@hawkeye10,
Quote:it depends upon what they want to build. They had said that they wanted a community center with a mosque, which is obscene. If they want to build an interfaith center where there is equality in representation and control of the center between the religons that is a whole nother kettle of fish.
No it doesn't depend on what they want to build. Property owners can build whatever they wish as long as they are in compliance with zoning laws and local ordinances. And the community board gave them the go-ahead last May.
Don't you believe in private property rights?
If you buy land, and want to construct a legally approved dwelling, are you going to listen to every crackpot, bigot, or self-appointed neighborhood custodian who objects to your doing that? Suppose they just don't like you, based on what they've heard about you from your old neighborhood, or what they imagine you are like. Will that dissuade you from building your house? Is it any of your neighbor's business where you get the financing for that house? Suppose they've heard you may like to view child pornography, and they consider your intrusion into their neighborhood "obscene" and a possible threat. Will that stop you from building your house? And suppose a church once stood on the land you've bought, and that property is still thought of as "holy ground", and the fact that you are a pagan, and will be practicing pagan rituals on that "holy land" is deeply offensive to the entire community. Will you allow yourself to be bullied, victimized, and run out of town, or will you build your house and hope you can make peace with the neighborhood once you are settled in? Oh yes, one final thing, your neighbors also insist that, if you build your home, you must allow their visiting relatives to park themselves there, whenever they wish, just so there "is equality in representation and control" of your house. Will you go along with that too?
From the moment the right wing Islamophobes, like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer, and their group SIOA (Stop Islamization Of America) got wind of this project last May, and spread the word with the help of the equally right wing NY Post, there has been a carefully crafted organized opposition to the project based mainly on bigotry and hatred of Muslims. The proximity to Ground Zero merely gave them an instant emotional hook to stir up momentum and broader support under some guise of pseudo-patriotism.The business about 9/11 families sensitivities being offended by the project was a total lie. There was no immediate widespread negative reaction on the part of victim's families or their organized groups (which must number at least 10,000 people). But, the propaganda that the families were upset was an effective PR tool in duping innocent, but basically uninformed, people into jumping onto the anti-mosque bandwagon.
And Geller and Spencer (who also opposed the building of mosques in Staten Island and Brooklyn) made this a national cause, got the Tea Party involved, organized rallies, Facebook campaigns, and plastered NYC buses with anti-Muslim messages directly linking the proposed center/mosque to the attacks of 9/11. Then they spread the message that this building represented some sort of "Muslim victory" or symbol of triumph--right at Ground Zero. Obviously, no right thinking American could allow that to happen.
So, more misguided people bought that nonsense and jumped on the bandwagon--including the self-serving opportunistic Republicans, like Gingrich and Palin. And the whole issue became a political football, and a handy campaign issue for Republicans and Conservatives, to obscure the fact that they have little of substance to offer voters at the polls this November. The Republican/Conservative candidate for governor of NY seems to have made this mosque opposition his main issue. The only one with any real guts, and some sense of rationality, has been Mike Bloomberg--and he doesn't have to worry about being re-elected. Other elected representatives, who chose to oppose the mosque, have displayed a rather reckless tendency to disregard the Constitution (a document they have all sworn to uphold) for the sake of political expediency. Religious freedom is still alive and well in the United States, and no amount of propaganda should be allowed to obscure that.
So now we have opposing groups of non-Muslims having a national debate on what three Muslims should do with a small parcel of land they own in lower Manhattan. That is so absurd, and disgraceful, our country should be suffering some sort of national shame that this entire controversy even exists.
We were attacked by Al Qaeda, and not by Islam, on 9/11. All Muslims do not, and should not, bear the responsibility for that attack.
The proposed center/mosque is not at Ground Zero, it is two blocks away. At least two other mosques have been operating in that part of town since before 9/11, with no problems, or "outrage" being expressed by anyone. The Ground Zero angle is a red herring and a propaganda tool, devised by SIOA, and Geller and Spencer, to inflame emotions and advance their agenda.
A huge Islamic mosque/center has been operating on 96th street and 3rd avenue in Manhattan for at least 15 years. It was founded by Iman Rauf's father. It was funded, and continues to be supported, by the governments of several Arab countries, but mainly Kuwait. No one has ever accused this facility--The Islamic Center of NY--which occupies a full half City block, of being an outpost of terrorism, or of engaging in any subversive or anti-American actions. There have been no ongoing protests about that mosque or it's activities, which include interfaith meetings and seminars. Iman Rauf has always been on the board of trustees of that mosque. So, why all the sudden suspicion about Rauf's new, considerably more modest, proposed center? Have we unexpectedly learned something new about him that we haven't known for the past 15 or 20 years? Not that I've heard.
One could wonder about the naivety of the Cordoba group that they didn't do better PR beforehand, so they could have publicly defined their project before the likes of Geller and Spencer and Stop Islamization Of America distorted it.
Or why they discussed the project with the community board before they even had an architect or blueprints to illustrate their plan, or any financial backers lined up. And one could question how an ex-waiter like Sharif El-Gamel went from earning minimum wage and tips to being able to plunk down millions and millions in cash for properties in the span of only a few short years. Maybe he is into shady stuff, maybe foreign governments are backing him, but he certainly wouldn't be the only shady businessman in NYC, and that has nothing to do with whether he is entitled to invest in this project. Maybe he's just looking to make a fast buck.
But there is no reason to oppose this project because the three primaries in the Cordoba group appear rather inept about how they conduct a business. And there is certainly no reason to oppose it because it represents either a security threat or some sort of symbolic "Muslim victory". That is just hysterical hogwash.
I tend to agree with Mayor Bloomberg that all the fuss and controversy about the mosque/center will blow over after election day. The national Conservative and Tea Party base that Geller and Spencer have organized will lose interest after that, and the politicians are not going to want to harp on this once election day has passed and the issue has fulfilled it's vote getting usefulness.
And the mosque/center will be built right on the old Burlington Coat Factory site, and once it is opened it will likely be ignored except for the community of Muslims who may choose to use it.
What will not blow over so quickly is the anti-Muslim feeling that has been generated by this controversy, and which has been heard quite clearly across the U.S. as well as in the Muslim world, including Afghanistan, where our troops are fighting. We are viewing Muslims, including Muslim Americans, from an "us against them" perspective, which is unfortunate, unfair, and more than slightly potentially dangerous to our democracy and our national security. If we allow issues like this one to tear our country apart, and pit people against each other, Al Qaeda will have won, and it will be more than a symbolic victory. And the place of their victory will be a little plot of land two blocks from Ground Zero, where a piece of one of the aircraft landed.
Let the mosque/center be built, and let its uneventful construction be America's triumph over the forces of evil.
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