“It does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods or no god. It neither picks my pocket, nor breaks my leg.”
– Thomas Jefferson, “Notes on Virginia”
I have been collecting links and writing a post all week on the “Ground Zero Mosque” insanity, but it doesn’t even deserve that much attention. If one is an American, one must believe in the right of private property owners to do what they want on their own property within the laws of their locality, the right of people to assemble and worship (and build places of worship) as they like, and in the separation of church and state. These are fundamental rights in our country –rights which anyone who loves the constitution would fight tooth and nail to uphold. There is simply no argument to be had on this matter.
Quite frankly, I am sick to death of hearing about it. I have family members and friends who are beside themselves –completely freaked the hell out– by the fact that somewhere in a state and city they have never been and will never go, there are “terrorists” building “a radical Islamic mosque” on “Ground Zero.” I have tried explaining to them it is no more a mosque than a YMCA is a church … or, for that matter, the Pentagon (which also contains a room designated for Muslim prayer) is a mosque. I have explained the constitutional ramifications of this situation until I was blue in the face. My protestations have fallen entirely on deaf ears, because “Those people are different,” and I “just don’t understand.”
It’s just not possible to have a rational discussion on this matter. There’s only one rational position: the community center can and should be built wherever its builders can legally put it and want to build it. Any other position taken is going to be an irrational one based on fear, prejudice, racism, and ignorance (if not flat out willful stupidity). That the 24 hour “news” media continue to present the story as though there are two sides to the debate merely shows how ridiculous modern American “news” media has become. Since I lack the clout and budget of Fox News, CNN, or MSNBC –and don’t have my own talk radio program– there is no way I can possibly convince anyone holding a view in opposition of the foundational rights America was built upon that they are wrong. They either understand and believe in our constitutional rights (and that they apply equally to everyone) or they will go on watching the talking heads and believing there are two sides to this argument. I’m done being called “closed minded” and “stupid” and “too young to understand.”†
Though I am somewhat glad this ugliness is coming out into the open. It’s been an excellent way to sift through all my friends, family, acquaintances, and work associates and decide who is or is not someone I need to have in my life. There are a number of things I do not tolerate from people in my immediate circle, and racism and willful freaking stupidity are two of them. Excessive hypocrisy is another one, and there is nothing more hypocritical than saying one stands by the correctness and awesomeness of the American Constitution while simultaneously saying someone needs to stop a community center being built in Manhattan because the people building it are Muslim. That would be a perfect example of excessive hypocrisy. So I encourage everyone to keep flapping their jaws about the “Ground Zero Mosque.” It’s definitely helping me separate the wheat from the chaff in my life … and the chaff will be tossed on the compost pile like the trash it is.
Footnotes- † This “too young” thing is getting old. At 45 years of age, there really isn’t much I am too young to understand anymore, and there hasn’t been anything I have been too young to understand for quite some time. I am a well-educated adult who has enjoyed a very full life. I understand a great many things. Anyone who thinks using my age will against me in an argument will shut me up obviously doesn’t know me very well, and it’s especially sad when people who have known me for 45 years believe the “too young” argument ender is going to end an argument with me. It won’t, and they should definitely be aware of that fact. [↩]
Well, I know that I’m in firm agreement with you. Its been kinda hilarious watching the shit hit the proverbial fan especially with members of both the guys families. Look up a blogger named Ed Brayton- he writes for Scienceblogs over at Seed Magazine. His blog is named Dispatches from the Culture Wars. Sometime in recent history (since Sunday) he had a great op piece about what Obama should have said in regards to the mosque. I haven’t had my coffee yet so I’m not even going to attempt to look it up. Be thankful I have spell check because that is the only thing that has kept this post remotely cleaned up.
Yes, my family has been totally freaked out about the “terrorists” building a “mosque” for “radical Islam” at “Ground Zero” all week long. I blame my ability to not get any of my work done this week on the fact I have had to listen to this crap ALL WEEK LONG, which is why the ringer on my phone has been set to silent now, and I am screening my calls and simply not answering if it’s someone I know is just calling to have a fit about those terrible evil Muslims.
Looked up that blog post … and yes, exactly. Go ahead and bleat about it all they like, but to stop the construction for any reason other than local ordinances saying it’s against the law is, well, UnAmerican. Period. If one loves the Constitution, one has to live by it. Doesn’t mean they have to be happy about it. I can’t say I am thrilled to have over a hundred churches of all varieties within a mile of my house, and the expected mobs of believers constantly trying to sell me their particular flavor of god, but it’s their right to do what they will and my right to be grumpy about it.
What I’ve found funny, in the irony-hypocrisy vein, is that the same people complaining that Muslims intend to desecrate an American shrine, are the very same ones who, until September 10, 2001, proudly boasted that they didn’t give a damn if the entirety of New York City disappeared from the face of the earth, or worse. They remind me of those military service evaders who immediately thank you for your service two seconds after it’s revealed to them that your sorry ass wound up in whatever hellhole was in vogue during your youth, attempting to lionize themselves through association. I never let that golden opportunity pass without inquiring into their past, better yet if their wife or kids are present. Lately, though, old-man-syndrome has been taking over and I simply reply, “Shut the fuck up, you loser.”