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Hillarysworld -> National News -> Everyone's wrong on book burning (politico) 09-19-10 Finally! A reasoned view!
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TOPIC: Everyone's wrong on book burning (politico) 09-19-10 Finally! A reasoned view!
freespirit


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Everyone's wrong on book burning (politico) 09-19-10 Finally! A reasoned view!
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Roger Simon makes some excellent points in this article, IMO.  He, like every reasonable person in America condemns the proposed Koran burning, but offers a more balanced perspective than we've seen in other media offerings.

Everyone's wrong on book burning
Whether Terry Jones gets a compromise or a conflagration, cooler heads must prevail. |

By ROGER SIMON | 9/10/10 4:31 AM EDT

If the lion can lie down with the lamb, can a skin-crawly preacher from Gainesville, Fla., get an Islamic leader to move a mosque farther away from ground zero in New York?
(snip)

God has not been heard from yet on the record or on cable news, but just about everybody else has.

“I just want (Jones) to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women in uniform who are in Iraq who are in Afghanistan,” said President Barack Obama.

The president of the United States, who ordinarily takes little notice of the activities of 50-member religious congregations in north Florida, made an exception in this case. As did the secretary of defense, who called Jones either to ask him to abandon the bonfire or to tell him a Predator drone was hovering outside his window.

A general also got into the act, even though, strictly speaking, it is not the duty of U.S. military leaders to comment on the First Amendment rights of U.S. citizens.
“We’re concerned that the images from the burning of a Quran would be used in the same way that extremists used images from Abu Ghraib,” said Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan. “They would be used by those who wish us ill, to incite violence and to enflame public opinion against us and against our mission here in Afghanistan, as well as our missions undoubtedly around the world.”
(Memo to Gen. Petraeus: The best way to avoid the use of images from Abu Ghraib is not to have prisons like Abu Ghraib in which U.S. soldiers committed unspeakable acts. The issue is not the images; it is the acts.)

Gen. Petraeus, just like U.S. generals a generation before him in Vietnam, believe that protest makes war more difficult to pursue and, therefore, we should do away with protest. Some might argue we should do away with war. 
Not only are celebrities lining up in America to condemn the possible Quran burning – Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, John McCain, David Letterman, Jay Leno and Jesse Jackson have all weighed in – but Europeans are now getting into the act as well.

“Although there are currently no specific details as to what forms of terror attacks would follow, what is clear is if the Quran burning goes ahead as planned, there will be tragic consequences, ones which may well claim the lives of many innocent people,” Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble said in a statement.

All these people are probably correct. But something is missing. What’s missing is someone willing to say: “Though the burning of a Quran is evil and repulsive, so are violent acts in response to it. It is irrational and wrong to target Americans with violence because somebody burns a book. That preacher in Florida should not burn holy books. But terrorists should not hide behind religion as an excuse to commit terror.”
When American flags are burned in Afghanistan and Pakistan, it does not set off a wave of bloody reprisals in America. And it shouldn’t.

The Quran controversy reminds me of what happened in Skokie, Ill., in the late 1970s. A small group of neo-Nazis wanted to hold a rally in Chicago. Chicago refused to grant them a permit, and in retaliation the Nazis announced that instead they would rally in Skokie, a northern suburb with a large Jewish population, including thousands of Holocaust survivors.

What followed was the same kind of media orgy we are seeing now: The leader of the Nazis insisted on giving interviews only in front of a large swastika flag the same way the preacher in Gainesville stands in front of his “INTERNATIONAL BURN A KORAN DAY” trailer. The airwaves and newspapers provided wall-to-wall Nazi coverage.
Finally, after a Supreme Court ruling favorable to the Nazis, a settlement was worked out: The Nazis would be allowed to hold three rallies in Chicago in return for dropping plans to rally in Skokie. In the end, about 50 bedraggled neo-Nazis showed up at the rallies and were heartily booed. The controversy melted away, except for the inevitable books and made-for-TV movies.

Such compromises seem a thing of the past, part of a different time, a different era. Maybe Jones will get a compromise instead of conflagration, but how about trying three simple pledges whether he does or not as we face the future?

Pledge One: We all have a duty not to be unnecessarily provocative and hurtful. Building a mosque near ground zero is legal, but it is also unnecessarily provocative and hurtful. It should be moved.

Pledge Two: We all have a duty not to react violently to provocation. God does not tell people to maim and murder in the name of religion. Not anybody’s God, not anybody’s religion. If you work hard enough, there is always a nonviolent way to end controversies.

Pledge Three: The media have a duty to act with wisdom, responsibility and restraint. Always.

Tell me when you’ve stopped laughing.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0910/41952_Page2.html#ixzz0z8bTNsqY

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It was we, the people; not we, the white male citizens; nor yet we, the male citizens; but we, the whole people, who formed the Union.... Men, their rights and nothing more; women, their rights and nothing less.  ~Susan B. Anthony
Sanders


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Yeh, that's quite a good article.

The first two pledges, for sure. The third? Well, if you think of me as a journalist... which I am so far from... I would pledge.. but honestly, I cannot think of the television mediaites as journalists anymore, except for the rare exceptions on CNN Sunday - on Candy Crawley and Fareed Zakaria... and to a good extent in Anderson Cooper AC360 (which is quite liberal leaning) - I think these seem to strive to be firmly grounded in facts and meet the "wisdom, responsibility and restraint" criteria.  I most certainly do not see wisdom, responsibility and restraint in any of the FOXNews channels except perhaps Greta - but even there, I am disappointed lately in how far it delves into hype and opinion lately.  Is the TV media so threatened by blogosphere that they have to become the online voice blog? It is so unattractive. 

Balanced viewpoint from the same mouth is what we are not getting... Balanced viewpoint is not talking on both sides of your mouth, rather bringing a well digested reasoned and respectful perspective, with responsibility and wisdom... which the author of the above article achieves. Kudos to Roger Simon!

Freespirit, Thanks for sharing.



__________________
Democracy needs defending - SOS Hillary Clinton, Sept 8, 2010
Democracy is more than just elections - SOS Hillary Clinton, Oct 28, 2010

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Sanders


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Look at this other article in Telegraph UK.

US nutter plans to burn copies of the Koran: can one idiot really 'threaten world peace'?

Excerpt:
The most sensible comment thus far has come from Hillary Clinton: “It is regrettable that a pastor in Gainesville, Florida, with a church of no more than 50 people can make this outrageous and distrustful, disgraceful plan and get the world’s attention.” I’ll say. And wouldn’t it be best for the political leaders of countries genuinely interested in world peace to avoid increasing the ridiculous amount of attention that this unpleasant man has succeeded in attracting?

=========

Nice!  And yes, it is time to put the respective priests in their place and not make a global "federal case" out of it.

__________________
Democracy needs defending - SOS Hillary Clinton, Sept 8, 2010
Democracy is more than just elections - SOS Hillary Clinton, Oct 28, 2010

Madam Secretary Blog at ForeignPolicy.com
Project Vote Smart - Stay informed and engaged!
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