Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ya-ta Boy]

On Friday it was announced that 26-year-old Katherine Windels of Cross Plains, Wisconsin was charged with two felonies for sending death threats to 15 Republican senators. If convicted she could spend 7 years in prison. From the article: �Windels allegedly wrote that opponents of the collective bargaining law were planning 'to ass[a]ult you by arriving at your house and putting a nice little bullet in your head' and said 'we have built several bombs that we have placed in various locations around the areas in which we know that you frequent'...But when Tijerino read aloud a sentence from her email -- 'Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks' -- and asked if she was the author, she reportedly admitted she was. She said she was confused because she didn't know why she wrote it, and reportedly told Tijerino she wasn't planning on following through on any of her statements.� [TPM]


So far, so good. Even if she wasn't planning on really doing anything, she threatened the lives of people she was mad at, and even worse in my opinion, threatened the lives of the innocent family members of the people she was mad at. There is no excuse for that. Her First Amendment rights are not being violated; the law is being correctly interpreted and applied, as far as I can see.

Now comes the quandary:

�In late March, Pastor Wayne Sapp burned a copy of the Quran in a Gainesville, Florida church, under the supervision of Terry Jones, who gained notoriety last year for his plan to burn Islam's holy book on the anniversary of September 11. The Quran was burned after being found "guilty" in a mock trial. According to AFP, fewer than 30 people attended the event, where a kerosene-soaked Quran was lit with a barbecue lighter and then proceeded to burn for about 10 minutes.�

On Friday 3 mullahs in Afghanistan whipped a crowd of about 20,000 into a frenzy. They then attacked and killed several (7?) foreigners, all UN people. On Saturday, in Kandahar, more people were killed.

Sapp and Jones were deliberately trying to stir up trouble and almost certainly hoped for exactly the response they got. I am not questioning their right to burn the Koran, a symbolic act of speech. I am questioning their right to try to incite a riot with their symbolic speech.

The two ministers are morally responsible for what happened. In my opinion, they share equally in the guilt along with the 3 mullahs and the men who did the actual killing.

I realize smug self-righteousness and hypocrisy are not indictable crimes (but maybe should be), but here is Jones' reaction to the tragedy produced by his actions: "We... find this a very tragic and criminal action. The United States government and the United Nations itself, must take immediate action. We must hold these countries and people accountable for what they have done as well as for any excuses they may use to promote their terrorist activities," the statement said, according to ABC News.

So the quandary: In Wisconsin we have a young woman who wrote a stupid and illegal death threat but had no intention to carry it out, but she will go on trial and probably (and rightfully) be punished.

In Florida we have two men who performed an action that was intended to provoke a violent reaction and were successful. Accounts vary, but it looks like 7 died in northern Afghanistan and 5 more in southern Afghanistan.

Shouldn't Sapp and Jones be held legally accountable? Or is there a gap in our legal code big enough to drive 12 hearses through?

[stilicho25]

Yata, it would be absolutely crazy to punish people for doing things that make other people angry. Would you ban flag burning and bible burning next? How about southpark episodes, if they show Mahtomet, and people riot, should they be punished?

[Ya-ta Boy]

[CentralCali]

That preacher didn't incite a riot. Other people, who were upset with his stance, incited the riot.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[stilicho25]

Think this through. If radical christians, or Ayn Rand fanatics acted similiar to the Afghans in this case, would you prosecute people for burning pictures of Ayn Rand? Yata, that is the slipperiest slope ever, and its crazy to start prosecuting people for breaking the social mores of another country.

[Louis VI]

Threatening to kill a specific individual is illegal in any civilized country.

[Fox]

We should be able to burn any book we own, privately or publicly; limiting such freedoms is harmful to society. We should not be able to threaten one another with death; limiting such freedoms is beneficial to society. I think that's pretty much the essence of the situation.

[Ya-ta Boy]

The carnage was even worse than reported earlier:

"Eleven were killed Friday, including seven foreign U.N. employees.

And Afghans rioted for a second day Saturday, killing nine people in Kandahar and injuring more than 80."

[Ya-ta Boy]

At the time of the book-burning, he also played sober and solemn, saying: �It is not that we burn the Koran with some type of vindictive motive� We do not even burn it with great pleasure or any pleasure at all. We burn it because we feel a deep obligation to stay with the court system of America. The court system of America does not allow convicted criminals to go free. And that is why we feel obligated to do this.�

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2011-04-02/koran-burning-pastor-how-his-stunt-could-harm-the-us/2/

I'm not trying to be obtuse. A young woman may well go to jail for sending off some very intemperate e-mails. Two men stage a fake 'trial' and film themselves burning a book, post it on the internet and succeed in getting 20 people killed.

[Fox]

[NYC_Gal 2.0]

[The Cosmic Hum]

[Space Bar]

Killing people should be illegal. Talking about it should not.

[visitorq]