Don't Piss Off The Crazy Dangerous People

This is perfect. Please go there and read the entire thing.

The Hobgoblins Of Small Minds

Posted by Jay Tea

Published: September 12, 2010 - 11:00 AM

I've been doing a lot of thinking about the Koran-burning dumbass in Florida, the Ground Zero mosque, and several other incidents in the recent past. And while, at first, there seems to be a bit of hypocrisy involved, it turns out there is a consistency at work in how the incidents are portrayed. A troublesome one, but a consistency nonetheless.

1) The Koran-burning dumbass: it's his Constitutional right, but it inflames hatred and bigotry and puts Americans at risk around the world.

2) The Ground Zero Mosque: it's their Constitutional right to build their "Islamic Cultural Center" there, and anyone who opposes their doing so is acting against the Constitution.

3) "Piss Christ:" It's an exercise in free speech, and to denounce it is tantamount to censorship.

4) Mohammed cartoons: It's free speech and free press, but it's tremendously insensitive and should be reconsidered carefully because Islam forbids depictions of their Prophet.

5) "The Last Temptation Of Christ:" Viewed by many Christians as blasphemous and an attack against their faith, but an artist's creative vision and protected.

6) South Park's plans to depict Mohammed in cartoon form: a gross insult to the world's Muslims, and a tremendous display of insensitivity and bigotry.

At first glance, the inconsistency stands stark: in the odd-numbered cases, the rights of the offenders to exercise their rights trump the rights of the offended to not be offended. In the even-numbered cases, the rights of the offended trump the rights of the offenders.

But there is a consistency here. The rights of the Muslims, in each case, triumphs. They have the right to be offensive, and the right to not be offended.

But it can't be that simple, can it? A simple case of religious supremacy, where one faith simply holds higher status in the eyes of the law and society than another? That's utterly intolerable -- the Constitution explicitly forbids such discrimination, and at no point will anyone arguing either side of the argument state it as such.

No, the real answer is a consistency at a more primal level. An allegiance to a principle that predates the Constitution, a principle that is probably as old as humanity itself.

"Don't piss off the crazy dangerous people."

Go read the whole thing! Much more, equally good at the link!

And let's all join the author in the pledge

I am not a Muslim. I do not live in a Muslim land. I owe Islam no allegiance or obedience whatsoever. And I have every right to violate Muslim law with impunity.