The only way I knew about this, of course, was that this pitiful little publicity stunt is all over the news. General Petraeus has pointed to this as something that extremists will use in shoring up "the story" - the big lie that the US is at war with Islam. Religious leaders of multiple faiths are pleading with this
In my view the news organizations should have treated this as the non-event it should be. This is a book, people. People print them, people buy them, and people dispose of them. Pakistan has had several mosque fires in which copies of the Quran were undoubtedly burned up - where were the mass riots? People rip copies of the Bible - where's the outrage. People burned copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - did Ms. Rowling shed tear one (hint: she's been paid enough in royalties to be richer than, well, royalty)?
In this country you can burn anything you own (either because you built it or bought it) on your own property unless you're creating a nuisance, committing a fraud, or violating outdoor trash burning laws. Heck, I'd go outside a burn a copy of Ken Ham's book The Lie: Evolution today if I owned a copy and didn't think it would set the grass on fire. And would I get national press coverage, calls from famous clergy, and people rioting in the streets? I should think not.
So how should this have been handled?
- Most people should have ignored it.
- Spiritual leaders should have called this guy the
ignoramusdoofusill-informedoafgoober that he is. - Assuming the Islamic world heard about it at all, they should have taken this for what it is, not as the official policy of, well, anybody.
The madness continues. Protests in Indonesia and Afghanistan, statements from the State Department and White House, and calls from the Pakistani government (whom you'd think would be preoccupied with real problems like, say, the millions of people made homeless by flooding). All over someone with no authority and limited following declaring he mihgt - just might, mind you - burn a book.
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