Monday, July 30, 2007

Respect ...

Personally, I don't care what you do with a Koran, Torah, or Bible. To me, they're just fables at the least, at most, guidebooks written by some smart guys to help fledgling civilizations understand the world around them and learn to live together in viable communities. Then again, I wouldn't desecrate one for the sake of doing it, or to be hurtful of someone else. I might not believe the way you do, but I have enough respect for your beliefs not to shit on your icons.

Who knows whether it should be a hate crime or not? There are enough legal beagles around the interwebs to deal with that eye-glazing argument. I do think, though, the act of desecrating another's religious icons is an act of racism and bigotry against an entire group of people.

Throwing a holy book in a toilet is not the act of voicing a particular disagreement with a particular person (as opposed to taking that particular person's head and flushing it a few times), it is a statement against a billion people (or more), most of whom you don't even know. It's the same as saying "I hate niggers" or "I hate spics". It is saying "I not only have a problem with you, but everyone like you."

It is saying "I have no respect for you, your people, or anything you hold dear". You see it is not just a book (personally, I'd get awful pissed if someone put The Complete Isaac Asimov in a toilet) but it is what helps define a group of people and their values. The people who resort to this type of public statement are no better than the KKK burning a cross in front of a black family's house in Mississippi.

No comments: