in passing, not so much politics as "dear God(s), teh Stupid they claim in Your Name..."

[lagilman]

Has anyone else noticed that a lot of the "Oh Noes Mosque on Sacred Amurican Ground!" hysteria seems to come from people with a vested (or not so vested) interest in NYC -home of those danged liberals - not actually recovering, ever?

Because it seems to me "yay the real estate in the 5-block radius is coming back to finance-generating use!" is a much better response to the news than fear. Especially since I don't recall anyone saying anything similar about Catholic-based organizations around Oklahoma City...


For those coming in late: it's not a mosque, it's a Muslim community center (akin to a YMCA/YMHA), it's not on Ground Zero, it's two blocks away, which in NYC is Actual Distance, and I've yet to find any verified links suggesting the man who is spearheading all of this has ever condoned the attacks or been anything even remotely resembling the actual definition of a terrorist. If you can give me a legitimate source that says otherwise, sing out. But if you link me to Faux News or its ilk, I will scorn your ass into orbit.


[New Yorkers will also point out that the 'sacred ground' has more than its share of "gentlemen's clubs, (aka expensive strip joints)" tacky tourist shops, and the much-beloved-by-New Yorkers lunch trucks -- many of which are Halal trucks owned and operated by Muslims. Nobody seems to think that any of this is an insult to the memory of those who died...

Comments

[windrose.livejournal.com]

It's pure fear-mongering. The Conservatives love to say they're "keeping America safe," so there has to be something they're keeping us safe from. The enemy of choice when you and I were growing up was Soviet Russia. Today's right wingers go after Islam, and anything they can slap with the label of Socialism.

[lagilman]

This, in particular, is more than fear-mongering. There's been a directed attack against New York City, saying "if you allow this than you dishonor...." etc.

To which I call bullshit.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

It makes my head hurt trying to unscramble this one.

As I understand it, many of those who object don't see it as a NYC issue, but rather a national one. Ground Zero has become the national symbol of 9/11, so even people who are not from New York feel like they have some right to comment on what happens there. And because they're not from NYC, they don't understand things like the size of NYC blocks, or that there is already a mosque much closer to Ground Zero that predates the World Trade Center. They just hear "mosque" and "two blocks from Ground Zero" and it flips them out.

There's much more to it than that, but I'm really stoned on Benadryl which is making it hard to formulate coherent thoughts.

[lagilman]

As I understand it, many of those who object don't see it as a NYC issue, but rather a national one.

Except that people from outside NYC are saying "you can't do this in your city it's WRONG" without bothering to know anything about the city (like the fact that there's already a mosque closer to the site, as was pointed out upstream). They're telling us what is/isn't acceptable in our city -- where most of the time they wouldn't care if we fell off the map entirely, and certainly have no interest in living here.

You may not be hearing it where you are, but a lot of the comments from talking heads recently have been rather pointedly "New Yorkers don't understand how WE AMERICANS feel about this..." So that's been putting up a LOT of hackles.*




*at least one person I know, who was originally against the idea of the community center, has done an aboutface, because he got so pissed off at the "NYC Must Not" tone of the discussions.

[windrose.livejournal.com]

a lot of the comments from talking heads recently have been rather pointedly "New Yorkers don't understand how WE AMERICANS feel about this..."

No, I'm well aware of that. What I was trying ineffectually to say is that Ground Zero has become this great mythic thing to many Americans, most of whom have never even been to NYC before. It's like ... there's New York City and then there's Ground Zero, and they're two completely separate places. So, yeah, these folks think they have a God-given right to dictate what NYC should do in this instance, and are utterly baffled by the fact that NYC is (rightly) telling them to get bent.