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I don't get people who burn books
Sep. 9th, 2010 05:35 pmThrough the media circus, pretty much everyone in the world is now aware of the nut job in Florida, Terry Jones, who is a "pastor" (though in my mind he's not much of an advocate for the religion he supposedly preaches about) of a tiny church in "nobody cares, Florida." Somehow he got it in his head that burning a bunch of Qurans on Sept. 11th would not only be an awesome publicity stunt, but that his actions are "justified" by his warped view of what God wants for His people. I suppose if you have managed to stoke your hatred for a particular group of people long enough, you can convince yourself of just about anything.
But, when it's completely clear that by doing so he won't just piss off millions of people, but will also put countless others in danger for retaliation, you have to wonder what this dude's agenda is (probably selling more of his hate filled literature). If he was hoping people would notice him, then his mission was accomplished. Though as parents and teachers know, there is "positive attention" and "negative attention." He seems to be the type who wants "negative attention." People don't know his name because he helped build homes for homeless people in his community, or for sending food and clothing to war torn countries, or for promoting education in poverty stricken lands. No. We all know him now as a bigot who wants to burn someone's holy book in some kind of Nazi-esque, childish attempt, at a playground taunt. Trust me, Mr. Jones, no one who has a heart and mind of their own and the gift of common sense from God wants to play in your sandbox (though some of us might gladly pee in it).
But what I REALLY do not understand about people like him is, where the hell do they GET all the books from?! I mean, are you stealing them from the public library or something? (And if you are, how many copies do they HAVE of the Quran? I can't imagine it's a popular book to check out). Because it sounds to me that either everyone in your congregation has a Quran sitting on their shelf at home or... don't tell me you actually went out and BOUGHT one just to burn it?! I mean, by buying the book, you are supporting the publishers and other religious organizations who printed it. You also are encouraging them to print more, since, ya know... they sold out? I mean, do you have a deal with Amazon or Borders or something?
Because, I gotta tell you, publishers don't keep track of which of their books were sold for the purpose of burning them. They only keep track of how many SOLD. When I get royalty checks from my publisher, it only shows how many sold and what my share is. It doesn't say "12 of the copies sold were used to fuel a rage filled, ignorant bigot's, bon fire." Hell, everyone who bought my book could have burned it for all I care! I still got the cash, baby. So, by burning them, you're "supporting" them and giving them an excuse to print more??? I mean, really, that's all you have done. That's all any book burner does. They cause hype about a certain text and more people run out and buy it. Some do it to burn it like some kind of troglodyte; some buy it to... omg... READ it to find out why it's so "evil" and "forbidden!" Sounds to me like you single-handedly boosted sales of the Quran in your neck of the woods!
This is kind of person is exactly the reason why I will not join a "random, non-denominational, ‘Christian' church." Those kinds of places scare me shitless because of people like this guy who say whatever they want to say, make up their own rules and can at any point turn to their congregation and make some outlandish claim and somehow get the brainwashed masses to back him up instead of calling him on his bullshit. This is why I will always stick to a Christian faith that has SOME KIND of hierarchy in their organization to tell nut jobs that "they can't do that." I don't need anyone to help me be led astray, I can lead myself astray fine all by myself.
Religious leaders everywhere have an obligation to preach peace and tolerance. Every major religion (whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism etc.) all have one fundamental thing in common, they all have some form of "The Golden Rule": "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." All credible religious leaders know this. So, "getting back at someone" for something that they did does not heal the wounds. Rather, it opens you up to retaliation as, "An eye for an eye" is a very fair and human outlook as well and is the more likely outcome.
The good news is the media draws attention to injustice. The bad news is it also draws attention to people who don't deserve it. This guy does not deserve it.
What makes me most angry about this situation is, right now because of the media buzz giving a voice to this man, he's making the rest of America (and Christians) look like complete assholes. I would like to just point out that it doesn't take the President, Secretary of State and General Petraeus to tell me that this is WRONG, a gross display of ignorance for the faith of others and is going to endanger other people. I can see that all by myself. I also don't need God to come riding down on some kind of cloud chariot being pulled by flaming horses to tell me that this is not a an appropriate thing to do. This guy pretty much said that he wants God Himself to stop him. Got news for you pal, God already sent you hundreds of people to tell you this is stupid. You just aren't listening to his messengers.
