"We know this is not just the decision of a church. It is the decision of the president and the entire United States."
-- 18-year-old Abdul Shakoor, who took part in a protest in Kabul over the weekend in response to the Dove World Outreach Church's plan to burn copies of the Koran on September 11th
General David Petraeus warns that moving ahead with this giant Bonfire of the Inanities will potentially put the lives of American troops at risk overseas, seeing as how most people in staunchly Muslim countries don't take too kindly to their holy book being barbecued. The idea that something done by a bunch of dumb-ass rednecks in Gainesville, Florida can resonate around the globe is just shocking in and of itself. But make no mistake, this is exactly what the psychotic, hyper-Christian Muslim-bashers are hoping to accomplish: some kind of holy war pitting Blue-Eyed NASCAR Jesus against that false-prophet, Muhammed. And people wonder why I despise faith-based religion across the board. Substitute two groups of people shrieking at each other over whether Zeus can beat up Apollo and you start to realize how bloody fucking ridiculous the entire thing is.
The first thing I thought of, however, when reading the above quote was a piece that ran recently on 60 Minutes which detailed something called "The Narrative" -- basically the story that many in Islamic countries have come to hold tightly to which states that there is an organized effort in the West to destroy Islam and anyone who tells you differently isn't to be trusted. Gosh, people who refuse to allow their iron-clad beliefs about and preconceptions of others to be shaken by logic, reason and facts. Why does that sound so familiar these days?
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