represent their entire society as a whole, it's only the few extremists", ya know, THE EXACT SAME THING WE DO whenever some nutjob detonates in a public street. Welcome to reverse prejudice.

 

[Mordwyl]

Seeing as Christianity promotes acceptance and forgiveness I have no idea how he became a priest, of all things, in the first place.

The many should not be blamed for the sins of the few.

 

[Vrach]

Country != religion

Country != work of art

Flag is JUST a representation of a nation. It has nothing more to offer, you won't learn anything from staring at a flag. Kuran is a book and a piece of art and you can learn a lot from it. I'm not a Muslim nor at all supportive of their religion, but there's a difference between their book and their religion.

 

[Slangeveld]

1) That the people who thought it funny to crash into the twin towers saw themselves as Muslims doesn't mean that all Muslims found it funny that some people crashed into the twin towers. I've seen muslims cry over the incident.

2) There is no mosque being build on ground zero. Where does everyone get this dumb idea from, really. Its a whatevercentre with a mosque IN IT. And its streets away from actual GZ.

That said, I do not think burning Korans is outrageous. Its just useless. Its like watching toddler squabble. More than two though. Way more than two.

People care too much. People generalize too much.

 

[Jimbo1212]

They burn flags, we burn Koran's, everyone is happy.

 

[Slangeveld]

The above statement is inaccurate.