@hawkeye10,
This is how you feel about Stop Islamization Of America, Hawkeye...
Quote:They seeem to have publicized something that was going wrong in America, this makes them Patriots in my book.
Sure they did. They told you some Muslim Americans wanted to build
A MOSQUE that they called
THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE, and told you it was such a huge symbol of Muslim triumph that it was
THE GROUND ZERO MEGA MOSQUE.
It is a 13 story community center, with recreational facilities like a pool, basketball court, theater, art center,etc. and educational facilities, possibly including a culinary school. Only one floor will be used for a mosque for religious worship. The primary use of the building, 12 of 13 stories, is for recreation and the sorts of activities one would find in a YMCA.
But, Stop Islamization Of America told you it was a mosque. Why? Because who would get all hot and bothered about a community center, and Pamela Geller knew that. And you, and lots of other people, bought the lie and believed it was a mosque...a $100,000 million mosque.
Then they told you it was at Ground Zero. Pamela Geller, co-founder of Stop Islamazation Of America dubbed it the "Ground Zero Mosque". You bought that lie too. This was an essential lie for Geller to plant in your mind. She had to connect this project to 9/11. That would allow her to play on people's emotions relating to 9/11, so she could inflame more anger toward Muslims.
It is two blocks from the WTC. Not really any closer than other mosques in the area--mosques which have been there for decades, with no complaints from anyone, no outcries that such mosques were "offensive", no worries about who was funding them. Two blocks away is not at Ground Zero.There is no geographic, or other connection, between the WTC site and things located two blocks away. Otherwise, some strip clubs, bars and a Burger King, located at similar distances from the WTC, would also be considered at Ground Zero--hardly the sort of things one wants, or expects to find, on allegedly "sacred ground".
And, in a pure stroke of genius, Geller announced that this "Ground Zero Mega Mosque"--she added the "Mega" to suggest it would be huge, imposing, and a symbol of Islamic triumph, despite the fact that the mosque would still only be on one floor of the building, and a 13 story building, of any sort, in NYC is very modest, barely noticeable, and hardly "imposing"--would be like stabbing a knife in the heart of 9/11 victims' families. Really? So why weren't there any 9/11 families organizations protesting this "mosque" Since May, when Geller began mounting her public opposition, the 9/11 families organizations have been mainly silent on this issue . Sure, Geller paraded out a few firemen or firemen's widows who complained about "the mosque", but the thousands and thousands of 9/11 families voiced no opposition to the project. In fact, one 9/11 families organization came out in favor of the "mosque".
Exploiting the alleged heartache of the 9/11 families probably helped Geller to get the most public support for opposing the project. Who wouldn't oppose the project if this particular group was being hurt by it--the very people who lost loved ones on 9/11. Except it was a lie.The majority of 9/11 families have not turned into Muslim haters or Islamophobes. The majority of 9/11 families did not care if the community center/mosque was built two blocks from the WTC.
The 9/11 families did speak up on one issue though. They asked Geller to cancel or postpone her "anti-mosque" rally which was held near the WTC yesterday. They wanted September 11th to remain a day devoted to remembrance of the victims, as it should be, without the distraction of an irrelevant protest. Geller, after exploiting these people for months, to promote her own cause, refused to cancel her rally. So much for her concern about the feelings of the 9/11 families.
Quote:You want to lay all this mosque opposition on manipulation when it is impossible for this to be true, because humans don't work that way
People believe what they are told, particularly when the media repeats it enough, and when self serving Republican politicians, whoring for votes among the Tea Party anti-government crowd, repeat it too. And people were told this was a mosque, a HUGE mosque, a symbol of Islamic triumph, located at Ground Zero, and the thought of it's presence there was creating great distress for the 9/11 families. Lies, lies, lies. Then, when people get a phone call asking if they oppose this project, their opinion is very much shaped by these lies.
Humans are manipulated by advertising all the time. And this "mosque" opposition has been one carefully crafted advertising campaign since last May. And people bought Geller's message without even being aware of the source of the message. They began feeling angry about this project because Geller fed them the lies and distortions to get them angry. And the media helped her to spread these lies, and fuel anti-Muslim feelings, because they never questioned the distortions, or took a good look at the source.
I'm not surprised you feel Stop Islamization Of America has done a good deed, Hawkeye. You are anti-Muslim. You are bigoted. You don't want this mosque built 2 blocks or 60 blocks from the WTC. You don't feel Muslim Americans are entitled to the same rights as anyone else. And, when they stand up for their rights, as Imam Rauf has tried to do, you call him an intolerant troublemaker and hold him responsible for the controversy.
Quote:The Cordoba House, now Park51, is an old story. In fact, it was reported on in the New York Times and other mainstream media as far back as two years ago. Why the frenzy now?
That's not all: Muslims have been worshipping at Mosque Manhattan a few blocks away from Ground Zero, long before Ground Zero was Ground Zero; in fact, since 1970, before the twin towers were the twin towers.
So again, why the sudden frenzy?
Failure to ask "why" is a collective indictment of the media establishment (with a few notable exceptions). Just as the media shirked its responsibilities in questioning the Bush administration on the justifications for the war in Iraq, now too it fails to properly investigate, scrutinize, and report the origins of this controversy. Here is what it failed to tell you:
The"Ground Zero Mosque" fiasco is a fabricated controversy that traces its origins to a couple of long-time anti-Muslim goons from the annals of the hate blogosphere by the names of Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller as a flagship campaign of their newly founded organization, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA). SIOA is part of an emerging phenomenon of astroturf anti-Muslim organizations that seek to project any public expression of Muslim life in this country as tantamount to a stealth "Islamization of America." (Except it's not so stealth since everyone and their mother is talking about it).
It was SIOA that first coined the misnomer "Mosque at Ground Zero," purposely twisting the reality that the proposed Muslim cultural center near Ground Zero is neither a Mosque nor at Ground Zero. It was the SIOA that sought to redefine Imam Rauf as a radical Imam even though he was heralded by the Bush administration, the FBI and others as a moderate voice of reason. It was the SIOA and its partners that ruthlessly sought to stoke the fears and suspicions of otherwise good, unsuspecting Americans.
http://newsblogs.chicagotribune.com/religion_theseeker/2010/08/untold-story-behind-the-mosque-at-ground-zero.html
It is insidious growing Islamophobia, and hate groups like Stop Islamization Of America, that I'm concerned about. Those are dangerous trends and very disturbing signs of bigotry. That proposed community center/mosque poses no threat at all. The bigots pose a very big threat--not just to Muslim Americans, but to everyone who values tolerance and religious freedom.
