Adding on to Sullivan's thoughts below, we do really live in a world where thin-skinned, volatile, and hidebound societies are ripe for... to put it simply... teasing.
Thailand learned this the hard way: The entire country had a fit when somebody put up desecrated images of their king on YouTube. Did the entire world apologize and promise never to do something so disrespectful again? Fuck no. Once people found out that you can annoy Thai people with a YouTube video, all kinds of people put up their own disrespectful pictures of the King of Thailand.
Think about some disaffected kid in middle America. He now has the knowledge that he can go out in his backyard, grab a couple hundred books, set them on fire, and once the blaze is nice and high, start the video recording, say "Oh yeah... look at those Korans burning", post that shit anonymously on YouTube, and watch an entire country burn. I mean let's be honest: How many 12 year old boys in America wouldn't think that's pretty damn spiffy? Hell: How many grownups in America wouldn't think that's pretty damn spiffy? Well, if that number is more than "zero", you know what is going to happen.
I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying — like Sullivan — that it's inevitable.
yeah kinda like your kids letting you know your classic rock songs are old, just makes you turn up the volume a little bit more ;)
ReplyDeleteDoes it seem ironic that countries raise hell when the Koran is (threatened) burned but those same countries have no problem with videotaping peoples heads cut off.
ReplyDelete