As a person who believes very strongly in the right to private property and the right to worship, the issue of "the ground zero mosque" has been a difficult one for me. The simplest way to express my frustration is this; I hate it, but there's nothing we can do about it. Building a mega-mosque so close to the site where so many innocent people were killed for jihad is more than just insensitive, it is a ball of spit right in America's already black eye. We know why they want to build it, and many Americans are broken-hearted and angry at the thought of a huge Muslim victory flag being placed so near the spot that even the president, who came out in support of the mosque, acknowledged is "hallowed ground." Yes, as long as they own the property and do not break the law, they can build just about anything they want there. They can tear down the existing structure and put up a statue of Ronald McDonald, if they want to. And since this is America, they can go there and pray to God, Allah, the Devil, or even Whitney Houston...it's a free country. But if Islam is truly a religion of peace, if they truly wish to foster understanding and build bridges, and all of that other touchy-feely crap, they ought to understand exactly why so many Americans, particularly New Yorkers, are so strongly against it. They should hear the people, some shouting, some crying, and say to themselves, "you know, there are lots of places to build in New York...we don't need to cause more pain here." They would decide, out of consideration, to build somewhere else. It would be the decent and sensitive thing to do. As one protester's sign read, "If you care, build it elsewhere." We don't want to stop them from worshipping. We just don't want them to do it on our loved ones' graves. But they already know all of this. They don't care. And we know why they want to build it there. Oh, it's a matter of principle, sure, but not an American principle. It's not about freedom of religion or private property rights. This mosque is intended to be not only a victory flag, but a weapon, a means to divide us further, to get the warm and fuzzy liberals to fight with the hard and scaly conservatives. We'll fight each other, throwing out words like "racist" and "traitor" and the mosque will go up. Some idiot nut jobs will try to burn the place down and, as the FDNY is doing their jobs putting out the flames, everyone will be tripping over each other to apologize for it, and the Imams will be laughing at us. They are using our own high-minded ideals against us. They have every right to build it, and we have no right to stop them. But if they really wanted to show us what a non-threatening place this is, they could build a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001 with a plaque displayed denouncing those murders. Or they could build a true "community" center for everyone, of all faiths, Jew, christian, Muslim, Hindu, to pray and reflect.Instead, they are like a schoolyard pest waving their arms around us, making funny faces, yelling, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" I hate it. But there's nothing we can do about it. Isn't that sick?
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The Hagia Sophia of Manhattan
As a person who believes very strongly in the right to private property and the right to worship, the issue of "the ground zero mosque" has been a difficult one for me. The simplest way to express my frustration is this; I hate it, but there's nothing we can do about it. Building a mega-mosque so close to the site where so many innocent people were killed for jihad is more than just insensitive, it is a ball of spit right in America's already black eye. We know why they want to build it, and many Americans are broken-hearted and angry at the thought of a huge Muslim victory flag being placed so near the spot that even the president, who came out in support of the mosque, acknowledged is "hallowed ground." Yes, as long as they own the property and do not break the law, they can build just about anything they want there. They can tear down the existing structure and put up a statue of Ronald McDonald, if they want to. And since this is America, they can go there and pray to God, Allah, the Devil, or even Whitney Houston...it's a free country. But if Islam is truly a religion of peace, if they truly wish to foster understanding and build bridges, and all of that other touchy-feely crap, they ought to understand exactly why so many Americans, particularly New Yorkers, are so strongly against it. They should hear the people, some shouting, some crying, and say to themselves, "you know, there are lots of places to build in New York...we don't need to cause more pain here." They would decide, out of consideration, to build somewhere else. It would be the decent and sensitive thing to do. As one protester's sign read, "If you care, build it elsewhere." We don't want to stop them from worshipping. We just don't want them to do it on our loved ones' graves. But they already know all of this. They don't care. And we know why they want to build it there. Oh, it's a matter of principle, sure, but not an American principle. It's not about freedom of religion or private property rights. This mosque is intended to be not only a victory flag, but a weapon, a means to divide us further, to get the warm and fuzzy liberals to fight with the hard and scaly conservatives. We'll fight each other, throwing out words like "racist" and "traitor" and the mosque will go up. Some idiot nut jobs will try to burn the place down and, as the FDNY is doing their jobs putting out the flames, everyone will be tripping over each other to apologize for it, and the Imams will be laughing at us. They are using our own high-minded ideals against us. They have every right to build it, and we have no right to stop them. But if they really wanted to show us what a non-threatening place this is, they could build a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001 with a plaque displayed denouncing those murders. Or they could build a true "community" center for everyone, of all faiths, Jew, christian, Muslim, Hindu, to pray and reflect.Instead, they are like a schoolyard pest waving their arms around us, making funny faces, yelling, "I'm not touching you! I'm not touching you!" I hate it. But there's nothing we can do about it. Isn't that sick?
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10 comments:
can you say, honey wagon?????
I have no idea what that means. Thanks for reading, though.
I liked it. You kept it real, passionate,and respectful. I say they turn ground zero into a park. Don't get me wrong, Central Park is beautiful (out of a movie-classic), but the best way to heal is through new life. Creating a peaceful, colorful, free to all, park with many lush memorial gardens. Everyone wins. ;) harmony=balance.
Thanks, Danell. A park is a great idea, along with some sort of memorial, a staue, something like that...something solemn and on the scale of the Viet Nam memorial. If you dig through the archives here, you'll find a good example of such a monument in my earlier posts.
well mr. a i could(yes it says could) have said it better but im a busy goat. anyway its rubbish, the mosque, right there. as usual though everyone is blubbering and mad about it. what they need to do is quit whining and figure out something else to do with all that grief. let them have it. it is just a chunk of land. as you said, they could build anywhere. i personally would send them a fruit basket and say "welcome to the neighborhood". the last thing you want to do when the playground bully is pissing you off is letting them know it pisses you off or makes you cry. so yee haw, new york has another mosque. i personally think fumigation is the best solution but thats just me. goats have a more realistic way of handling problems.
gerald the pro-fumigation goat
and proud of it
honey wagon> it's a waste wagon full of poop!
like auh, pig poop. farmers use them all the time. fill the wagon with piggy poop and can you guess where we could dump it???
then they would never, ever build there! problem solved! gee i can't figure out why someone hasn't thought of it yet????
Dude,
You could have picked a better "symbol" than the Hagia Sophia, built by Christian Emperor Constantine. The name means, the "Holy Spirit."
Yes, Constantinople eventually fell to invaders and Sophia was converted to a mosque, but today it stands as a museum.
XFactor
XFactor, what better symbol did you have in mind? I chose Hagia Sophia precisely because it was built by "Christian Emperor Conatantine" and converted to a mosque when the Turks invaded. The fact that it is a tourist attraction now does not, in my opinion, take away from the symbolism. I think, "dude," that you may just be a classroom show-off, although anybody could have gotten the information you provided from the first paragraph of the wikipedia entry on the subject. Thanks for reading!
I couldn't refrain from commenting. Well written!
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