Nobody makes a big deal of 9 year anniversaries anymore, but this year seems to be the exception. Ten is typically the anniversary to be, only because it’s the one we count with all digits of both hands – if we were a culture that cut off the pinkie finger of the non-dominant hand, then we’d be a base-9 society and a nine year anniversary would be a big deal. This year seems to be the exception, though.
Recently a publicity starved pastor – with a Python-esque name – has expressed a desire to burn copies of the Quran. Either he didn’t realize that actual firewood is much cheaper than buying copies of a book or he thought enough people already had a copy of the Quran on their Kindle. Some enterprising people were no doubt lined up to rescue charred bits of Quran from the fire to sell on eBay, hoping that one that one or two might come our looking like Jesus, Mary or a severed goat head.
Burning stuff as a symbol of protest is a rather silly business when one thinks about it. Not only is fire dangerous – who would want to lose their arm in the great Quran burning of 2010? – but it proves the burner to be some combination of angry and demented. The greater worry would be a serious uptick in Quran burnings, or flag burnings, or Burning Man burnings – there’s only ONE Burning Man.
Supposedly the plan to burn the Qurans was scrapped because Donald Trump said he would by the site of the Ground Zero mosque/Islamic center. Perhaps the Donald is onto something here – instead of fighting over holy land the parties involved should work out a financial transaction and be done with it. If someone is willing to give me money, I might not post any more nonsense – I’ll even take cash.
Oh well. I’m not for the burning of the Quran, although I’m for the right to burn the Quran. Mostly I’m for the right to ignore the burning of the Quran. I’m not terribly agitated by the Islamic Center being built on private property with private funds. There’s sure there is an internet rumor that public health care death panels – funded by American taxpayers, no less – are using stimulus funds to embroider a special prayer rug for B.H.O. under which will be hidden a Kenyan birth certificate, and Donald Trump pulled a fat wad of cash from his comb over to stop it – and the Texas school board will be sure that version is in our school books next to doubts about evolution.
P.S. As of this posting the burning may be on again making Terry Jones the Brett Favre of Quran burning
