So what if there IS a mosque blocks from Ground Zero?
This is a perfect example of news that annoys me for being news in the first place. A moderate Muslim group in New York City is planning to build a mosque and Muslim community center downtown, not too far from Ground Zero.
http://www.newsweek.com/spectrum/2010/07/19/palin-criticizes-ground-zero-mosque-coins-new-word.html
Now, I understand that 9/11 is a sensitive subject and years of care and cash have poured into bringing Ground Zero and downtown Manhattan back to how it was before the terrorist attack. But what genuinely angers me is this notion that a rebuilt New York can’t include a mosque because it’s a symbol of “provocation”? Provocation of what, exactly? Would a church or synagogue blocks away from Ground Zero be a “provocation” of anything? This reeks of bigotry shrouded in jingoist rhetoric. Opponents of this mosque seem to lump all Muslims in with the small extremist group of terrorists that destroyed the Twin Towers. It’s as though the entire religion of Islam has become a NIMBY entity, and that scares the hell out of me because if it can happen to them, it can happen to anyone.
Truly restoring New York to what it was before the 9/11 terrorist attacks means restoring its diversity too. Muslims are a vibrant part of New York and American society. If opponents of this mosque are able to drive it out of downtown with the politically-correct hate of our times, it develops a precedent where no distance is far enough. And we’ve come far enough from that kind of social distancing in America to see it happen again.
And, to reiterate, WHO CARES? REALLY? IT’S ONE BUILDING BY ANOTHER BUILDING SET AMONGST A BUNCHA OTHER BUILDINGS FOR A BUNCHA OTHER STUFF. While the bigotry behind this controversy is interesting to me, and I think the conversation about Islam in the United States is one that will and should continue, I just have a really hard time finding this one building newsworthy.
I even have trouble finding Palin’s new word (see Newsweek article) newsworthy. It’s just amusing.
