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Saturday, December 29, 2007

The World's Most Powerful X

A German magazine is under a bit of fire for describing the Koran as the world's most powerful book:

The folks at Der Spiegel, Germany’s leading weekly newsmagazine, displayed a remarkable lack of judgment and timing in picking "The Koran: The World’s Most Powerful Book" as their cover story right before Christmas. While it is certainly true that the world’s most dangerous terrorists as well as their growing base of radical sympathizers feel inspired by the Koran’s radical interpretations, this does not necessarily turn it into the world’s "most powerful" book.


I can understand why there is some opposition to this. I don't know why, since we could also describe MOAB as the world's most powerful conventional bomb without people getting their panties in a twist.

Perhaps "most powerful" isn't really the best phrase. But Der Spiegel was probably wary of saying "most dangerous." Don't want to piss off those who might think the latter phrase is insulting. They'll kill you for that offense.

Like many things (including box cutters), in the right hands either can do good. But in the wrong hands? Well, innocent people will die in large numbers.