SEATTLE, April 3 -- There are so many reasons to feel alarmed, worried and/or confused at the moment -- Japan, Libya, Obama, take your pick -- that it seems almost quaint, "so last year," to single out the Quran-burning pastor in Florida. But his latest antic, and the resulting deaths of innocent people in Afghanistan, leaves me feeling angry and disgusted. When will we in America begin taking responsibility for our own extremists?
As the riots in Afghanistan show starkly, this is a matter of life and death. By the time you read this, the two days of riots I'm referring to might have swollen into a major crisis -- or they might have been subsumed and forgotten in the din and onrush of mayhem in Libya and Syria, radiation in Japan or whatever's next. Either way, the people who died in them will remain just as dead. And it will remain the fault of Pastor Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla.
It would be nice if we could ignore Jones and his ilk, but we can't afford to. "The local strategy of everybody was to ignore this," the Rev. Lawrence D. Reimer, pastor of the United Church of Gainesville, told the New York Times. "It's just a horrible tragedy that this act triggered the deaths of more innocent people." It's understandable that well-meaning Gainesvillians would be embarrassed, and a tactic of declining to dignify Jones's stunt with attention is defensible. But some of the comments responding to my article "Is America Any Different from Pakistan?" -- published in January, just after the killing of Salmaan Taseer in Islamabad and the shooting of Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson -- are telling. One reader wrote (anonymously of course):
Yawn yet another typical leftie more than willing to jump on the bandwagon of blaming the right, America, and any other group he/she opposes for the actions of a mentally insane person. Jared Loughner appears to have been a psychotic, I suspect a schizophrenic. Please wait for the facts instead [of] falling into your own biases.
It's plausible to dismiss Loughner and Jones as nuts, or me as "yet another typical leftie," but I don't buy it. Ever since Ronald Reagan's henchmen coined the phrase "plausible deniability," that's become our national motto. Contrast the anonymous comment with this, from reader Arif Humayun:
Right-wing extremists are made of the same stuff; geography does not matter. This breed in the US is no different from that in Pakistan or the one in India. They exploit the religious sentiments for votes and refuse to take responsibility when their rhetoric causes extreme reactions like the killings in Tucson AZ or the murder of Governor Taseer in Pakistan or the Gujarat riots in India.
And this, from Tess Abidi:
The American rightwingers deny the shooting of a liberal politician had anything to do with their hate speech, and denounce anyone who dares even remotely suggest otherwise. The Pakistani rightwingers proudly acknowledge - nay, take credit for - their speeches that led to the shooting. Admit there is a difference. But if things stay as is, it wouldn't take much for the Americans to become more and more like Pakistanis. It doesn't take much, you know. I left Pakistan during the 90's. It's a very different country now. Didn't take that long.
Arif and Tess both are Americans who are Muslim and of Pakistani origin. In our national and international conversation, it's important for their voices to be heard. Here's another voice I'd like you to hear -- my friend Todd Shea:
Right now many people's reality is rooted in misconceptions on all sides, and that's a dangerous place to be. And somebody somewhere has to take initiative in presenting information that people need to have in order to have a better understanding. In this case, educating Americans about the reality on the ground in Pakistan, the history that they don't understand, our culpability, and our need to do something about it.
Huh? Our culpability? Here's part of what Todd means:
If U.S. leaders had treated them as important in a human way [after our successful proxy war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s], then society in Pakistan and Afghanistan would be far further along today, because we would have helped them avoid all the things that are happening now. If you remember, at the time, we were loved. Both countries were in such a state of need, and then we just left. 'We got rid of our big enemy, let's get outta here,' and boy, wasn't that a strategic error.
Contrast Todd's emphasis on historical context and self-examination with Pastor Terry Jones's excuse for putting the Quran "on trial" and then burning it: "It's time to hold Islam accountable."
Is it also time to hold America, and Americans, accountable? It had better be. Accountability begins at home. It's fine, and important, for people to write and read edifying primers like Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's recent Washington Post op-ed "Five Myths about Muslims in America." But that's not enough. As I told a right-wing friend of mine recently in a different context, I'm ready to fight for the America that I want to live in. More of us need to find the courage and strength of character that my fellow Wisconsinites have been showing lately, or we'll end up living in Terry Jones' America. And that's a dangerous place to be.
ETHAN CASEY is the author of Alive and Well in Pakistan: A Human Journey in a Dangerous Time (2004) and Overtaken By Events: A Pakistan Road Trip (2010). He is currently writing Bearing the Bruise: A Lifetime of Learning from Haiti, to published in fall 2011, and collaborating with filmmaker Naeem Randhawa on a collection of stories by and about Muslims living in America. Web: www.ethancasey.com or www.facebook.com/ethancaseyfans
Follow Ethan Casey on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ethan.casey
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you wrote to me: "“Dear InannawhimÂsey,
I think it's important for Muslims to see and hear non-MuslimÂs denouncing Jones and his ilk - just as we ask Muslims to denounce "their" extremistsÂ. I think this is very important. It gives us credibilitÂy in the ongoing conversatiÂon that the West and the Muslim world need to be having with each other."
