Racing to the Next to the Bottom

Was ever there a worse excuse for doing some damned thing
than saying that other people do worse things?

When the Most Reverend Terry Jones proposes to burn Korans,
misguided patriots rush to his defense by saying that foreign idiots
do worse things: they burn flags, and flog women, and eat dogs.

How about that for a spirited defense for being a home-grown idiot?

Or, to prevent a Muslim community center with a gym, culinary school,
and prayer room two blocks from where the Twin Towers used to stand,
where 300 Muslims died when they were destroyed, some genius
reminds us that you cannot build a Baptist Church in Saudi Arabia,
or perhaps that is a Jewish Synagogue in Iran or Kentucky.

When we lost our sense of decency, we search instead for an example
of really, rotten behavior, and argue that we are better than that.
It is rancidly similar to agreeing that you abuse your spouse,
but that you do so with an open hand, not a frying pan.

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