@cicerone imposter,
Quote:
Therein lies the bigotry and insensitivity to the whole Muslim population of NYC.
What has one got to do with other mosques? Please explain this to me, because I feel I'm missing something important here.
There is no widespread bigotry or insensitivity to the Muslim population of NYC that is coming from the people of NYC. This current controversy has been agitated by anti-Islamic hate groups outside NYC who are aligned with the Tea Party movement. It has next to nothing to do with the sensitivities of the 9/11 families. The various 9/11 families organizations (and there are many of them) have not spoken out against the building of this mosque.
This whole NYC issue has been manufactured by anti-Islamic groups like the American Freedom Defense Initiative and SIOA (Stop Islamization Of America), led by people like Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer who are also connected to the Tea Party movement.
Check out Geller and Spencer here:
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201002230046
They have been protesting the building of all U.S. mosques across the country (including two other mosques in NYC, one in Staten Island and one in Brooklyn). The "Ground Zero" angle in NYC, the emotional appeal of "the victims' families", and the fact that the Cordoba project is a grandiose, expensive enterprise, has helped them attract nationwide media attention and a nationwide following. They are organizing cross country caravans to show up at Ground Zero on 9/11 this year to protest the building of this new mosque/cultural center.
This is also the Tea Party flexing its muscles, and they have gotten the Republicans to jump on board and make opposition to this mosque a campaign issue, and now some Democrats are joining them. But this has always been a political issue for these people, like Geller and Spencer, who are vehemently anti-Muslim. This NYC mosque controversy is just another vehicle for them, and the media has helped make it a high profile vehicle and a political football. They have waged a very successful PR campaign against the building of this mosque.
There hasn't been widespread opposition, by NYers to mosques in NYC. There is a huge Islamic mosque and cultural center--the Islamic Cultural Center of NY (ICCNY)--on 96th street and 3rd avenue in Manhattan. It takes up more than a half a city block, with a striking, distinctive domed mosque appearance. It has been operating there for 15 years. It was funded by the governments of Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Libya, but primarily by Kuwait (which still pays most of its $250,000 annual operating budget).
Estimates for the number of Muslims in the city range between 600,000 and 800,000. There are 19 Islamic places of worship in the borough of Manhattan alone.
One member of the Masjid Manhattan Mosque, located near the WTC, said:
“All of our neighbors, who are non-Muslims, they like us,” Uddin said, recalling an episode in 2001, after the attacks of September 11, when a small group gathered outside the mosque and were cursing those who entered. Local community members shouted back, protecting the mosque and its worshippers. “They defend the mosque if it is ever in trouble,” Uddin said. “We don’t have this problem. Money is our problem.".
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20080422/ART/154370685/1111/ART
There really is no widespread opposition to mosques, or Muslims, in NYC. Most of the opposition has come from outsiders. But those outsiders have been somewhat successful in playing on NYers fears of terrorists and raising heightened suspicions. They are very good at spreading propoganda--and fear.
