Let me open with this disclaimer. I do NOT condone what this church in Florida plans to do. I think it is intolerant, and inciting while American lives are in direct contact danger in the ME.
But I would like to delve beyond the usual argument here, and discuss why it is ok, seemingly, for members of Islam to constantly desecrate things like the American Flag, and burn churches and bibles over there, while here it raises nary a story, but have one whacked church here threaten to burn a Koran, and all hell breaks loose in the press, and on the ground there.
j-mac
The answer is that it is not 'okay' for Islam to desecrate the American flag, burn churches, or destroy Bibles. When the so-called liberal/conservative media reports on such things, it's because Americans - conservatives and liberals alike - think to themselves "Wow! What a bunch of idiots over there doing this kinda stuff!" But we expect such things to happen in those backwater theocracies, so it surprises none of us. And because it doesn't generate divisiveness, such things come and go out of the press pretty quickly. But given that the world is full of weirdos, the press can inevitably dig up some dude who thinks they are right to burn the flag, Obama is a Muslim, and America is run by the Illuminati. Some folks may take this strange fellow seriously, but most of us just think he's an idiot, and this story, too, dies out fast.
When it happens over here, the stories get all discombobulated. A church wants to burn a Koran, folks get upset for whatever reason. They may be Muslims, or they may simply not want this kinda thing to take place over here as well. Or some could even be like me - viewing both religions as equally silly, and wondering why folks really care that some book is being burnt to piss off the other guys. Whatever the reason, this leads said Koran-burners to label those opposing their holy bonfire as Muslim apologists; specifically, liberal, politically-correct Muslim apologists, because when you are gonna start targetting a religious group, you gotta throw in a few more adjectives to include folks who are politically opposed to you. That way, you've successfully mixed politics AND religion, and the arguments can continue for even longer. And since emotionally-charged opinions are a sure-fire way to keep folks watching your programs, such stories are in the news for much longer periods of time.
By the same token, if Muslims in the West decide to burn a few Bibles to illustrate that they are capable of making uneducated decisions as well, then an equal amount of stupidity follows. Said Bible-burners don't stop at burning the American flag and New Testament, either. They gotta throw a lotta death threats towards anyone who ever said anything bad about their religion, and by 'bad', I mean anything that expresses a different, intelligent point of view often laced with humor. Such people might include atheists, authors, and cartoonists, but are certainly not limited to any one group.
You'd think that after a time, folks with different religions would learn to get along with one another. After all, the history of religion is filled with the blood of nonbelievers. Yet here we are, burning the Koran, desecrating the flag, and blowing up nice restaurants where folks simply wanted to have a night out on the town, enjoying some baklava and good conversation.
