Setting aside the glorious way in which this subject prompted America's Idiot-In-Chief, Sarah Palin, to live right up to her rep for being the single most empty-headed person in America's public life, I have to note that I grow tire of a certain style of thinking regarding issues like this. The reasoning basically goes thusly: "Sure, 99.9 percent of the Muslims in the world are not actually terrorists waiting to suicide-bomb you, but for the good of America, we should certainly treat all of 'em as if they are."
And for the "Build it, but somewhere else" crowd, what is the acceptable distance? Ten blocks? Twenty? A mile? If it's meant to serve Muslims in Lower Manhattan, where should it go that it won't be too darn close to the WTC site? Or should they just not build it in Manhattan at all?
Count me among those who think that letting this mosque get built and used without making any fuss whatsoever would put forth a much greater demonstration of America's ideals than anything I've seen in quite some time.
UPDATE: Alan says what I said, but he uses a lot more words to do it. Ha!
The personal blog of author Kelly Sedinger, chronicling the adventures of one overalls-clad wanderer.
5 comments:
Agreed. And, as Mayor Bloomberg said earlier, the U.S. Government is not in the business of telling people where they can or can't pray, at least not according to the Constitution.
New Jersey. The mosque should be in New Jersey. we only want God-fearing Americans in New York.
[What's that? Muslims believe in God? The SAME God? My head will explode!]
I completely agree with your premise, but I think you make a crucial error when you say:
The reasoning basically goes thusly: "Sure, 99.9 percent of the Muslims in the world are not actually terrorists waiting to suicide-bomb you, but for the good of America, we should certainly treat all of 'em as if they are."
Based on the insanely xenophobic spam my mother keeps receiving from distant family members (who know better than to send me such garbage), I'd say the reasoning for a lot of our fellow Americans is more along the lines of, "ALL Muslims are potential suicide-bombers, just waiting for their orders from scary, long-bearded leaders in distant lands. Because Muslims are different. And many of them have brown skin. And we all know how bad THAT is."
The last ten years have been incredibly depressing for this idealistic old Trekkie, who grew up honestly believing that racism in this country was dying out. Nope, it was simply resting...
At least SOMETHING is being built at the Ground Zero sight. Almost a decade and nothing to be shown for it but a huge hole is a crime against humanity.
Cal - it's not AT the Ground Zero site; it's a couple blocks away.
But what's really ticked me off today: Republican gubernatorial hopeful Rick Lazio says his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, is pandering to liberal voters by refusing to investigate the Muslim charity planning to build a mosque near ground zero. It's Lazio who is panderiing to the perceived conservative base.
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