A Need For Perspective
What we need here is a little perspective.
First, we all can agree that flushing a Quran down a toilet, if physically possible, would be both insensitive and rude, though Westerners generally have a higher tolerance threshold for such offenses. Put it this way: You could flush a Bible down the toilet in front of Goober in Kabul, and it’s unlikely that Mayberry suddenly would be awash in blood.
Without disrespecting true believers of Islam, one also could debate the relative miseries of seeing our favorite scripture disappear into the plumbing versus, say, watching airplanes fly into buildings, killing thousands of innocents. Remember, these are terrorist suspects captured after 9-11, not kidnapped members of an Afghan boys choir.
The apparent Newsweek mistake was regrettable, but we should beware allowing ourselves to mirror the emotional reactions of people who were by no measure justified in their response — even if the story had been proven true. The same people foaming over a reported act of blasphemy didn’t flinch while executing women for stepping outside sans burqa. I’m afraid my moral outrage in favor of the morally outrageous is all tapped out.
Read the whole thing.
Tags: General