1. Do you ever see a time in the future when it will be ok for any of us to be able to, say, burn a Koran without someone, somewhere, getting violent?
2. Do you ever see a time in the future when it will be ok for a Muslim to burn a Koran with no repercussions?
3. Where can I get an idea of your experiences of the severe change in Pakistan? You say that, I think, there are more 'extremists' there now?
Sincerely,
Inannawhimsey
I read your article, and I must ask you: are you advocating that we, as Americans, allow our Constitutional rights be held hostage to radical extremists of any stripe? If it begins with Islamic extremists, where does it end ? Why must the responsibility be on this Jones fellow? Why do we not collectively hold the perpetrators of the murders culpable? Is it appeasement you're advocating? Neville Chamberlain tried that prior to WW II - remember? It didn't work out so well then, either.
I am sorry, but what you are suggesting amounts to tip-toeing around the twisted sensibilities of a relative handful of psychopaths. While I may personally disagree with act of burning ANY book (as I really really love books), I must stand in support of the spirit in which it was done. I will not sacrifice what few freedoms the Patriot Act hasn't stripped from me, just to keep religious zealots from going loopy. In their country(ies) it may be illegal. Is this country it isn't.
I will not abrogate my civil rights to anyone or anything at any price - and shame on you for suggesting we should.
I'm suggesting no such thing. What I'm urging is that we reasonable, non-extremist Americans show goodwill toward the vast majority of reasonable, non-extremist Muslims in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries, by shaming and denouncing the dangerous and irresponsible words and actions of people like Terry Jones.
It's urgently important for Muslims to see Americans doing that. If we don't, then the only Americans they will see will be people like Terry Jones and the CIA agent Raymond Davis (who killed two people in broad daylight in Lahore in January). I'm sure you don't want Muslims to equate all Americans with Jones and/or Davis - just as they don't want us to equate their whole society with its extremists.
I'm actually rather appalled and offended that you see my article as advocating abrogate our civil rights. I'm urging that we get off our rear ends and *exercise* our civil rights. If Terry Jones has freedom of speech, so do you and I. Rather than arguing with each other, I say let's put our energy into denouncing him and his ilk, and to make sure that Muslims see and hear us doing that.
Ethan
I do not support the actions of Terry Jones, but your post made me wonder: Do we really want to live in a country that doesn't allow Jones the freedom to burn whatever book he chooses? Your suggestion that we, "begin taking responsibility for our own extremists," is an interesting one. Every extremist that breaks a law and is convicted goes to jail. That is, by definition, taking responsibility. Are you suggesting that we make a law that says people can't burn certain books, certain "holy" books, certain books that an angry mob might use as an excuse to kill and destroy?
You are inviting us to step out onto a *very* slippery slope, one that will lead us to a place much worse than the one we find ourselves in today.
What's the best way to "take responsibility" for Terry Jones and his ilk? STOP REPORTING ON THEM! Without media attention, they will just wither and fade away.
Well, I do agree that the best way to deal with Terry Jones would have been to stop reporting on him. The New York Times should not have covered his latest stunt.
I don't know about passing laws, and I take your point about a slippery slope. But we're *already* on a different slippery slope, and I don't think many Americans get just how incendiary the actions of people like Jones come across in the Muslim world.
So, at the very least, we non-Jonesian Americans need to be denouncing the guy and his ilk, loudly, publicly, an often.
Thanks for your comment.
Ethan
Thanks for the response. Although I think many of us can get outraged when wreckless acts cost innocent lives, I get a little nervous with the claim that we're already on a slippery slope. You appear to be suggesting that we should shout down people like Jones because of the way people in the Muslim word react. The danger in such a postion is that it's only the first step toward what could be an end none of us want. It starts with book burning. Next it may be cartoons. Then it's outrage over allowing women to wear pants or attend school.
It's important that we hold the line on freedom--even the freedom of people we don't like or don't agree with.
By the way, CNN reported that the media generally *did* ignore Jones. But he recorded the trial and burning, publishing a copy to YouTube. Even my plan wouldn't work. Sigh.
Accountability, sure, but being accountable for our own actions and not because of the actions of another, right?
Shouldn't you be looking at just who incited the riots in Afghanistan, instead of blaming them on Terry Jones, who had a low-key ceremony where he had a play and then burned a book?
(I mean, if you are going to blame Terry, shouldn't you also be blaming the "media" who wrote aboot it?)
