We’re at a crossroads now.
As a nation, we’ve seen what we can build when we embrace other cultures, and we’ve seen what we can destroy when we accost them.
On Tuesday, 11 years after the U.S. was attacked by people who despised the American way of life, we felt that pain again when four American diplomats were killed after a consulate office was attacked in Libya. This time, the light was shone back on Gainesville, if only for an instant.
The protesters were reportedly enraged by an anti-Mohammad video made by a California-based filmmaker. Another protest took place in Cairo, where thousands of people stormed the U.S. embassy.
At first glance, the cartoon-ish video seems like it wouldn’t circulate too far from home. Except it had a backer — someone whose growing notoriety has given him an international audience: Gainesville pastor Terry Jones.
He’s best known for his Quran-burning stunt two years ago when he planned, and then called off, an event to burn about 200 Islamic holy books.
Then, that March, he lit the pages, and the situation exploded. Word got to Afghanistan. People rioted and stormed into a U.N. compound. At least 12 people inside were killed.
It’s clear that he was a factor — even a small one — in Tuesday’s riots that left four Americans dead.
He didn’t pull the trigger. He didn’t push down the door. He didn’t have to. He fanned the flame, and that was enough.
It is unacceptable for another American to incite deliberate religious hatred toward another religion. It is unacceptable to tour the country spreading only hurt, dragging Gainesville’s name in the mud as you go.
Terry Jones does not define Gainesville. We are better than that.
Leaders, students and residents gathered in peace on Sept. 11 to prove we’re better and to forget Jones’ message.
After he called off his first burning day, editors and staff at the Alligator decided we were done covering Jones.
It took 12 deaths for us to publish his name again.
Jones may have the First Amendment right to say whatever he pleases, but that right only exists if it is not used to harm people. He doesn’t care if the ends justify the means; he only cares about ruffling feathers.
But he doesn’t matter today.
What matters are the people who died in the attacks. They remind us that our world is in turmoil and true peace is a distant dream.
And what matters most are the Libyan people who have shown their disagreement with those responsible for the attacks.
We appreciate their apology, and we’d like to issue our own.
We’re sorry that any of this violence occurred in the first place. We’re sorry that Americans abroad and at home might feel targeted, victimized or scared.
Peace may be on the far horizon, but we’re a generation of dreamers. Let’s go forward wisely.
