Rev. Terry Jones is an asshole.
There will be a lot of talk in the coming weeks about Jones' culpability for the murder of ten U.N. workers, and not a few Afghan citizens, in a Friday riot protesting Jones' burning of a Qur'an. Those on what passes for the "left" side of America's political spectrum will blame him too much; those on the right will blame him too little. It will all be meaningless, because there is no fixed amount of villainy to go around. In this imperfect universe, there is an inexhaustible supply. The despicableness of those who attacked an Afghan U.N. mission this week and beheaded several of its foreign workers in no way mitigates this simple fact: Terry Jones is a huge, irresponsible, cavalier, life-endangering, moronic asshole, and we're all lessened by having to share a state with the man.
Here are the facts, as ascertained from the New York Times:
Terry Jones, the Gainesville pastor and author, briefly became famous
last year for threatening to burn a Qur'an. He backed off after nearly
every religious body in the world condemned the plan's stupidity and
uselessness. Before he did, several riots resulted. In one of these, in
Fayzabad, Afghanistan, three people were killed.
One might have hoped Jones would learn a lesson, or several lessons,
from this experience. He may have learned, for example, that inflaming
the rage of crazy people can have undesired consequences. He may have
learned that having the right to do something doesn't make it
right to do that thing. Unfortunately, all he seems to have learned is
that Qur'an burning is a guaranteed way to get press coverage. (Shame on
the media for proving him right.)
So on March 20th, Jones staged a mock trial of the Muslim "holy" book,
declared the document guilty, and torched it. The news shortly arrived
in Afghanistan. Outrage simmered, and exploded into the streets of the
city of Mazar-i-Sharif after Friday prayers. An angry mob converged on
the local U.N. mission, overpowered the guards, and executed ten foreign
workers, two of whom were beheaded. Five Afghan citizens died as well.
The men (or women [or children]) who committed these crimes are
barbarians; possessed of a vile, theocratic, authoritarian mentality
that the world would be better off without. Of course, Terry Jones
already knew that -- that's why he's so hung up on the Qur'an in the
first place. He knew how these individuals would react to his Qur'an
burning, but decided that the faceless innocents who would bear the
brunt of the Islamists' rage mattered less than his rhetorical
grandstanding. Jones has now made his point -- yes, Islam can be brutal;
what valuable information -- and all it cost was 15 lives. So far. I
wonder if he thinks he overpaid.
Probably not, because Jones technically hasn't paid anything. Nor does
it appear he intends to. He has never announced plans to burn a Qur'an
in Kabul or Mecca, and I don't imagine he will. Jones' refusal to wage
spiritual war in environs less cozy than Gainesville reflects an obvious
and repellant cowardice. If Jones is willing to sacrifice lives for his
beliefs, the apostles he reveres would likely suggest he begin with his
own. They did, after all. Islam isn't the only religion to revere its martyrs.
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