As the title says, stupid doesn't fix stupid. In other words, two wrongs don't make a right.
First, to build a mosque at Ground Zero is stupid. Period. It's insulting, and it's inflammatory. To build such a structure serves no purpose other than to rub salt in a still open wound. Yes, freedom of religion is a right, and nobody is questioning whether the mosque in New York
can build, it's just
where. The whole idea is in bad taste. That's one wrong. And I'm not even
Then you have a second wrong. Terry Jones, pastor in Gainesville, Florida, is
planning a Burn a Koran Day on Sept. 11th of this year. Here is another blatantly stupid idea. Jones' idea is also insulting and inflammatory. Just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should - like the mosque at Ground Zero. Likewise, burning books, even religious books of a different faith is just plain stupid. Exactly what is the difference between Pastor Jones burning books he and his "flock" hate and Hitler burning books that were threats to the Reich in Germany 1939? Answer? Absolutely nothing. One zealot emulating another zealot.
Have we gotten to the point in this country where nobody is willing to use common sense? Instead, we have people wrapping themselves in the Constitution and claiming they are protected. Burning books and claiming freedom of speech is no different than building a mosque near terrorist attack site and claiming freedom of religion.
General Petraeus also weighed in on the book burning and said it
would endanger our troops in Afghanistan. I agree wholeheartedly. In fact, I beg
anyone to say my son will be any safer in Afghanistan after Jones' bonfire than before. Doesn't this whole debacle get to the point of stupid? Stupid feels good when you do it, right here and right now. Stupid always seems like the best idea at the time. Trust me, YouTube would have been a bust if it weren't for stupid and people videotaping it. However, it's the consequences of stupid that hurt and emergency rooms have plenty of examples of the consequences of stupid.
You can't fix stupid, but it sure seems that stupid can get to build a mosque at Ground Zero or burn some Korans. Is there something in the water? On my laptop, I have a still from the movie Dr. Strangelove. Those of you who know me or get emails from me know that I absolutely love that movie and I include a quote from the movie in my signature line: "Gentleman, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!". The still on my laptop is of General Jack D. Ripper consoling a visibly shaken Captain Lionel Mandrake after he gets done explaining the reason he launched a nuclear attack:
General Jack D. Ripper: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war?
Captain Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no.
General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination,Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
This is a post-Cold War world, so insert Islamic in place of Communist in the above movie quote and tell me how that is different from what Pastor Jones
said:
"We feel it's maybe the right time for America to stand up. How long are we going to bow down? How long are we going to be controlled by the terrorists, by radical Islam?"
Ridiculousness from the Ground Zero mosque and ridiculousness from Jones. I hate zealots no matter what side of the political or religious spectrum they fall on. Period. Below is that picture I was talking about. Mandrake is on the left and Ripper is on the right.