So this Park51 Mosque-That-Isn't-Really-A-Mosque-But-A-Youth-Center-But-It's-Scarier-To-Call-It-A-Mosque-So-That's-What-It's-Being-Called thing has reached a fever pitch. I had tried to avoid writing about it, because it is obviously an issue that has created a deep divide within the United States. But the situation has gotten so ridiculous over the past week that, screw it, I'm about to get political.
To start with, all you idiots who are attacking President Obama for supporting the mosque need to get a clue. For one, he never said that HE supported the mosque/youth center. He said that they had the RIGHT to build it. Whether or not they actually should he refused to comment on. And that's what people are failing to understand. Whether or not building the mosque/youth center is in bad taste is irrelevant, because they have THE CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT TO DO SO. Which is funny to me, because the same people trying to prevent the center from being built are the very ones who always complain about the government TAKING AWAY OUR FREEDOMS (if I did not make that clear, there is a double standard at work).
Well fine, some might say, just because they CAN doesn't mean they SHOULD. It's still insensitive to the victims of 9/11. I suppose there is an argument to be made there. But then, we'd also have to ban all the Japanese resturants and businesses in Honolulu, which is within 10 miles of Pearl Harbor, because that's just insensitive to all the victims of the attack. And I'm also not sure how having a strip club the same two block distance from Ground Zero, or having vendors shamlessly hock merchandise, isn't already insensitive to the victims of 9/11.
The answer is because this isn't about the victims at all. This is about Republicans (i.e. White Christians) disliking anything that is different from them. Which is why, even out in freaking California where there have been no terrorist attacks, there is still opposition to any mosque trying to be built. It's intolerance, pure and simple. Which means, hey, we're playing right into the terrorist's hands, guys! Great job! You've successfully disregarded the principles our country was founded on. Outstanding.
But really, that makes those invoking the use of 9/11 victims to oppose the mosque/youth center the insensitive ones. Not only were there Muslims victims in the 9/11 attacks, but the Right is using it as an excuse to continue the trend of opposing anything related to Islam, while being able to pretend it's not because they're bigots. Yes, yes, Muslims did attack us on 9/11, but it is a logical fallacy to say that all Muslims are terrorists and treat them as such. Remember how Timothy McVeigh, the guy who did the Oklahoma City Bombing, was a Christian (raised Catholic to be specific)? That didn't mean all Christians were like that, did it? Or that Huatree Christian Militia group that tried to blow up police officers a few months back? Surely they didn't represent all of Christianity. The same applies here.
And everyone who brings up the argument about the Greek Orthodox Church that got destroyed during the attack and still hasn't been OK'd to be rebuilt to try and say that the government is playing favorites or something, no. Just no. The reason the Greek church still hasn't been OK'd is because they want to rebuild it exactly where it was originally, which is on Ground Zero. The youth center/mosque, being two blocks away from Ground Zero, is a lot easier to do. So it's not that Islam is getting any kind of special treatment, it's pure practicality. Even 9 years after the fact, it's still much easier to build two blocks away from Ground Zero than it is to build directly on top of it.
So to all those opposing the youth center (by which I mean Republicans, cause who am I kidding), I give you a choice. Either admit that your reasons for opposing the building are because you are a bigoted xenophobe who is only comfortable with people exactly like you, or please shut the hell up, because logic is not on your side.
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