SWITCHING SIDES

Ya know, I *was* one of those "they have the right to do it, but it's not right to do it" guys when it came to Pastor Bad Moustache's Koran Barbeque and Tent Revival, but then I read this article on CNN:

Reaction to Quran burning plan pours in from around the world

Some relevant quotes:

Hamas leader Ismail Haniya called Jones a "religious criminal" and a "retard that expresses a Western-retarded mentality"..."I call upon God the merciful, if they want to rip the Quran, for God to rip them apart and their state and make them an example for the believers."

The ISAF said two people were hurt in the protests, and the deputy governor of the province said thousands turned out, one protester was killed and three were wounded.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono... "the government and the Americans must continue to take serious action to prevent and stop such uncivilized acts."

The Somali government... "this action could generate more extremists and could spark new violence as the move would assist al-Qaeda and its affiliates."

the Taliban in Afghanistan told CNN, "If in Florida they were to burn the Quran, we will target any Christians, even if they are innocent"

Secretary General Ronald Noble said September 11 should be a day to fight terrorism, not a day to "engage in provocative acts that will give terrorists propaganda" to recruit others to their cause.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said everything possible should be done to ban the Quran burning. "If it does take place, it will inflict the most severe damage to inter-faith relations and human and cultural dialogue and will be used as a pretext by extremists for more killings and retaliatory killing," he said.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari... called for doing all it takes to stop such a "senseless and outrageous act."

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan... considers "Islamophobia as a crime against humanity."

So, what I'm hearing is "burning a Koran is worse than the 9/11 attacks, and Muslims will kill Americans if a Koran is burnt anywhere in America."

What I'm hearing is that, since Muslims are issuing death threats, we should roll over and comply with their demands.

Fuck them.

Being a civilized human being means that you ignore assholes until and unless they hurt your or take your money.

Being a civilized human being does NOT consist of threatening to kill people over their selection of kindling.

I say light the barbeque and let the Muslims prove to us that they're ready to join the civilized world by virtue of their physically peaceful reactions.

And to anyone worried about videos of burning Korans being an excuse for Muslim terror, well... they've already got that:

[YouTube direct link]

And there's plenty more.

As for this "putting our troops in harm's way"... brother they're already there.