PASTOR JONES
SEPTEMBER
11th
2010
I intended to
avoid writing anything about this irritating snake-oil salesman* but
now that we have been launched into yet another anniversary of the
11/09/2010 event it has unearthed a lot of comment on such matters on a
broader front. Before going there, a quick look at Pastor Jones. Why,
given his extraordinarily modest appeal to anyone with a working brain,
has anyone in the Muslim world taken him seriously? President Karzai,
to take just one example, has told us (the world that is) that if this
man and his strange followers were to burn some copies of the Koran it
would be humiliating for Muslims. I can see that it could be used as a
pretext for a lot of people who wished to lead violent opposition to
American forces or advisers in the Middle East and S.E. Asia to stir up
hatred - but humiliation? That is a matter for them, I don't see it
myself.
It is clear,
however, that some U.S. citizens felt humiliated by the demolition of
the Twin Towers. There may be some justification there if they thought
such an attack impossible, and for those whose job it was to prevent
such an attack. There is certainly justification for their anger, to
the extent that the casualties from the towers were not 'collateral
damage', they were targeted civilians. The attack on the Pentagon could
be said to have a military target. The initial removal of the Taliban
from their ruling roost in Afghanistan was a proper riposte in every
way, the history of their vandalism in their own country justified it.
The choice of the removal of Saddam will be debated for a long time,
all we need to note here is that without the stirring of the American
majority by the demolition of iconic buildings in the heart of their
business capital, it could not have been done. The lack of a military
causal connection between the two is irrelevant. The sleeping giant was
woken, so anything that had to be done needed to be done while the
opportunity was there. That level of awakenness does not last in the
absence of action.
It is the
'stirring of the American majority' that I wish to address here, and
exactly what it is we are stirring. How many 'Pastor Jones' are there
any how
many are his potential recruits? The disturbing thought for me is that
this man is a white, Anglo-Saxon Christian Protestant, as am I,
claiming to champion the cause of Christian Protestants, of which I am
one. Suddenly I find myself in the shoes of a Muslim who has been told
that the terrorist acts perpetrated all over the world are being done
in the name of my religion, my philosophy, my race or all three, and
that religious intolerance comes from the roots of my civilization!
In the 1960s
America, as I remember it, was seen as the 'great melting pot', where
every nationality and religion was at home if they waived the flag. It
is a big country, though, and much of this tolerance was achieved
because there was room. Many Americans liked then and now to tell the
story that the founding Pilgrim Fathers, and others who came, were
people fleeing from persecution and religious intolerance, but is
this true? Certainly not in the case of the Pilgrim Fathers and many
who came from the British Isles. They would be better described as a
mixture of trouble makers and misfits and puritanical religious bigots
who would not compromise, leaving a tolerant country that was glad to
see the back of them. Pastor Jones would be at home with them most
likely. There has indeed been a great melting pot over the years, but
there is also a strain that continues rather like the Taliban continue
in Afghanistan, stuck in an understanding of the world that brooks no
evolution of thought, no seeking and finding. They remain looking
through their glass, darkly, unaware of the global or national
treasures within our grasp.
Nothing wrong
with America that can't be fixed by what's right with America? Perhaps
we had better do the math and see what we are up against.
* It seems we do snake-oil salesmen an injustice. Snake-oil was one of
the few potions sold at the time that had genuine uses. Obviously not
for the descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers!
APRIL 01 2011
The almost inevitable result of Pastor Jones stupidity has come to
pass. He is totally unrepentant, claiming this proves his point, and
that this behaviour cannot be tolerated. It is not tolerated, but that
does not mean it is a good idea to provoke it.
At least eight foreign UN staff are killed in northern Afghanistan
during a protest over the burning of the Koran in a US church
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12940014
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