Taking Sides and the Pope As a Magic Eight Ball

William Grosso @ September 19, 2006

So, it goes something like this. The US is engaged in a lengthy war with … we’re not quite sure who. The opponent goes by the name “Islamic Terrorism”, but the exact countries and people behind the name are somewhat nebulous (as is the extent of their support).

And the US is engaged in a lengthy internal debate over whether it makes sense to be involved in this war. The debate is mostly silly, and mostly conducted at the level of “what position gives me tactical advantage in the next election” (not a criticism of just one party– a sad criticism of the entire political infrastructure) but it’s nonetheless a real debate, over the single most pressing issue we face today.

The question is: is the “Islamic Terrorist” movement a huge and worldwide connected group of people who need to be defeated, and whom the US should be fighting? And, if so, are we using the correct tactics?

Into this mess walks Pope Benedict. His speech, which I’ve now read a few times, is fairly innocuous. It’s long, it’s tedious, and it’s deeply inoffensive. What, we should ask ourselves, would we want from a religious leader if not this sort of lengthy analysis of the interaction between rationality and spirituality?

So here’s the question. Do the protests, riots, demands, and death sentences that emerged in the wake of Benedict’s speech tell us anything?

The answer is, of course: it depends on how many there were, how organized they were, and whether they reflected deep feelings or were put on for some other purpose.

Which is where our media are completely failing us. I’ve seen images of a pope burning in effigy, and I’ve seen dramatic images of people chanting “Death to the Pope.” But I don’t have any idea how isolated or how generic those episodes are. Let alone whether they shared crucial dramatic elements (same slogans, same placards, and so on) or were organized with local government support, or …

Without knowing that, the fact that there were some riots (say, between 3 and 30,000 of them) tells me nothing.

Which leads to the question: does anyone know how many riots there were? Is anyone tracking the quantitative aspects of the reaction to Benedict’s speech?

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