It sounds like you're either saying that the people who rioted couldn't help themselves for some reason (they are incompetent in a real sense)? Or is it something else?
Me, I think there are certain people in the world who are so stuck in their worldview that they have forgotten to laugh/to play, and are trying to force that worldview onto others (which includes their sense of the sacred and their sense of the blasphemous, which I don't think, are shared/followed by everyone else). We should have the Rule of Law in place enough so that when people break the law, they should be held accountable.
I think, like the Danish cartoons, there is more nuance to this...
There definitely is nuance to this, and I appreciate your injecting some more of it into the conversation with your comment.
I also definitely think "the media" have responsibility too - I think it would have been good if the New York Times had not have reported on Jones's tacky (but dangerous) little ceremony. See my response to Briangular's comment.
Regards,
Ethan
So what do you think is going on? Those poor UN people who died, why did they die? Was it just mob rule or was there incitement by people there?
Are some people that...I can't think of a word atm, but, that would be set off by Terry Jones and then the violence would spread? I note that my bias is Western and am biased toward most of this violence is caused by a minority...and I am always open to learning.
Sincerely,
Inannawhimsey
"We are coming to take back what belongs to us, to regain our land and purify it of unbelief and of the unbelievers. We are coming with 'There is no god but Allah.' We are coming because we reject democracy. We do not accept democracy. We accept nothing but the tawhid of Allah. We accept nothing but: 'There is no god but Allah.' We accept nothing but the shari'a of Allah.
"Just as we ruled many European lands, we are coming to make you think about [the Battle of] Poitiers, to make you think about Andalusia, and to make you think about… By God, we are on our way. The day you will see the black flag flying over the Élysée us very near. I ask Allah to give us the power to plant the black flag over the Élysée. I say to all my brothers and sisters in France: We are coming from Belgium to support you, with our group, Sharia4Belgium. We are coming to support you."
http://islamineurope.blogspot.com/2011/04/france-we-are-coming-to-take-back-what.html#more
First thing you should do to build a decent and economically prosperous society, muslims should adopt strict family planning. They will never do that since their intentions are to create a demographic disaster.
Our response to Muslim violence in Afghanistan, supposedly touched off by a Koran burning in Florida, uses that same canine logic. The Muslims are dangerous and violent, so whoever provokes them is held accountable for what they do. Don't tease a doberman on the other side of a chain link fence and don't tease Muslims on the other side of the border or the world. That's the takeaway from our elected and unelected officials."
"To blame Jones for their actions, we must either treat murder as a reasonable response to the burning of a book, or grant that Jones has a higher level of moral responsibility than the rioters do. There are few non-Muslims who could defend the notion that burning the Koran is a provocatio¬n that justifies bloodshed. And virtually no liberal would openly concede that he believes Muslims are morally handicapped but then why does he treat them that way?"
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/2011/04/muslims-and-moral-handicaps.html
Rubbish. There is no theology in America that might cause that, as in the case of Pakistan.
"when their rhetoric causes extreme reactions like the killings in Tucson AZ or the murder of Governor Taseer in Pakistan or the Gujarat riots in India."
The comparison is inappropriate. Taseer was killed because he wanted changes in blasphemy laws. It was unprovoked and clearly a jihadi attack. Gujarat riots was a constructive response to the killing of 60 Hindu pilgrims and muslims deliberately provoked the riots.
I wonder why no one seems bothered about the wholesale disappearance of minorities in 60 odd muslim countrise? Perhaps secularism abandons them.
Burning book < murder.
Sorry if anyone thought they were remotely comparable.
I know many Muslims, in America and in Pakistan, who *are* taking responsibility for their extremists, who *are* speaking out, protesting on the streets in Pakistan *against* extremists, *trying* to catch the attention of the American public. They're not being listened to.
Please don't equate extremists Muslims with all Muslims, just as you would not want Muslims to equate all Americans or all Christians with Terry Jones.
See this article:
http://www.ethancasey.com/2010/10/muslims-in-america-time-for-a-movement/
Regards,
Ethan
With odd old ends stol'n forth of holy writ
And seem a saint when most I play the devil
~ William Shakespeare
1) A loon in Florida who is always on the lookout for another helping of 15 minutes.
2) Two generations(at least) of senseless killing and destruction, mostly by occupying forces, hundreds of billions of dollars of military machinery focused on the unfortunate people of Afghanistan.
Why do people insist on assigning blame in exactly the wrong way? To do otherwise would be to admit a far greater wrong than the bad taste of burning a book. Jones is a convenient, coincidental excuse for Afghans to express their anger and for Americans to deny culpability. I'm tired of fools who blame freedom of speech when the obvious cause is staring them in the face. Weaklings.
Why do youseek that place of plausible deniability for the loon?