I can only assume, stevenlmeyer, that you are so accustomed to disagreeing with me, that you did not bother to read what I wrote

>>Pericles, This is not about whether Islam is good or bad...etc etc<<

Instead you responded to something that you thought I might have written.

Just for the record, what did you think I said?

We can destroy our own property.

"books" like the koran and the christian "bible" are so plentiful that no industrial destruction effort could alter the availability.

Indeed, since publishing the things is a commercial operation for the organisations involved, there might be a commercial interest in creating demand for new copies.

Of much greater concern is that the vast majority of works giving insight into the stupendously vaster depth, breadth, subtlty and astute achievements of human cultures occur but rarely in private and public collections. Future archaeologists may develop a woefully skewed view of us having a dreadfully stunted culture were they to base their opinion on the "most popular" books.

If the clerics of any religion deem it offensive to see distribution copies of their "scripture" destroyed, perhaps they should institute ironclad dogma that forbids the supply to people who are not (or whose guardians are not) committed to preserving the particular artifact.

I'd *like* to see that.

Could it be extended to all related literature and propaganda?

Rusty

LOL Pericles

You said:

"Agreed. But it is one of those acts that we are required to tolerate, in order to protect - much larger, and vastly more important - freedoms.

"It is totally inappropriate behaviour for jumped-up nobodies to disrespect other members of the human race in this way. But it is equally inappropriate behaviour to use such stupidity as a justification to play victim."

Up to that point I agreed with you 100%

The rest struck me as making it seem as if it mattered whether Islam was a "good" belief system. It doesn't.

But what annoyed me was this statement:

"What is it about the external face of Islam that generates such antipathy amongst the fanatics of a different religion?"

I, as you know, am not at all religious. I, as you also know, will defend anyone's right to say virtually anything. I would defend your right to burn a torah in public on camera and post the footage on youtube. At around $50,000 a pop it would be an expensive exercise but, hey, it's your money.

But I, who is not religious, also loathe and detest Islam.

It's true I loathe and detest ALL religions. But I focus on Islam because that is the one so many people seem ready to appease. It is only attacks on Islam that are conflated with racism as in Victoria's Orwellian Racial and Religious Tolerance Act.

Please also do me the courtesy of reacting to what I've written, not what you think I've written.

My problem is actually not with Islam. It is with the appeasement of Islam to the point WHERE WE SEEM READY TO CURTAIL OUR RIGHT TO FREE SPEECH.

It started, as I said on another thread, with Salman Rushdie. It started when I was threatened with violence for standing up for Rushdie. The threats came, not from Muslims, but from so-called "human rights activists" who accused me of racism.

stevenlmeyer, perhaps your loathing should be directed elsewhere? it is not islam's fault, it is those who are responsible for the appeasement (if indeed there is any) that you mention.

the world has changed (for better or worse) quite rapidly in the last decade or so. this idiot in Florida would have had no global media exposure 15-20 years ago. the local community where he resides would have just dismissed him and his few followers as bigoted (which in my opinion, they are). now, however, anything and everything is instantly transmitted to every corner of the world. we live in a world with different cultures, customs, traditions, beliefs, education levels and social norms. some things like "freedom of speech" and "freedom to dissent" that most Western nations take for granted are completely alien concepts to people in other nations (let alone to some people IN Western nations). we all, however, see the same images and the same stories. perhaps we are witnessing first-hand the societal changes that happen as a result of the instant information revolution?

http://currentglobalperceptions.blogspot.com/

Crikey, what an absolute load of drivel! This bloke comes from a country which regularly lashes miscreants, hangs gays and others (using an absolutely barbaric method, I might add) and stones to death "adulterers". The Iranian "justice" system is an unjust morass. Yet the state religion of this dicatorship of the imams is a beacon for the rest of the world!

The "religion of peace" answers the slightest criticism with violence. As the Yanks say, it's a "no-brainer". Any lefty or multiculti that misses the point is living in the same la-la land as this bloke.

I frankly don't care that the backwoods rev. from Florida wants to burn Qurans. It's only paper and ink, after all. My concern is the utterly predictable response (i.e. scarey) from the 1.5 billion peaceniks.

viking13, completely agree

The constant drone from apologists about how you should read the koran to understand muslims, or how moderates are fine is just window dressing - I suspect the bombers and the ones who want to advance islam with violence all read the koran, look at the message they get.

if moderate muslims don't approve of the activities of the few radicals why do they do nothing about it, after all, it's their religion being trashed isn't it.

I suspect that deep down inside, they agree with the ones who do the damage, what else can you think?

I don't need to read the koran to understand the muslim world, I see it any time anyone dares to criticize it, usually violence, always threats and always bullying.

Tolerating their intolerance will not get us a better society, it will just get us more hardened to further demands from muslims that we retreat our standards. More apologists will insist we have to tolerate more and more of their uncompromising world view