Yes We Can! Long Island 2012The controversy over the location of Cordoba House a Muslim Cultural Center in Lower Manhattan has blown into a wedge issue for the hate community with the likes of Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin voicing opposition because of the site’s proximity to Ground Zero. Even the Anti-Defamation League, an organization that is leading proponent of religious tolerance has issued a statement calling for the center to be located elsewhere.
A new article in the Daily Kos reminds us that many Muslims were among the victims of 9/11 and there are approximately a half million Muslims living in New York City.
They saw what other New Yorkers saw. They smelled what other New Yorkers smelled. They experienced the same devastating horror and sorrow. They were New Yorkers like any other New Yorkers. They were no more responsible for the attacks than were any other New Yorkers.
The article goes on to condemn the effort to place collective blame for 9/11 on Muslims. Read it here.
Everything that you say is basically correct, and I generally agree, but if you do not want to hear both sides of contraversial issues you shouldn't ask for comments. The people who object to the center are not likely to be readers of the YWC blog. I have no difficulty understanding their feelings and I do not see them as bad people. On that point let's just agree to disagree.
I don't see them as bad people either, just as "worst kind of ignorant, hateful ignorant soles who don't realize their ignorance" and I would prefer others who see their logical flaw to not try and justify their internal hate but try to educate them on why they are so misguided.
I appreciate your comments, and wish more from all perspectives wrote thoughtful comments. I might strongly disagree, but without discussion from all perspectives, we can never improve anyones understanding of these issues (even one so clear cut as this one).
Muslims died in the WTC on 9/11/2001; Muslims serve honorably in the armed forces of the US, and many lose their healths or their lives doing so; and Muslims are imbedded in every aspect of American life, and many are active contributors to this country and its ideals. By some standards we consider basic to the USA Americans should not be opposing the Muslim Center. However, there are other realities that need to be acknowledged, and by doing so it can be seen that many, and probably most who oppose the Muslim center are not bigots. We all know what those realities are, and to repeat them is unnecessary and might be painful to some. There is no doubt that to some the center will be seen as a symbol of the triumph of 19 Martyrs over the west, and in the minds of many people there is the not unreasonable belief that that is the reason the center is being built. There can be no doubt that at least some of the money that will go into the building of the center will be donated as a memorial to the terrorists who brought the WTC down.
If you know anyone who believes “the center will be seen as a symbol of the triumph of 19 Martyrs over the west” than they are the worst kind of ignorant, hateful ignorant soles who don’t realize their ignorance. I am glad you are not one of them, but please explain to anyone else who has this point of view how misguided they are.
“the center will be donated as a memorial to the terrorists who brought the WTC down.”
oh praise Allah, Jesus, Zeus, and the Easter Bunny, but you could not possibly believe that?
Do you have any understanding of what happened on 9/11?
Did you read the 9/11 report?
Do you have any idea how closely money is monitored in the post 9/11 world in the US??
Yet, we, the United States, are giving billions of dollars to the most shady characters (ISI, Afhan War Lords, etc..) on this planet in the hopes that they might do the right thing and stabilize a region, yet for some reason, you think that a mosque in downtown NYC would funnel money to terrorists?
Wow, I guess this confused thinking is rather common these days, with the lies that are disseminated as news, so it is cool, just please, think for yourself, as these type of paranoid delusions are laughable.
Please reread what I wrote. I wrote that some of the money to finance the center will most likely be from people who see the center as a symbol of a victory of Islam over the US. I did not write anything about the center being used to funnel money to terrorists. I am sure that the people who run the center will be super careful to ensure that it is not a center for anti-American politics as some Mosques about the country have been shown to be. But the Muslims were not the focus of my comment. I was writing about those who oppose the center and how I feel that calling them bigots for doing so is wrong. On an absolute basis there is nothing wrong with the project, but it is not unreasonable for some people to feel that the location is insensitive. We wouldn't find anything wrong with a center for Germanic cuture in the US, but we might find that it being located alongside the Holocaust Museum a bit inappropraite.
No we wouldn’t, and I am rather confident the Holocaust Museums do discuss germanic culture and how it was exploited by fascism.
And you are correct, I slightly misread what you wrote, but still, you think any money given to the center would not be scrutinized greatly?
This whole controversy is an embarrassment to those who were lost on 9/11. Anyone who is against this proposal needs to reexamine their own values. If they believe in freedom, if they believe in liberty, if they believe in peace over confrontation, if they believe in America, the only sensible response to the proposal is full support.
I am sure many American’s had a deep hatred for the Japanese many years following WWII, but those people were on the wrong side of history, as now the Japanese are one of our strongest allies. Same goes for Germany or even Vietnam…
So please, can we move past this fear of people unlike ourselves? Other cultures and religions are very interesting, and might not be as scary to some if they were actually exposed to them.