DESECRATION OF THE KORAN AND AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM

Juan Cole reports on the protests occurring in Afghanistan and Pakistan against the desecration of the Koran at Guantanamo and includes this little gem:

A friend of mine with Pentagon contacts tells a tragicomic story. The Pakistani government complained to the US Department of Defense about the desecration of the Koran. The Pentagon passed the protest to the Southeast Asia division. It looked into the matter in East Asia and responded that it could find no evidence that the US military had flushed a Korean down the toilet.

Folks, this is becoming a nightmare of steamrolling protests in Saudi Arabia, Gaza, Afghanistan, and across the Muslim world. The abysmal ignorance of and disrespect for other cultures and nations that has been a hallmark of this administration and the wingnuts allied with it are one of the most serious dangers this country faces. American exceptionalism becomes a dangerous notion in the hands of those who believe it extends to a sense of American moral superiority, that "we" are "better" than other peoples.

Now look, it's not that I don't think the USA is the greatest country in the world. I love my country, I feel privileged to have been born here. But my citizenship doesn't automatically confer upon me some special grace -- the Bible says that God loves us all, that "he is not willing that any should perish," so why do the wingers ignore that? They do to our peril, as witness the outcry of Muslims across the world at our insensitivity regarding their holy scriptures, the Koran. Whatever happened to the core Christian teaching, "As ye would that men should do to you, do ye also unto them." The Golden Rule, remember?

They're going to reap what they sow. I just don't want anyone I love to be around to be singes by their bad karma.