re: #64 samgak

I’m kind of in two minds about this. I don’t support the vandalism per se, but in a way I’m glad to see it happen. There are a lot of left-liberals who call for restrictions on Koran desecrations and so on, who are pro-“tolerance” when it comes to offending Muslims but pro-free-speech when it comes to offending Christians. Having actions like this occur periodically stops cultural amnesia from setting in and reminds people to keep a consistent standard.

I hear a lot about these mythical ‘liberals’ who hold this blatantly contradictory position, but I’ve honestly never actually met one. Could it be that ‘liberal’ is a description that runs a wide gamut, and that this is another case of conservative critics choosing obviously contradictory positions actually held by people on different ends of that gamut, rather than by the same individual?

Truth is there are a lot of liberals (most, in fact) who are pro-free speech when it comes to offending Christians (and pro-free speech when it comes to offending any religion). There’s a few (but not many) who would restrict Koran desecration (and many of these would likely ban desecration of any religious work). I don’t know of ANY liberals, personally, who think Islam deserves a special exemption. I’m sure there’s a few out there, but no one prominent I’ve ever heard of, nor anyone I’ve ever met, has taken this strange stance….