Desecration and Mass Psychosis

It's just as well that it is the Canadian experience that leads us to try to be sensitive to the feelings of people whose tribal instincts and religious devotion is far closer to hostility than a civilized social contract that urges caution and respect for others. It's clear enough that in the instance of Afghanistan there is scant respect reciprocated, that Afghan society in general is suspicious of the intentions of foreigners, preferring to see them depart their soil rather than soil their culture.

Canadians just seem slightly more attuned in general to the sensitivities of alien cultures and the kind of fanaticism that they witness in a religion that has an absolute stranglehold on every aspect of the daily lives of those who worship Islam. Which is not to say that Canadians are no less puzzled than their American counterparts. Simply less dismissive, shall we say, of social-cultural traits of a heritage that appears to 21st Century-attuned people to be bogged down in medievalism.

That an entire society will suddenly erupt in an incendiary spark of fury at the slightest hint of anyone slighting Islam or its Prophet takes Westerners off guard. That the fury can turn on a dime to collective violence whose end result will inevitably mean someone's death, before it finally fizzles out as angrily disgruntled mobs are forced to disperse, simply reveals how deeply Muslims in the East have ingested their Koranic-interpreted values.

Nothing, ever, is permitted to slight Islam, the Koran, the Prophet Mohammad, or Allah; it is forbidden. The penalty for so doing is capital punishment at worst, excoriating denunciation and prison, perhaps agonizing torture, and ultimately being completely disowned as a faithful Muslim; shunned and disgraced through utter contempt.

When a foreign source, protected by superior forces and agencies, insults Islam, mass psychosis erupts, with enraged Muslims marching en masse to denounce the criminals who dared desecrate the holy text, and demand their deaths. Fulsome apologies do little to assuage the fury. There is held to be no excuse whatever; ignorance, carelessness, forgetfulness, that will be accepted to exonerate the blasphemous act.

"We retrieved more than 80 half-burned Korans", accused Ahmad Zaki Zahid, head of the Parwan provincial council. And both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the Afghan Taliban condemned an atrocity of such horrifying dimensions. "We are trying to solve the issue in a peaceful way. If those who committed the acts are not arrested, we should expect more violent demonstrations throughout the country", warned Ahmad Zaki Zahid.

Placed on notice, humble apologies ensued as Marine Corps General John Allen, top NATO , and U.S. officer in the country addressed the issue, attempting to stem the violence of thousands of Afghan rioters. "...To the noble people of Afghanistan", went the abject apology. I assure you - I promise you - this was not intentional in any way."

But this is an unforgivable sin. It cannot be set aside and forgotten so readily. It has afflicted the people who will not have their religion debased in such a manner by infidels, by anyone.

Shah Marai, AFP, Getty Images An Afghan aims a slingshot at U.S. soldiers outside the Bagram airbase during a protest over Koran desecration Tuesday.

"We want them out of our country now." "We Afghans don't want these Christians and infidels, they are the enemy of our soil, our honour and our Koran." "I urge all Muslims to sacrifice themselves in order to pull out these troops from this soil."

Little do they know, nor do they care, how eager the Christians and infidels on Afghan's sacred soil would be to leave with dignity intact, leaving behind the memory of the lives sacrificed, the funding wasted, the hopes abandoned. Leaving behind a tribal mentality of aggravated mayhem, a religious conviction of bitter resentment and livid hatred.

Leaving, to restore some sanity in their lives, and the prospect of peace at home.