Hairstylists and others weigh in on canceled Koran burning

I thought this article was interesting, especially since it was from the perspective of people living in Gainesville. My favorite quote was from a 25-year-old Hair Stylist:

"I go back and forth," said Chris Leggett, 25, a hair stylist who grew up in Gainesville and was between customers at Hair Hunters, a mini-mall salon about a mile from the Dove church. Although he said he thinks Jones is "an idiot" for the Koran-burning plan, Leggett found himself in recent days wondering what the big deal was about an isolated incident that the whole community had rejected? A girl he knew burned the U.S. flag right after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and it was a big controversy in Gainesville for a couple days, but it blew over.

"What's the big deal? He might have a point," Leggett said. "We allow people to do whatever they want, why can't he? People do whatever they want to us, burn flags, why can't [Jones] strike back? Why can't we just let him do his thing in the corner?"

Another stylist, 59-year-old Mike Bennett, said he was disturbed that Dove was being presented as a face of Gainesville Christianity. Both men were annoyed to hear chat on talk radio that "makes Gainesville look like a bunch of rednecks," Bennett said.

I'd argue that Pastor Jones wasn't really doing "his own thing in the corner." He was trumpeting the thing far and wide. But Mr. Leggett's remarks are still worth noting in that the formula he uses is the same one that ACLU and other libertine fanatics use to justify many types of subversive behavior. Flag-burning is, of course, the common analogy, and Mr. Leggett provides a personal example. Did the ACLU step up to defend the proposed Koran burning? The answer is yes, but with added remarks of it being ugly, disgusting and vile. I don't know if they do that when they defend flag desecration and gay pride exhibits, but I'm guessing they don't. It's sort of a bonus you get if you're on the same side of the ACLU politically that you don't have to suffer their obligatory derision.

Great idea for protesting "Big Tobacco"

Here’s my great idea. In order to protest the many abuses of the tobacco industry (aka “Big Tobacco”), we will publicly burn their most popular product: the so-called tobacco cigarette. We will stand in PUBLIC and light the cigarettes on fire, breathe in the smoke and blow it out into the air. Then when we are done, we will throw the cigarettes on the ground and stomp on them so they are utterly destroyed, after which we will throw them in the garbage. We’ll make a video about this and put it on Youtube so everyone knows where we stand with regards to the evil tobacco companies. Then we’ll do it again in several hours. We will keep doing this until everybody knows where we stand, or until we run out of cigarettes and have to bum them from people in restaurant parking lots.

We have been told by some that this will be playing into the hands of the tobacco industry and will just give them an excuse to produce more cigarettes. They say it will just enable big tobacco to recruit more people engaged in a dangerous practice known in the Tobacco World as "smoking". BUT WE DON’T CARE! WE WILL DO IT ANYWAY!!

What do you think? Good idea?

William Donohue: "Minister [Terry] Jones more than a disgrace"

Here's the Catholic League's statement on the proposed Koran burning:

BURNING KORAN IS DEADLY WRONG

September 7, 2010

Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on reports that a Florida pastor is planning to burn a copy of the Koran on 9/11:

Minister Terry Jones wants to show his anger at radical Muslims by burning a copy of the Koran on September 11. He is wrong morally, and he is literally endangering innocent lives.

The Koran is embraced by Muslims who are law-abiding men and women, as well as by terrorists. Jones knows this to be true, but somehow in his twisted understanding of Christianity, he thinks he has a right to insult and smear all Muslims. Furthermore, he is endangering innocent lives—including Americans—as Gen. David Petraeus has warned. Already, there are Muslims who have taken to the streets in Afghanistan and Indonesia.

While it would be wrong to sustain the "heckler's veto" by giving in to those who seek to veto free speech by heckling, in this instance the "heckler's veto" is moot: no one is in jeopardy of losing his free speech rights. What is being requested is a plea not to inflame passions needlessly by assaulting the sensibilities of Muslims worldwide.

In 1998, I criticized gay radicals who burned a copy of the Bible at Syracuse University to protest an appearance by Pat Buchanan. Now we have extremists on the right seeking to stoke the flames of bigotry against Muslims. It, too, must be criticized.

Minister Jones is more than a disgrace—he is engaged in agitprop and must be unequivocally condemned. There are plenty of legitimate ways to protest the wrongdoing that took place on September 11, 2001. Burning copies of the Koran is not one of them.

So far it looks like unequivocal condemnation of this disgraceful and senseless action by a sweeping Christian majority will be forthcoming. Let's hope that this near universal Christian condemnation will alleviate any reaction at least somewhat. Also let's pray that these folks simply call it off.

We Stand With Brigitte Gabriel

Here is Brigitte Gabriel's statement on the Koran-burning nonsense. Est Quod Est stands fully behind her following statement delivered in an Act! for America email update:

We at ACT! for America denounce and condemn, in the strongest terms, the upcoming Koran burning event organized by Pastor Terry Jones and members of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. Their proposed event is ill-conceived, counter-productive and unwelcome in a world where ideas and philosophies are best debated in the context of the issues and the facts. We find this an archaic act that serves no useful purpose, and as such is a regrettable instance of an inability or unwillingness to discuss the issues facing us in a reasonable and constructive manner.

ACT! for America is, and has always been, committed to exposing the threat of the political ideology of radical Islam and its sharia law through constructive debate, illumination of the facts, and a reasoned analysis of the implications of the threat.

Pastor Jones and his congregation are stooping to the tactics of and joining the inarticulate who express their anger and opposition through destructive and spiteful acts of denigration. What is the difference between his actions and the actions of Islamists destroying synagogues in Gaza or churches and Bibles in Lebanon, Bosnia and Egypt? We are better than that as Americans.

If you have absolutely no answer to something, or if you are itching to start fights, or if you are a perverted bed-wetting pyromaniac then I can see why burning the Koran is the option for you. But if you are a Christian then certainly you have an answer to the misstatements about God and His law which are made in the Koran. So start a blog or something, but put the matches away, Smokey.