Originally Posted By ecdc Sign me up for the comments on the media. The U.S. has always had its cranks. These people are nothing new. But a media that covers them nonstop and beams their activities worldwide for other crazy people to see? That's a new phenomenon.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt To me it sounds like a lot of people here are embarrassed by this guy.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "Fortunately, I will just be shooting video and operating a satellite truck. No opinion necessary." Maybe you could bring a fire extinguisher and use it on the fire, Jones, or both.
Originally Posted By Dr Hans Reinhardt Or maybe you could "accidentally" nudge him into the flames. He looks kinda fragile. Wouldn't that be something for the headlines.
Originally Posted By dshyates I am actually somewhat concerned about being in the vicinity of his stunt. There is a real chance that this thing could get violent. And I would prefer to be watching it on TV than be in the middle of it.
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance I can't believe you're going to be there dshyates, try to get on camera and wear a shirt that says DSHYATES so we all know it's you!
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance Grab him by the mustache and swing him around like a lasso. Wear a LP shirt while you're doing it, lol.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "I am actually somewhat concerned about being in the vicinity of his stunt. There is a real chance that this thing could get violent. And I would prefer to be watching it on TV than be in the middle of it." That's a valid concern.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <<///Burning Korans could, per Gen. Petraeus, put our troops in Afghanistan at risk of retaliation. In other words, people could die if this stupid stunt goes forward. If the cultural center gets built at the site proposed, certain people get their sensibilities offended. That's pretty different.///>> <And people could die from that Islamic center going up too. Either event could trigger some violent reprisals. Unless you're Sylvia Brown or James Van Praagh I don't see how you can safely assume that one event---Islamic Center vs. book burning--- is any more(or less) likely to stir freaks into committing violent statements than the other. > You've got to be kidding. First of all, I live in NYC. This is in the news every day, and already people are cooling off about it. If this thing gets built where planned, that alone is a long process and people cool down after a while. But even if it went up tomorrow, nobody's getting killed. Hell, when the Muslim cabbie got stabbed by a drunk, there was a immediate outcry from all corners of the city. Anything premeditated like a specific violent response to the mosque opening wouldn't fly here. We really do get along pretty well - we have to, living on top of each other as we do. Second, there have been no threats of violence over the mosque opening. Only people talking about their sensibilities being hurt. Contrast that to the Fla. pastor getting death threats, various groups threatening retaliation, and Generals Petraeus and Odiorno saying that this little stunt could cost some soldiers their lives, flat out. You don't have to be clairvoyant to see the difference here, just in what's already gone down. Third, you may not realize that the (physical) Koran is seen quite differently by Muslims than the Bible is seen by Christians. Christians revere the text of the Bible, but not really the physical book. But Muslims consider the physical book itself to be sacred, and any desecration a serious act, in a way that is just outside most Christians and Jews' thinking. That's why when there was that report of US soldiers supposedly flushing a Koran down a toilet, there was a huge outcry. Not just among extremists either; ordinary Muslims thought it was horrendous. Now multiply that by however many dozen Korans this Fla. guy is planning to burn. <Your bias is as transparent as some of Dale Bozzio's(Missing Persons 80's rock band) getups.> Nice reference. But it's not bias, it's simple statement of facts, as outlined above.
Originally Posted By Mr X ***But Muslims consider the physical book itself to be sacred, and any desecration a serious act, in a way that is just outside most Christians and Jews' thinking*** I think Catholics could relate. I would imagine a horrendous outcry if anyone were to intentionally desecrate the bread and wine. I don't suppose there are many other examples in JudeoChristian circles, but what you describe does seem similar to Communion (more than a "regular" book would, even a religious one).
