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Originally Posted by The_Dunedan
Not unless they're having their bonfire on someone else's property. Are they doing this at a Mosque, or in someone's yard, or on their own property? Part of the threat implicit in cross-burning is "We know where you live. We can come and get you if we feel like it." Nobody really cares about Kluxxers burning crosses on their own land, because that element of direct threat is absent. You're comparing a direct, concrete threat to an act of free, if repugnant, speech. Apples and cinderblocks.
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The comparison isn't direct. The message is similar. The result is different. They are in a sense firing a volley in their "spiritual battle." Either way, it's sending a message that they don't approve of "their kind" in America.
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And? They're free to believe, want, and advocate for whatever they like. This is America. There are likewise small groups of extremist Muslims who want Americans out of America...along with everywhere else they can think of. There are extremist Zionist Jews who want all non-Jews out of all the lands they claim. Big surprise: stupid people want stupid, ofttimes unattainable, things. Sometimes even -smart- people want these things. And, this being America, so long as they do not directly harm another person, they are free to think, and desire, as they like.
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And my point wasn't to challenge or question their freedom to believe, want, or advocate whatever they like. It was to point out their intolerance and ignorance, and to remind people that it has a history. That's America, but I live in Canada—within a deeply multicultural metropolis—where I guess I'm a little bit more appalled at such displays of freedom.
I'm not challenging their freedom; I'm challenging their ideas and their message.
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And? So long as their battle remains spiritual as opposed to physical, they can "gear up" for, and fight, all the battles they want. Again; this is America.
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The spiritual and the physical have a lot of crossover, hence the Qur'ans and the fire. They are inciting a reaction from the Muslim population and they know it. They're going to play off of every little documented reaction to their little campout and use that as evidence to prove their case that Islam "is of the devil," and this will only add more fuel to the fire.
But, wait, they can totally do that, because it's America. You don't need to keep reminding me that this is happening in America. I know where it's happening, and I could list off several other places where the exact same thing could happen. That's not the point.