Posts tagged 911

…and it absolutely enrages me. Time to settle this whole mosque “issue” right here.

First of all, the entire argument has been instigated by a media obsessed with non-issues in a time of great struggle in America. Soldiers are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy is still looking poor and the job market is below abysmal. Let’s not forget the sorry state of education in our area of America and our country at large.

Yet what is on the television? What dominates our media?

This. This issue. It is backed up by apparently 61% of people in this nation. Good to know 61% of the people living in America are either ignorant of the facts or Islamophobic. Think that is harsh or intolerant? Feel free, you are entitled to your own opinion — however I refuse to tolerate hate or ignorance and this entire “controversy” stinks of both.

First of all, let’s get this out of the way:

There is no legal case against the “ground zero mosque” whatsoever. Nada. Zilch. The right to own and develop property is a constitutional right. In addition, the government shall make no law supporting or opposing any religion according to the First Amendment. Simply put, any action taken against the mosque (past support for the proprietor’s constitutional rights) would be unconstitutional.

So then, it is an issue of taste. Of morality.

Or, let’s call it what it is: Political pandering bullshit designed to create an “us versus them” atmosphere. An issue manufactured to feed on the ignorant emotional feelings of people who do not understand those who are different from them. It is a new era of such tension in America, a tactic that has been used since our countries very founding. Blacks, Catholics, Irish and Italians have all felt this alienation in the past and arguably some of those groups still do. Worse yet? Some of those same groups have joined in in welcoming whoever the “new guy” is in a truly American way, handing them an unlit torch and pushing them out into the darkened neighborhood of America. Good luck, maybe we will abstain from spitting on you for a few weeks.

I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt though. Maybe you really think it is about taste. If that is the case then the belief you subscribe to is that a mosque built near ground zero is somehow offensive.

So I ask you this.

Why?

What is offensive about it? The immediate answer seems to be because the attackers on 9/11 were all Muslim, or at least they claimed to be. What we must remember however is that Islam has over a billion followers. The actions of a minority should not damn a majority. Not only that but we must not forget that many Muslims died on 9/11 — and many of their lives were changed because of it. Not to mention those that were attacked due to hate crimes following the terrorist attacks.

That isn’t it, you say. The reason has to do with prominent Muslim leaders not damning extremists — not only that, but they tolerate hate for the US! You growl and sneer… and ignore that the man in charge of the whole project has been trying to mend relations between faiths and nations all the while damning extremists.

You shake your head and roll your eyes, “Muslim’s expect us to be tolerant and yet look at how much they hate us! How much they hate everyone else!”

While I won’t get into the socio-political elements of this debate that might just say that they have a good reason to not like us, I will say that this is possibly the silliest argument of them all. The golden image of America has always been the melting pot. The land of opportunity, where a guy with green skin can come and make a fortune selling beans. The land where all cultures mix and mesh together, the best parts of all of them becoming part of our national pride.

We are a country that is supposed to set the tone for the rest of the world when it comes to tolerance. We are a place that people come to in order to escape hate, not to bathe in it.

The logic of “Well, they don’t tolerate X so we shouldn’t Y!” is absolutely absurd as is the logic of NIMBY when applied to the issue.

On top of all of this? It isn’t even a mosque. It is a community center. While it is offensive to me that “being a mosque” makes it horrible in the first place, the fact is it isn’t one. It might have a place for prayer, but so did the World Trade Center. Hell, even the Pentagon has a place for non-denominational worship. Why is this such a bad thing? Do we only allow followers of religions we like to pray?

At the heart of it, that is exactly the issue. Americans are afraid of Islam. After all, they’ve been told over the years that anyone wearing (or associated with) a funny hat is bad!

You know, this was made such a big issue right before 9/11′s anniversary and that makes me absolutely disgusted. The idea that the memories of the dead are being used in a crusade for hate is sickening. I cried yesterday watching video someone had taken of the towers falling. It isn’t enough that thousands had to lose their lives, but now they are being used to spread misinformation and hate. It makes me physically ill. The link that spawned this whole article (this one) made me fume. Fox News, you are beyond scum to me.

I think I’ve covered all of the “issues” here. If there are any other ones please tell me so I can debunk them, I’d like to link everyone to this article that I can so this hate can be snuffed out.

Also I apologize if this article seems to be filled with an exceptional amount of bile, but after a month of this I am fairly irate.