[mlmpetert]

Like most people i think that this is pretty dumb just because its disrespectful and doesn’t benefit anyone. Like even more people i also think its EXTREMELY stupid because many Muslims are literally going to go nuts. But i started thinking about it in just the sense that its going to cause Muslims to go nuts, and I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it now.

This kind of stuff is going to keep happening no matter if we agree with it or not. There were the Cartoon Riots a few years back, there was Draw Mohammad Day last year, there’s Burn a Koran Day this year, there is going to be something next year and so on. I honestly don’t think it will ever stop, people do these things because they know it will get a big reaction, because it the Western Culture’s eyes murdering someone or suicide bombing people over an act of expression like this is considered overreacting. But in many Muslim’s eyes that isn’t overreacting. So whats going to happen? Are we going to make special rules and laws about being extra sensitive with regards to Muslims? Are Muslims going to realize that their overacting?

Here are a bunch of quotes from around the world condemning the burring, including 2 from people that Westerns view as crazy people:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/09/florida.quran.reactions/

A spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan tells CNN: "If in Florida they were to burn the Quran, we will target any Christians, even if they are innocent, because the Quran is our holy book and we do not want someone to burn our holy book."

A senior Iranian Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani, condemned the plan to burn the Quran and called for the arrest of Jones, head of the Dove World Outreach Center, according to Iran's semi-official Fars news agency. Should such an "inhumane incident take place in America, the U.S. government and President Obama will be held responsible," he said, according to the report.

The above messages are irrational in Westerns’ minds. Honestly I dont think interacting with fundamentalist Muslims is ever going to work unless one of us changes our values. And I don’t think that’s going to happen in any of our lifetimes. I don’t think there is any common ground between are values.

So I guess im not sure how I feel about it because I think its important that we realize that we are not going to eventually just get along, that one day we can agree to disagree, that we can both have our cake and eat it too. Dumb people like this pastor are going to continue to do things to incite Muslims, I feel like we just need to accept that as part of life. There’s nothing we can really do about it or more importantly should want to do about it because that means compromising our values and principles.