Bigots and bigots

As I type this, a group of ‘Americans’ are gathering outside a Phoenix mosque. They have come there for Mohammed Cartoon 2015.

These people are gathering to take a poke at the Muslim community, to make the point that their free speech rights include drawing cartoons of whomever they like. Some of them are armed, since they say they are there celebrating and enforcing their rights under both the First and Second Amendments.

Yeah, sure they are.

And the fact that the organizer is frequently seen wearing a tee shirt emblazoned with “F--- Islam” does not mean he’s trying to provoke a reaction, right?

On how many levels does a yahoo have to be wrong before we can just toss him in a padded bin?

I’m not comfortable finding myself in the position of defending any religion, much less one that subjugates women as does traditional Islam. Father of daughters, remember? I consider religion in all its forms and traditions to be collectively a great evil. But who made me the King of Right?

So, I respect people’s right to believe whatever they want to, so long as they keep it out of my face. I don’t like ISIS or the Tea Party or the Roman Curia. But I would never go to the Vatican and deface the Sistine Chapel. And neither would I join the ‘protesters’ in Phoenix.

These cowards are going to stir up caca but it won’t land on them. It won’t be the worshipers of that mosque who retaliate and the retaliation won’t be taken out on the pistol packin’ yahoos who are drawing their cartoons and shooting off their mouths this evening.

Rest assured there will be retribution. And when the yahoos who incited it are crying their crocodile tears, I hope we all remember why they held this little gathering. It’s not to exercise their rights under the constitution, not really. It’s because they hate Islam and they want to stir something up.

The terrorists who will retaliate are responsible for the havoc they will wreak. But so are the bigoted a-holes gathering this night. I hope they don’t wave American flags. They don’t represent any of us except the tiny, horrifying minority who look forward to religious war. Bigots inciting bigots. And innocents will pay the price. Lovely.

They’re just stirring up hate. And they know it. They can’t be stupid enough not to understand the probable reaction. They just can’t be that stupid – they’re still breathing.