General Petraeus stated that burning the Quran “was hateful, it was intolerant and it was extremely disrespectful and again, we condemn it in the strongest manner possible.” Harry Reid added that the Quran burning by Pastor Terry Jones in Florida was “a publicity stunt” and stated that “I think people should understand the consequences of what they do under the guise of religion.” People are blaming Terry Jones for the deaths in Afghanistan.
Let’s look at some of the ramifications of ignoring the First Amendment (and the rest of the Constitution) and property rights when convenient. First, Terry Jones, the flag burners, bible burners, Andres Serrano (“artist” of “Piss Christ”) – among others – are morons and some of the dumbest people around. However, in the United States they do have the right to do what they do, whether or not it is right to do so. Burning any book, flag or being disrespectful is not something anyone I know would do, but compared to the fanatical, terrorist, radical Muslims who killed and beheaded U.N. workers, the burners look sane.
However, people are blaming Terry Jones for the deaths in Afghanistan, let’s try and trace other “blame” following that same “logic”. Some examples:
* If the KKK were to say “If blacks don’t ride at the back of the bus, then we’ll kill someone”. Then you have “blacks” (I don’t like the term) who don’t ride at back of the bus and the KKK kills people and says, “But it was the black’s fault, we warned them” that it would occur. Is it reasonable to blame the KKK or the “blacks”? After all the KKK was angry and the “blacks” didn’t follow the rules set out by a bunch of radicals. Of course, that is not reasonable. The blame lies with the crazy people who committed the violence and no one else.
* If I eat pork or cow post it on YouTube and someone in Isreal or India is insulted and starts rioting, who’s fault is it? The people rioting. No one else. They need to grow up and take responsibility for themselves.
* Perhaps Andres Serrano is responsible for Terry Jones and consequently Afghanistan because he may have been the one that got Terry Jones angry with the “Piss Christ” “art”? Or perhaps it was the hypothetical college professor who is to blame for teaching Andres Serrano that intolerance of others is acceptable and should be considered “art”? How far back does the blame go? Blaming anyone else for Terry Jones is as reasonable as blaming anyone else for the insanity of extremists in Afghanistan.
* What if a group of people said “If you perform an abortion, we’ll start rioting.” An abortion occurs and riots start, is it the fault of the Doctor who performed the abortion? Of course not. It is the responsibility of the people rioting.
Similarly, it is the responsibility of the people who did the killing in Afghanistan for their actions. Face it, they are radical and extremists. If they aren’t mature enough to handle reality except through violence, it shows just the nature of the individuals involved. We have freedom of speech and expression in the United States, you don’t like it? Too bad, they’ll just keep showing their immaturity and radical nature.