OMG! The ragheads are gonna build a community center with a mosque 2 blocks from "Ground Zero". (And is Ground Zero an official name? Let's find a better one.) This project is supported by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and has been OK'd by the NYC zoning board. And my cousin Obama has said, admirably and correctly, that Muslims have the right to religious freedom, same as anybody, and they have the right to erect their building where they want, same as anybody, assuming local approval.
And with that, the foamy-mouth brigade on the far right went absolutely ape-shit. Southern Baptists churches will spend their day on 9/11 burning copies of the Koran. Charming! Newt Gingrich says we should not allow any mosques anywhere in the entire country because Saudi Arabia doesn't allow Christian churches within its borders, and because the Nazis aren't allowed to build a clubhouse next door to Auschwitz. (Hey Newt, you asshole! The Saudi "royal family" are goddam dictators! We should imitate them? And fuck the Nazis!)
And of course many millions of otherwise decent people feel compelled to vent their spleen and denounce the mosque/Bloomberg/Obama on the common man's sounding board, Facebook. They talk about sacred ground and honored dead. They wrap themselves in flags and patriotism and Jesus and family values, but they're just spewing the same old hatred, intolerance and bigotry (usually with atrocious spelling and grammar). And unfortunately, some of it comes from people I know.
Guess what? Buster feels likewise compelled to weigh in on the subject:
The average American is an idiot, under-informed and over-opinionated. Yet in today's world we constantly encourage his poorly-considered views. There's a new poll or survey every ten minutes. The average American's opinion on anything is likely to be very emotional, illogical, and quickly constructed, but it sure feels nice to say it, to let it out, just like it does with a good fart. The fart has more intellectual value.
So to hell with the opinion poll of the moment. If CNN reports that their latest poll shows that 7 of 10 people oppose the NYC mosque, it's the same as saying 7 of 10 people hate Muslims, or 7 of 10 people are ignorant jackasses. I mean, c'mon -- not that long ago, 7 of 10 people thought slavery was just peachy. Once upon a time, 7 of 10 believed in witches. The common man is entitled to his beliefs, but those beliefs are often crap and wiser heads eventually prevail. (Of course that doesn't explain Richard Nixon and George W. Bush.)
Our nation is governed by laws and rules, not hysterical shouting and arm-waving. He who yells loudest and longest is not necessarily right, and such volume and venom can cover up some really flawed thinking.
Religion is at the heart of this matter, and all religions are bullshit, Islam included. (I realize that's a minority view, and an unpopular one too. Perhaps Buster will wax eloquent on that topic another day.) But BS or not, Obama's right -- Muslims in this country have a Constitutionally guaranteed right to practice their religion and build their churches. You wanna change that? Freedom of religion, just as long as it's your religion?
The proposed community center is not going to be smack-dab in the middle of the former WTC site. It's a good two blocks away and around the corner. And we're talkin' big-ass Manhattan city blocks. But that's not far enough away for some in the cranky crowd. OK then, exactly how fucking far away should it be? And what else should be banned on or near the site? (Of note -- There are several other mosques in Manhattan, some damn near as close to the WTC site as this one is.)
Everybody calls it a mosque, but it's designed to be a community/cultural center. There will be no minarets, no calls to evening prayer. Calling it a mosque is like calling the YMCA a church.
The destruction of the twin towers on 9/11/01 was a horrible, God-awful thing. The world will never forget, and the people of NYC especially will never forget. For many, emotions are still high, the wound still raw. This is completely understandable, and yet . . .
What happened that day was a murderous act committed by 19 individuals -- radical terrorists who were Muslims and who cloaked their craziness in religious zealotry.
There are many, many millions of Muslims in this world, and virtually none of them are radical terrorists. There are millions of Muslims in the U.S., and tens of thousands in NYC. Virtually none of them are radical terrorists. There were Muslims working in and around the WTC that day who were killed. There were Muslims who died taking part in the response effort. They were not radical terrorists either.
The grim pages of history are filled with murder, brutality, torture and atrocity. Heinous actions are not the province of any single sort of human being. Incomprehensible horrors have been perpetrated by members of every race and religion, by people of all ages, and by both genders. Nobody has an exclusive. We homo sapiens can be a nasty lot.
But despite our brutish tendencies, we humans are also entirely capable of understanding, tolerance and forgiveness. Two hundred thirty five years ago, the British were none too popular here on our side of the pond. Today, the U.S. and the U.K. are peas in a pod. Two hundred years ago, some of my forebears (and yours too, maybe?) were slaveholders. Most of today's African Americans have forgiven, not forgotten, this abomination. The early 1940's were not a good time to be a German-, Italian-, or Japanese-American, but we've managed to get past that fairly well. The Cold War is history and we've normalized relations with Russia and Viet Nam.
This proven ability to get our shit together and move on is a good thing, and one of our more useful traits. I cannot imagine my world without British gin, Japanese technology, Motown music, and Italian food, to name just a very few. I'm not sure what Islamic culture has to offer me. I'll pass on the faith thing, and the music hurts my head. But I do enjoy a good hummus. It's a start.
More to the point, this whole mosque "issue" is a non-troversy trumped up by the far right and conservative Christians in a lame attempt to score political points. The Muslim religion is not to blame for 9/11, and Muslim people are not our enemies. It's time for detente, not chap-assed ranting. If you are personally offended or threatened by a mosque in Manhattan, I think you're being really narrow-minded and paranoid. Stop it, and unclench your butthole.
Buster, out!
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