Of Qurans, mosqes and double standards.

Some 31 or 32 years ago, the very first "Letter to the Editor" I ever wrote was to US News and World Report. They had an article about Jerry Falwell and his "Moral Majority" that had come up with a list of books they wanted banned from all public and school libraries. Even as a high schooler, I found that completely offensive, so I sat down and wrote a letter to the editor. I don't remember it all, but I do remember the first line, "Now that we have the bible according to Falwell, he's trying to give us the constitution according to Falwell." After that article, I went out (with my parents' blessing) and promptly tried to read most of the books on the list. One of the books on that list, "Brave New World" probably is on my list of my favorite 20 or so books I've ever read. The idea of banning and even worse burning books of ANY kind is one of the most reprehensible acts that I can think of.

Unfortunately the world wide press has picked up on this poor pathetic fool of a minister in Florida that wants to burn Qurans on September 11. Now mind you, this guy has a "flock" of 50 people. Had the press ignored him, we wouldn't be having this whole controversy. The President, the Secretary of State and General Patreus among a host of others, have all spoken out against this move, and rightfully so. The general gist of these condemnations are that it is "unnecessarily provocative" and it has the potential of putting our troops in harms way. The president and the national press are all talking about how this isn't proper. What is missing in this conversation though is that fact that Terry Jones has a right to burn books. As deplorable as I find it, he can do it. This is very similar to the Phelp's cult here in Topeka protesting at funerals and churches. They have the right to act like fools and make grieving families feel even worse, no matter how inappropriate the exercise of that right is.

Some 1000 miles to the north of that poor pathetic preacher another controversy bubbles. The Ground Zero Mosque. (and don't let anyone tell you it isn't "Ground Zero", the the landing gear of one of the planes that hit one of the towers went through the top two stories of the building) As Thomas Sowell put it in one of his articles, the Ground Zero Mosque would be a "15 story middle finger to America." The vast majority of the people in this country feel that a mosque at site of of this country's worst mass murder, carried out in the name of Islam, would not be proper. In the view of the vast majority of the population in this country, the Ground Zero mosque is unnecessarily provocative.

What we get on the mosque is lectures from the President, Mayor Bloomberg and lots of the press is that we are being intolerant and insensitive to Muslims. They have a "RIGHT" to build the mosque wherever they want it. Very few, if any of the people opposing the Ground Zero Mosque contend that they don't have a right to build a mosque. There are over 100 mosques in New York City and some 2000 mosques across the country. They clearly have a right to build, what I and the majority of Americans feel that to build in that location is an inappropriate exercise of that right.

What bothers me in this whole controversy is the double standards being employed by the president and many of our liberal "betters" in the press and academia. On the one hand we are lectured about someone's "right" to build a mosque where the vast majority of people find the location patently offensive. We're told we need to be more tolerant and sensitive to the feelings of muslims. We are admonished that since someone has a "right" to do something, in this case build a mosque in an inappropriate spot, that we shouldn't dare oppose it. To oppose it is to just prove how "racist" or islamophobic we are. Apparently in this instance once that "right" is established we have no business questioning the propriety of the exercise of that right. On the other hand, Terry Jones has a "right" to burn a book, no matter how inappropriate that action is. Why then are the president and our moral superiors on the left so willing to jump in the fray and try to stop it?

I have a problem with both the Quran burning and the Ground Zero mosque. Just because someone has a right, the exercise of that right isn't always right. But probably what bugs me the most of both of these situations is the double standards being applied.