Deflation

My answer to the upcoming, Bible-thumping, OMG moment we have with the Koran-burning set for tomorrow. Even Obama weighs in on it now.

If I have this straight, all this amounts to is a pretty successful effort by someone wanting to get national and global newsplay about some insipid act of burning a Koran. Reminds me of the oft-carried-out US flag burning from years past. People stopped doing that when they realized that it became meaningless and the reporters failed to show up for it.

Here are some suggestions

1. Ignore these people. Let them burn one or more Korans.
2. Point out that burning the physical representation of one or more Korans does nothing to change or negate the message of the Koran, does nothing to negate the impact of Islam.
3. Establish 9/11 as a Koran Awareness Day, where passages from the Koran are read in public, read in churches, published in the press, online, on TV, to illustrate that this is a work that has withstood time, does not of itself provide the seeds of terrorism or intolerance.

In short, you provide antidotes to the reason why these people decided to do this. You draw attention away from them, you counteract religious intolerance, you proactively present positive images in the face of hatred.