But, when it's completely clear that by doing so he won't just piss off millions of people, but will also put countless others in danger for retaliation, you have to wonder what this dude's agenda is (probably selling more of his hate filled literature). If he was hoping people would notice him, then his mission was accomplished. Though as parents and teachers know, there is "positive attention" and "negative attention." He seems to be the type who wants "negative attention." People don't know his name because he helped build homes for homeless people in his community, or for sending food and clothing to war torn countries, or for promoting education in poverty stricken lands. No. We all know him now as a bigot who wants to burn someone's holy book in some kind of Nazi-esque, childish attempt, at a playground taunt. Trust me, Mr. Jones, no one who has a heart and mind of their own and the gift of common sense from God wants to play in your sandbox (though some of us might gladly pee in it).
But what I REALLY do not understand about people like him is, where the hell do they GET all the books from?! I mean, are you stealing them from the public library or something? (And if you are, how many copies do they HAVE of the Quran? I can't imagine it's a popular book to check out). Because it sounds to me that either everyone in your congregation has a Quran sitting on their shelf at home or... don't tell me you actually went out and BOUGHT one just to burn it?! I mean, by buying the book, you are supporting the publishers and other religious organizations who printed it. You also are encouraging them to print more, since, ya know... they sold out? I mean, do you have a deal with Amazon or Borders or something?
Because, I gotta tell you, publishers don't keep track of which of their books were sold for the purpose of burning them. They only keep track of how many SOLD. When I get royalty checks from my publisher, it only shows how many sold and what my share is. It doesn't say "12 of the copies sold were used to fuel a rage filled, ignorant bigot's, bon fire." Hell, everyone who bought my book could have burned it for all I care! I still got the cash, baby. So, by burning them, you're "supporting" them and giving them an excuse to print more??? I mean, really, that's all you have done. That's all any book burner does. They cause hype about a certain text and more people run out and buy it. Some do it to burn it like some kind of troglodyte; some buy it to... omg... READ it to find out why it's so "evil" and "forbidden!" Sounds to me like you single-handedly boosted sales of the Quran in your neck of the woods!
This is kind of person is exactly the reason why I will not join a "random, non-denominational, ‘Christian' church." Those kinds of places scare me shitless because of people like this guy who say whatever they want to say, make up their own rules and can at any point turn to their congregation and make some outlandish claim and somehow get the brainwashed masses to back him up instead of calling him on his bullshit. This is why I will always stick to a Christian faith that has SOME KIND of hierarchy in their organization to tell nut jobs that "they can't do that." I don't need anyone to help me be led astray, I can lead myself astray fine all by myself.
Religious leaders everywhere have an obligation to preach peace and tolerance. Every major religion (whether it be Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism etc.) all have one fundamental thing in common, they all have some form of "The Golden Rule": "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." All credible religious leaders know this. So, "getting back at someone" for something that they did does not heal the wounds. Rather, it opens you up to retaliation as, "An eye for an eye" is a very fair and human outlook as well and is the more likely outcome.
The good news is the media draws attention to injustice. The bad news is it also draws attention to people who don't deserve it. This guy does not deserve it.
What makes me most angry about this situation is, right now because of the media buzz giving a voice to this man, he's making the rest of America (and Christians) look like complete assholes. I would like to just point out that it doesn't take the President, Secretary of State and General Petraeus to tell me that this is WRONG, a gross display of ignorance for the faith of others and is going to endanger other people. I can see that all by myself. I also don't need God to come riding down on some kind of cloud chariot being pulled by flaming horses to tell me that this is not a an appropriate thing to do. This guy pretty much said that he wants God Himself to stop him. Got news for you pal, God already sent you hundreds of people to tell you this is stupid. You just aren't listening to his messengers.
