Let us apologize for going back on our word.
You may remember an editorial from mid-January in which we discussed our organization’s choice to ignore the Dove World Outreach Center’s event planned for March.
The lack of coverage from our newspaper and many other media organizations did nothing to dissuade pastor Terry Jones from his purposefully inflammatory actions.
As such, today we bring you news coverage not in anticipation of an event meant to incite anger and hatred but in anticipation of its aftermath.
No one can say the center’s “trial” of the Quran directly caused the deaths of U.N. workers halfway around the world — their murders came at the hands of Afghani extremists — but we can say the pastor needlessly poured gasoline on an already blazing fire.
Speaking of which, we may indeed be stoking the flames by even giving the event’s repercussions coverage, but sometimes we need a reminder that our actions, even in a small, swampy Florida city, carry consequences around the world.
Could Jones and his trial have effected such a large reaction without the media passing on the message? No, but in this ever-connected world, finding even one sympathetic ear to bend allows an extremist access to his enemies across the globe.
We have a problem with both the sender and the carriers of this message, but what about the recipients?
The idea of countering a reprehensible action with another, more vile act — in this case, numerous murders — is terrible.
Vengeance gets us nowhere, especially when exacted upon people who had nothing to do with the original offense.
No side is in the right here. The best outcome we can hope for is that the world will use this as a learning experience.
People may think they solely are attacking and offending their opponents, but it is just as likely their words or weapons will end up wounding innocents. That is something we can’t stand for.
It makes us squirm to think we share a city with a man who says he’s “saddened” by the deaths in Afghanistan but that he’d still hold his trial again if given the chance. The pastor should remember that just because our nation’s laws permit us to say or do something doesn’t mean we should, at least from an ethical standpoint.
We were hoping never to mention the names of the center and its leader again, but given the circumstances we must, if only to state for the world that our city and our people don’t stand for the same ideals Terry Jones and his dwindling flock do.
Apparently, the pastor has noticed this lack of support and is trying to move his church elsewhere, where the residents are more sympathetic to his cause.
We’re hoping he comes up empty on places that welcome his provocative attitude.
Who knows? Maybe our nation can stop one side of this argument between extremists from contributing to senseless violence.
