I have mixed feelings about the Koran burning in Florida. Of course, I completely agree with everything that Charles said in his post. Terry Jones was warned that his action would cause violence, and he still went ahead with it. This makes him a terrible human being. I absolutely feel that way.

But I’m very uncomfortable with how things now stand: that no good person should ever, ever knowingly do something that can be predicted to offend a Muslim. We’ve seen this with the Danish cartoons, and with the moviemaker Theo Van Gogh. I’m not the personality type to do this myself, but I really do like it that there are people who are willing to do things that offend others, to make sure that robust free speech is alive and well. So I’m glad there are people who do shows like South Park, or that art exhibit where a crucifix was submerged in urine. I’m glad there are people who burn American flags, because then there can be people who burn Soviet flags.

I conclude that even the contemptibility of Terry Jones is drawfed by the pure evil of those Muslims who are provoked into violence by cartoons, or movies, or the burning of a book. Yes, of course, something is very, VERY wrong with Terry Jones. But looking at the Muslims who are so offended, there is something much, much worse there.