"Extreme"

Came across this story in the news today. In Sweden (Malmo) some right wing nutters burnt a Koran (the religious book) in a public demonstration. What followed can only be described as a riot, as shop fronts and cars were burned and smashed by people opposed to this symbolic act (i.e. Muslims). Now I'm not a big fan of book burning of any kind, seems like a stupid waste of time to me but on the other hand I'm not a fan of religious extremism either. Religious people, of the Islamic variety especially, need to understand that "free" people are permitted to hold their holy books in contempt and in democratic and pluralistic societies like the ones we live in (in Europe) people may well take that contempt to extremes in order to provoke a reaction or make a political point. The idea that non-Muslims must treat this text as sacred too, lest buildings go up in flames and bodies pile up is no less that Theocratic fascism. 

The best course of action on all sides is simply to deny such acts and people the oxygen of publicity, by simply ignoring them. The media too have a burden of responsibility here, reporting such acts as "extreme" and then not reporting the subsequent reaction as also extreme sets the tone for problems and divisions in the future. I'm sure that reasonable people of all stripes would call rioting, looting and burning businesses "extreme" and not wish it upon anyone for any reason, especially something as trivial as burning a book.