The Far-Right Provocateur Burning the Koran and Setting Sweden on Fire

https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium-the-far-right-provocateur-burning-the-koran-and-setting-sweden-on-fire-1.10766679

by galogon • 4 years ago

5 13 4 years ago

haaretz.com

cato_the_elder2• 4 years ago

Yeah, that "far-right provocateur" is single-handedly doing all the burning, the guys who actually set the property of others to fire are just victims of his "hate crime".

eesmith7• 4 years ago

Literally no one in the article is making that argument. It even says "People who are appalled by Paludan’s actions are nevertheless disturbed by the widespread violence in response to them."

They want it to be made illegal so the police can stop people from burning the Koran and other religious texts.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/sweden-riots-over-quran... says "police said at least 34 people were arrested in Linkoping and Norrkoping after about 150 demonstrators threw stones at officers and set vehicles ablaze." - they aren't being treated as victims.

cato_the_elder2• 4 years ago

Literally no one in the article is making that argument.

I meant that as sarcasm (note the headline), but IMO, the article is clearly more sympathetic towards people who "set vehicles ablaze" than the guy who seems to have at worst burnt a book as an effigy.

They want it to be made illegal so the police can stop people from burning the Koran and other religious texts.

I don't think that's a good idea at all. That's essentially just a form of a blasphemy law.

car_analogy3• 4 years ago

Literally no one in the article is making that argument.

No one, except the title: The Far-right Provocateur Burning the Koran and Setting Sweden on Fire

And the first sentence of the article body: A far-right extremist has managed to set Sweden ablaze

After that, I hit the paywall.

eesmith7• 4 years ago

Seems too easy to game.

If I were a far-right provocateur, I would claim to burn a Koran but have it be an empty book. Or simply burn a book without saying what the book contains.

Or, if the ban is on burning a religious text, I would use a paper shredder, or chain saw, or drive nails through it.

“History has taught Jews what can come next when you start burning books,”

I'm from the US, where book burning is surprisingly common.

"Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, church youth groups coordinated book burnings and music bonfires to purge their world of evil art." points out https://religionnews.com/2020/06/17/evangelicals-perfected-c... .

A college roommate of mine was one - he burned his SF/fantasy books after a visiting preacher to his religious group encouraged them to get rid of an earthly thing they loved, to spend more time with God.

Here's a pastor recently "encouraging parishioners to toss books like "Harry Potter" and "Twilight" into a fire to denounce what he described as "demonic" materials. " - https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/pastor-holds-bonfire-bu...

There's been several Harry Potter burnings, like "In 2001, people held a bonfire in New Mexico to burn the [Harry Potter] books because they believed the novels perpetuated the idea of satanism." - https://www.polygon.com/2017/2/1/14474054/harry-potter-books...

In Poland too! https://people.com/books/harry-potter-books-burned-by-polish...

It seems that what can come next when you start burning books is have some Hollywood movies made about the books.

BTW, if people really believe the Harry Potter books are Satanic, then doesn't that make them religious texts?

The Far-Right Provocateur Burning the Koran and Setting Sweden on Fire

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