The Danish government said on Friday it was proposing legislation that would make it illegal to burn copies of the Koran in public places, part of the Nordic country's effort to de-escalate tensions with Muslim countries.
This does sound like appeasement. If I buy a book, be it a copy of the Koran, 50 Shades of Gray, or anything else then it's my property and I should be able to do with it as I wish. If someone else gets offended, that shouldn't be my problem.
One upside to the crazy rednecks in the US is that a bill like this would likely see a large uptick in Quran burnings.
Are the Danish generally supportive of something like this? I would be pretty upset about a harmless form of protest being banned because some people in another country were mad about it.
If you threaten violence, and are known to actually commit violence over something stupid, governments will bend to your will.
Is this REALLY the message we want to send? Instead of pandering to these religious clowns, come down hard on anyone who threatens violence - zero tolerance for this shit. Either enter the 21st century and turn your back on ass-backwards caveman thinking, or go back to the the shithole countries that you came from where murdering people over a stupid book is allowed.
COPENHAGEN, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The Danish government said on Friday it was proposing legislation that would make it illegal to burn copies of the Koran in public places, part of the Nordic country's effort to de-escalate tensions with Muslim countries.
Denmark and Sweden have seen a string of protests in public in recent weeks where copies of the Koran have been burned or otherwise damaged, prompting outrage in Muslim nations which have demanded the Nordic governments put a stop to the burnings.
The government rejected protests by some Danish opposition parties that said banning Koran burnings would infringe on free speech.
"I fundamentally believe there are more civilised ways to express one's views than burning things," Hummelgaard said.
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen had in July said the government would seek to "find a legal tool" that would enable authorities to prevent the burning of copies of the Koran in front of other countries' embassies in Denmark.
Neighbouring Sweden has also said it is examining ways to legally limit Koran desecrations to reduce tensions after recent threats that led the country's security officials to raise the terrorist threat level.
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The USA protects burning and stomping our own flag, as it should in my opinion. Free expression of dissent against a symbol and what it represents to that person.
Same should hold true for other things. Same with art too, "Piss Christ" made a lot of Christians very angry, but it was protected as artistic expression.
If you feel that the only way your message can be received and understood with its full intended impact is to disrespect a sacred/beloved symbol, you should be allowed to do it.
Stomp a flag, piss on a cross, burn a Koran, spit on a relic. If you own the property, and you aren't tresspassing or directly intimidating somebody, go for it 100%
If I don't like a student's work, would I be allowed to burn a copy of it in front of their peers? Nope, it would probably get me fired as it would be seen as personal animosity towards a student.
How about the work of another academic? Sketchy ground - I'd have to genuinely hate them to consider their work as worth nothing more than smoke. Then again, I should probably burn a copy of the original anti-vax "paper" to make a point to students about bad studies and how scholars feel about such authors. I suspect my inbox would be filled with anti-vax hate by the end of the day if it reached social media.
Overall, I'd argue that book burning shouldn't be banned, but also that it isn't effective. All it does is hand corrupt theocracies the cry of "see, those heathen book burners hate you all - you should purge them in holy fire". It doesn't drive change towards a more progressive government, and merely ensures that the rule of dictatorship finds its way to our shores.
I don't have the full story on what the hell is going on with the Qur'an, but I personally think it's the right thing to do to stop people from being able to burn holy texts as I not only oppose book burnings in general but it's disrespectful to burn a holy book as it is- to me at least- a sign you do not respect that culture the book comes from.
I'm definitely not religious and really don't care if you are or aren't, but it's also really trashy in my opinion when you specifically do it in front of practicers of that religion or their holy site.
I can’t believe people are arguing for burning books here like medieval morons. Torah, Quran, Bible, Encyclopedia, doesn’t matter. If it incites violence and civil unrest, it should be controlled and people should be discouraged from it. This is no different than literally any other law. Wtf?
I think that's reasonable, given the circumstances.
Just because we have freedoms doesn't mean everyone does. So when we burn one of their books, without the context of that same freedom that we have, they don't really necessarily understand what we're trying to say. Just that we hate their sacred book.
We're really trying to say more than that though, we don't hate the book, we hate the actions some people do in its name. I don't think that always gets communicated though, since they don't necessarily follow our news.