Some guy
in Hinckley , Minnesota , at a business not far from a
Subway Sandwich Shop, put up various blankets for sale, one of them was of this
racist flag.
True, there are many other images that can
attract attention, such as the face of Marilyn Monroe or Shaquille O'Neal, but
somebody decided to make a blanket of this racist flag, and the man you see
decided to buy it and put it up for sale--along with his other blankets. Even if the Confederate blanket doesn't sell,
if it attracts attention and customers to buy his OTHER blankets--the purchase
and display of the Confederate blanket was a good investment.
Now that this white man's face is on my
blogsite, will anyone make a big issue of this?
My advice, as a black African, is to simply ignore the white man and
silently boycott his business. Likewise with Pastor Terry Jones, of the Dove World Outreach Center ,
of a state in the southeast corner of the USA . Americans have in their constitution a First
Amendment which guarantees freedom of expression (free press, free speech, free
Internet, and even the right for an American to burn an American flag).
Until just recently, I didn't even know who
Pr Jones was. But now every one in the
world does. My advice is to just let him
burn copies of this paper holy book and ignore him. Further advice: boycott all religions.
What
puzzles me is this: "The top US
commander in Afghanistan
has warned that troops' lives will be in danger if an American church sticks to
its plan to burn copies of the Koran.
Gen David Petraeus said the action could cause problems "not just
in Kabul , but
everywhere in the world". BBC, 7 Sept 2010.
What is America trying
to do with its many wars in the world? Are they trying to protect
something? Maybe spread some sort of
ideology by force onto other countries? From
their many contradictory explanations, I read that one of the reasons is to
protect democracy. Democracy must
include freedom of unpopular expression.
The US Supreme Court has upheld the right to burn an American Flag, and
even though conservative congressional representatives tried to make a law
against burning the American flag (which their Supreme Court would strike down
anyway as unconstitutional), the law was never passed. So if an American can legally burn their
flag, then they can legally burn the Judeochristian bible and they can legally
burn the Qur'an. And that's the way it
should be.
But
various bleeding heart christian liberals in the United States are crying out for
all of us to respect people's religious beliefs. They are nuts! ALL religions promote violence. I'm sorry, as
long as I have any remnant of sanity left in me, I will never respect any
religion and the human division, hatred and violence that all of them
promote. I am an atheist, I am a
humanist.
People in
East Africa are sick and tired of Christian fanatics like Joseph Kony, the
white American fundamentalists who come to East Africa to teach Africans to
hate and kill one another, and here in Uganda
and Kenya ,
we still haven't recovered from the Islamic-led bombings of people watching TV
football. More than 80 people have died
here in Kampala
because of the 11th July 2010 bombings.
And we're suppose to respect the moslem religion? Truely, all those who call for respect of
people's religions are silly and should be dismissed as lunatics.
When I
tell xtians that I don't respect their religion or the moslem religion, they
instinctively say: "Well, then there's no reason to respect your
religion." One problem: I don't
have religion. I don't have a soul to
be saved, I am not going before any god on "Judgment Day", I won't be
going to "heaven" or "hell". In short, religion is nonsense. Worse, religion is hateful and violent. I respect human rights, democracy, and
peace--and religionists don't.
So don't
be telling Pastor Terry Jones to not burn the Qur'an. It's his constitutional right to do so in America . If moslems don't like it, they should burn
copies of the Judeochristian bible. It
should be their right to do so. As an
atheist, I do NOT approve of destruction of property and people's lives as an
act of protest.
Some guy in |
2 comments:
Excellent response. I don't like any book burning but that's just me, I love books. I think this pastor is a dickhead but, it's just a book ffs. Printed words on paper. That's it. Further, he owns the book, it's his to do with as he pleases. If anyone doesn't like him burning a book, call him a dickhead, ignore him (best response)but don't try to stop him. It's his right to do so.
You might be amused that the Google ad served me with this post is "Study the Bible online" ;-)
Wow, you know I'm a white bleeding heart liberal American. Seems some Americans are always burning something. I think you're right that the Confederate battle flag is an emblem of racism, but there's an awful lot of meaning attached to it, so it's not just that.
Popular music is often condemned by religious folks. Back in the early 1980's supposedly "hip" folks appropriated the penchant for burning records under the banner "Disco sucks." On the face they were complaining about homogeneous corporate formulas in music, but it always struck me there were racist undertones. I said as much recently and a friend said: "It was homophobic not racist." I'd never thought of that!
Words and actions can cause real harm even if not bodily injury. I tend towards free speech absolutely, but cannot be blind to real harm. But that leaves what to do about it. Generally fighting speech with more speech is the best, at least when ignoring the speech is unbearable.
It is a surprise to see a general elevate a pastor with a church of 50. But see nothing wrong with publicly saying the church's actions will have real repercussions.
Post a Comment