It seems like an insult, not only to the victims but to their families... A constant reminder of who and what... Alright, some will make the argument that it wasn't the religion itself that lead the attacks, but the fact remains: the towers were destroyed in the name of Islam. You wanna say it was the terrorists who perverted the message of Mohammed and thus Islam as a whole shouldn't be blamed? Fine. It still doesn't change the American views of Islamic religion or Muslims or ANY Middle Easterner because Americans BELIEVE that "them all" are all about the destruction of "the infidels".
Now, if the Ground Zero Mosque backers REALLY wanted to show the people what " true Islam" is and "enlighten" us with it's true message, they could start by being "good neighbors". Try being sensitive to the fact that people are still angry about the atrocities that happened on that day! They want acceptance and tolerance and understanding , but really? Is it a good idea to build a mosque right THERE and let the chips fall where they may? The fact remains that Americans are still hurting and the Muslim leaders behind the project don't seem to care. It's their own agenda they're worried about and they're just going to keep driving forward regardless of the American people.
In America, we call that a big, "Fuck you!". It may be a cultural issue, but that doesn't make it any easier to swallow for Americans and since it's our culture the project backers want to convince, they should play by our rules, no? Show they can be accepting and tolerant and understanding as well?
Now if they opened it as an "all inclusive holy site", where Christians, Jews, Buddhists, ( insert your faith here ) and Muslims can all pray under one roof, I might think a little differently about the endeavor, but I'm not holding my breath.
History can go both ways and the atrocities committed by all sides are very real. I'm sorry this "religion of peace" had been "hijacked" by some radicals, but if Islam spent as much time and energy cleaning up it's "own house" shutting down the radicals who preach and strive for the "destruction of the infidels" as it did trying to convince the rest of the world how peaceful it was, and telling us how we have to be tolerant (while many Muslim countries are barbaric by any definition ), the problem between"them" and "us" would solve itself. And if "my house" is so dirty, there's the door. Later baby.
Now, going back to the whole "building of the mosque on Ground Zero" thing... It's not like we're trying to build big ole honkin' churches on "their soil" while screaming for tolerance and acceptance and understanding... Oh, that's right, it would be illegal in most Muslim countries. So illegal in fact, that I'd get flogged, stoned or beheaded. If fact, " infidels" like myself aren't even allowed to ENTER Mecca or Medina are they? Yet here, I have to tolerate the preachings of hate filled Muslims ranting about the destruction of this country on the streets, HERE. Not only is it tolerated, it's protected. Go figure!
Now, I never said the building had to be stopped. I'm just saying, the building shouldn't be put on the graves of the 911 victims. (Yeah, I said graves. Some bodies were never recovered...)
If you really want to bring people in, don't force it. Make it inviting, they will come. Force it down our throats and you'll see the ugly side of America. The backers of the Ground Zero mosque only need to move it a few more blocks away to build the bridges they're talking about. It would only be too much to ask if "building bridges" is not their intent. I think the Ground Zero mosque is one of contempt and insensitivity.
Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf wrote: "If we move from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse," Rauf told CNN. "The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack.
"There is a certain anger here [in America], no doubt," he said later in the interview. "But if we don't do this right, anger will explode in the Muslim world. If we don't do things correctly, this crisis could become much bigger than the Danish cartoon crisis [over images depicting the Prophet Mohammed], which resulted in attacks on Danish embassies in various parts of the Muslim world. And we have a much bigger footprint in the Muslim world."
What's really being said here? "You need to let 'us' do what 'we' want and 'Fuck you, America!' otherwise we're going to react violently!"? Now, excuse me for wanting to point this out, but isn't that vaguely familiar to a terrorism threat saying, "Do it or else!"
What it boils down to is don't start nuthin', wouldn't be nuthin'. There could be concessions made all around. Really. But when you bring it right to the doorstep... Nobody's saying the Islam CAN'T be practiced. Go ahead and practice the religion if it floats your boat! It don't bother me none! You're free to do so in this country. But you can't think that there aren't going to be repercussions for building a mosque on Ground Zero. It's a little like building a monument for Hitler at Auschwitz or a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor... Pissing on someone's grave. Put a mosque THERE and Americans might possibly lash out... Don't put it THERE and Muslims might lash out... So what you're telling me is that no matter which way it goes, it won't end well? That's just great.... I knew I shouldn't have watched the news... No good ever comes of it.
If you've gone to visit Ground Zero recently, there is still an eerie feeling about the place. There's still a somber feeling that comes over you when you're standing there.
The wound hasn't healed and "pickin' at the scab" isn't really going to help. Build it, don't build it... Not too much I can do about whether it does or doesn't get put there. Do what you will, but in my opinion, I just don't think THERE is right... It doesn't have to be THERE, but go ahead... I will tell you this... Bacon will be the answer... I'm just sayin'.
(Thanks to Lucky for helping me to write this one!)
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