Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Disgraceful Symbolism: IOKIYAR

Fred Kaplan in Slate:

Republicans are usually eager to trumpet their support for the troops and the war against terror. So why aren't they condemning the Florida pastor who plans to lead his congregation in a Quran-burning bonfire on Sept. 11?

In September 2007, the Senate voted 72-25 to condemn the anti-war group MoveOn.org for running a full-page newspaper ad that denounced Gen. Petraeus, then the U.S. commander in Iraq, as "General Betray Us."

If the senators want to show their genuine support for Petraeus (and not just indulge in an easy political stunt), they should denounce Terry Jones for endangering the troops and providing aid and comfort to the enemy—and, better still, send federal marshals to Gainesville, Fla., to help the local fire chief (who has ordered Jones not to burn the books) maintain public safety.

Fred goes into the effect this might have on the troops but he didn't answer his own question posed in the opening paragraph. I will.

The reason the Repugs aren't condemning this disgraceful act by a publicity-seeking phony xtian preacher is because they don't want to piss off their anti-Islam base of haters two months before an election.

Book-burning in this case is not about denying knowledge like it has been in other times. It's entirely symbolic. The Qurans here are nothing but flammable wood products, probably printed in English which most Muslims in the world couldn't read anyway, and millions of printing presses the world over crank 'em out every day in most every language.

We oughta consider ourselves lucky that he's not going to burn a Muslim.

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