Leave My Lit Alone!

So, no Koran burnings, "not today, not ever", according to the venerable Rev. Terry Jones, who called off his media blitz..ermm, I mean holy war....early this morning. I'm glad. No, really. Hopefully he finds a way to sell all those extra "Islam is of the Devil" t-shirts, though. I think his high school classmate, Rush Limbaugh, would enjoy one. (That would've been a fun lunch table...) But Jones's decision to call off the public expression of his massive misconception doesn't represent an acknowledgment that his core beliefs about Islam are substantially mistaken, nor does it erase from my memory an incident that occurred on a recent family trip to Waco. We're sitting on the couch watching the ever-eventful Waco news, which frequently consists of 25 minutes of world news pilfered from better channels, and 5 minutes of local paraphernalia regarding ball games, yard sales and school supplies. Today, the former section features a report on a "nearby" (read: "Somewhere in the state of Texas"). A picture of the Koran appears onscreen.

"What book is that?", my grandma asks.

"That?", my grandfather responds, "that's them Al-Qaeda's Bible. Made them do all kinds of bad things. Told them to attack our country."

Ever the respectful grandchild, I just nursed at my cookies and coffee and let him crumple up on the couch and succumb to his delusion. Had I twice the balls and half the social decency, here's what I'd've said;

Papaw,

I love you. I do, I really do. I appreciate your adherence to tried and true values, your emphasis on supporting the financially vulnerable, and your fierce devotion to TCM's "Summer Under The Stars" month-a devotion we share, as you know. What I don't appreciate is your near zealous devotion to one of the most idiotic, ill-supported theories of modern popular culture. But, hey, if it makes you feel better, half the country's doing it. Perhaps now, on the anniversary of saddest yet most misunderstood occurrence in our history, is the time to correct it.

If I told you that, on September 11, 2001, 19 Korans climbed on an airplane, assumed control of the cockpit, and crashed it into the World Trade Center, would you believe me? Of course not. How about this? On December 8, 1980, a rogue copy of Catcher in the Rye hit outside the Dakota and shot John Lennon in the back. Plausible? No, sirree.

Why is it, then, that the Koran is blamed for the 9/11 attacks, when, A) it actively preaches against such extremism in verse 2.190 and, B) IT'S AN INANIMATE OBJECT?!! Why does JD Salinger get a bad rap because his book just happened to be picked up by a psychopath? Why does Martin Scorsese still get castigated to this day because last week's featured film, Taxi Driver, was listed by would-be presidential assassin John Hinckley as a major inspiration? You should know, Papaw, that, as an artist, nothing angers me more than to see the creator blamed for the actions of the consumer. But what interests me is this. Why do we blame works of art (for, like the Bible and my people's Tanakh before it, the Koran is a work of literature before it is anything else) for human foibles? I've an idea why.

What disturbs us more than anything is the idea that we are not all intrinsically good. For every one of us who starts a charity organization or saves a life, there are four who swindle money and bomb city streets. More disturbing than that fact is the idea that a mind in its own right can make such diseased decisions. How could one have such an innately skewered moral compass that acts of terrorism and bloodletting would appear to be morally acceptable? The said answer is, they simply do. Science proves me right, lists chemical imbalances, bodily toxins, bloodflow blockages that erase for some any possibility of sanity. For whatever reason, some members of the human race simply have deeper, darker reservoirs of evil lying within than the rest of us. But, like that mom who just can't acknowledge her baby made a boo-boo, we constantly dodge the idea that members of the human family are inherently bad. Instead, we point to intangible things that corrupted them.

Abuse made this man shoot a pop star.

A book made these people knock down a building.

This makes the problem of evil easy to solve. If we take away the art that's doing the corruption, the mind itself will cease to be corrupted. Not the case. There are those among us drawn inexplicably and completely towards the sinister, and no book they read or film they watch should be held responsible.

Actions are actions. Words are words. What someone reads cannot and should not be confused with what they do. The Koran has served as a call to peace and tolerance, not just to violence. Yet its reputation is tarnished because a select few misinterpreted its prose for their own depraved cause. The Catcher in the Rye alerted many to a higher purpose, but is best remembered for uncloaking one man's darker nature. I've had enough of folks using art as a scapegoat to avoid confrontation with inbred human folly. Some people are bad. Many are good. Books are books. Movies are movies. Music is music. Think about it.

If you ever really want to piss me off, Papaw, go to Listverse.com and show me the list entitled "Top 10 Books That Screwed Up the World". After an hour-plus bitch session, I will inform you what that page should be called; "Top 10 Books Whose Readers Screwed Up the World."

Sincerely,

Mason