Burn A Koran Day

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

I gather there are Muslims rioting overseas now about the Koran-burn -- on a contingency basis.

This sort of behavior makes me laugh.

Really? Why are you laughing? Because the real damage done by the actions of this pastor is only less than it could have been? Words count, and you yourself know this and believe in this and count on this. Otherwise, why do you bother to post? Words count for others, too, including those that have been incited to riot by the words of this pastor.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by BigV

Really? Why are you laughing? Because the real damage done by the actions of this pastor is only less than it could have been? Words count, and you yourself know this and believe in this and count on this. Otherwise, why do you bother to post? Words count for others, too, including those that have been incited to riot by the words of this pastor.

Okay, to clarify.

It makes me laugh because to riot on a contingency basis is just absurd. Grim absurdities abound in this clash of civilizations, and most of the absurd seems to be on our opponents' side. They look about as goofy as Rage Boy (q.v.). He could seriously advertise some toothpaste all over Pakistan. It'd be about like Baghdad Bob emigrating to America and getting a job advertising cars -- "Would I lie to you?"

[xoxoxoBruce]

I thought the riots were a reaction to the NJ Transit employee burning pages from the Koran in NYC?

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Urbane Guerrilla

Okay, to clarify.

It makes me laugh because to riot on a contingency basis is just absurd. Grim absurdities abound in this clash of civilizations, and most of the absurd seems to be on our opponents' side. They look about as goofy as Rage Boy (q.v.). He could seriously advertise some toothpaste all over Pakistan. It'd be about like Baghdad Bob emigrating to America and getting a job advertising cars -- "Would I lie to you?"

I appreciate your effort to clarify your thoughts. Unsurprisingly, I disagree with your conclusions.

You presume you know the motivations of the rioters, which you can not (nor can I). But your theory is absurd, consistent for you, but ironic given your constant admonitions of other dwellars' poor thinking. You have made the mistake of picking your "facts" to conform to your theory. A good thinker does just the opposite, conforming their theories to the facts.

You say "It makes me laugh because to riot on a contingency basis is just absurd." I disregard the rest of your paragraph because it is only more of your whining insults, nothing like a critical assessment of what's going on outside your head. You claim the rioters' actions were motivated on a "contingency basis" and call that absurd. In fact, you use this as the foundation for your string of insults. But there is no fact to support such a theory. The only facts here are that a pastor in Florida threatened to burn some Korans and that some people rioted.

The best (simplest, most reasonable and believable, most consistent) correlation that can be made between these two facts, a pastor threatened to burn some Korans and some people rioted) is that the people were incited to riot by the threats made by pastor. This is not absurd. It may be an overreaction by the standards of some. Let me draw an analogy. If you were faced with someone who is shouting loudly and aggressively, threatening to do you harm, and you were carrying your firearm, what would you do? Would you wait until he physically harmed you before you shot him? Maybe you would shoot him before he had the chance to do so. If you did, would you say to the police that you'd shot him on a "contingency basis"? Or would you say your responded to the threat of violence?

I contend that the reason the rioters' acted violently is because they were responding to the threat of violence, not because of some absurd, "contingency basis".

It is possible that you are unable to empathize with people who feel so strongly about their religion that such a threat is tantamount to violence, and would respond accordingly. This might partly account for why you wouldn't see such an obvious correlation, and therefore had to come up with such an absurd one. However, I don't think I can help you become more empathetic.

[xoxoxoBruce]

As I understand it, the Kabul riots were in response to a fatal car crash between a car driven by American contractor, and one driven by an Afghan.

It is possible that you are unable to empathize with people who feel so strongly about their religion that such a threat is tantamount to violence, and would respond accordingly.

I will never be able to empathize with people that practice arson, physical violence, and murder, in response to insulting a book, or in fact insulting Deities themselves.

You want to burn a Bible, have at it... unless it's mine.
And Deities by definition are much more powerful than I, therefore they can fight their own battles.