Originally Posted By mawnck You'll never guess who said this! >>I would hope that Pastor Terry Jones and his supporters will consider the ramifications of their planned book-burning event. It will feed the fire of caustic rhetoric and appear as nothing more than mean-spirited religious intolerance. Don't feed that fire. If your ultimate point is to prove that the Christian teachings of mercy, justice, freedom, and equality provide the foundation on which our country stands, then your tactic to prove this point is totally counter-productive.<< <a href="http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=427813493434" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/note.p...13493434</a> Or this! >>We must be the better person. We must be bigger than our problems. Bigger than the times in which we live. Burning the Koran is like burning the flag or the Bible. You can do it, but whose heart will you change by doing it? You will only harden the hearts of those who could be moved. None of those who are thinking about killing us will be affected, but our good Muslim friends and neighbors will be saddened. It makes the battle that they face inside their own communities even harder. Let us rise above the current levels and elevate ourselves and our country. The only thing this act would prove is that you CAN burn a Koran. I didn’t know America was in doubt on that fact. Let’s prove to each other that while there are many things we can do, there are maybe many more things that we choose not to do.<< <a href="http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2010/09/06/thoughts-from-glenn-on-church-plan-to-burn-koran/" target="_blank">http://www.theblaze.com/blog/2...n-koran/</a>
Originally Posted By CuriouserConstance More people condemning the burning. <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20100908/pl_yblog_upshot/even-pastors-old-church-condemns-quran-burning" target="_blank">http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_...-burning</a>
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder "You'll never guess who said this!" Let's put it this way- it's so stupid, even THOSE two realize it.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan Sidebar to Dabob -- With the "ground zero mosque" thing, would you say it started out with locals, or was it whipped up by people not even from NYC? I ask because there are mosques all over Manhattan, and we saw a large group of men out in front of a shop bowing to Mecca, and no one batted an eye. I've mentioned before that when we passed the WTC every day on our vacation, there were people out there handing out leaflets, bellowing about how 9/11 was masterminded by the government. Why isn't the news media covering these guys every day, round the clock? Oh, because people know they're basically nutty conspiracy theorists, and it is insulting to the victims of 9/11. There's no reason to help these loons advance their theories. Too bad they don't take a similar position on crackpots burning religious books. Everyone would be better off.
Originally Posted By plpeters70 <<Too bad they don't take a similar position on crackpots burning religious books. Everyone would be better off.>> Everyone would be better off...except the media-companies who are looking for the highest ratings possible. These "news" outlets are all driven by corporations looking to make the most money - and that means getting the most eyes possible watching (or reading) their "news". It's becoming quite obvious that the media is looking for the stories that will cause the most controversy, and will get as many eyes as possible on their channels.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>***But Muslims consider the physical book itself to be sacred, and any desecration a serious act, in a way that is just outside most Christians and Jews' thinking*** I think Catholics could relate. I would imagine a horrendous outcry if anyone were to intentionally desecrate the bread and wine.<< This happens quite frequently. People break into churches to steal and desecrate the consecrated host. This is why they are now usually kept under lock and key. Vandalism is quite common as well. Sometimes it can be strange. A few years ago in a small Colorado town some LDS missionaries vandalized a Catholic chapel. The local LDS hierarchy apologized profusely and paid for all the damages. Its just something we've learned to live with, which is unfortunate as our local parish is usually locked up for this reason. Typically churches are open all day so people can come in and pray. But with most parishes having only 1 or 2 priests who usually away from facilities most of the day there's often no one to keep an eye on the facilities, so they have to lock them up.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>I don't suppose there are many other examples in JudeoChristian circles, but what you describe does seem similar to Communion (more than a "regular" book would, even a religious one).<, I think that Protestant Fundamentalist would take similar umbrage to Bible burning. Even withing Catholic circles it would not be taken lightly. No death threats of course.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <With the "ground zero mosque" thing, would you say it started out with locals, or was it whipped up by people not even from NYC? I ask because there are mosques all over Manhattan, and we saw a large group of men out in front of a shop bowing to Mecca, and no one batted an eye.> There were a couple of family members of victims who were opposed who were pretty loudly opposed (along with others who supported it or just didn't think about it one way or the other, that you never hear about), but you'll get people who oppose ANY new development in NYC for one reason or another. (Like the people who oppose a new building going up near the Empire State Building that's almost as tall, because it will block views of all but the top of the ESB from one direction.) Those family members were opposed to this a long time ago, and not getting much traction. It only became a "national issue" when ginned up by people outside NYC, as far as I can see.
Originally Posted By Kar2oonMan >>It only became a "national issue" when ginned up by people outside NYC, as far as I can see.<< That's sort of what I thought might be going on.
