Tag: mosque

Mind: Blown

among those who have an unfavorable view of Islam, an overwhelming 87 percent say the [not at Ground Zero, not a mosque] project shouldn’t be built, with 74 percent strongly opposed. [Fifty-five percent of those who have favorable views of Islam say it should be built.]

This ranks right up there with the most shocking things ever. No one could have expected that the non-mosque project opposition was, in fact, deeply rooted in anti-Islamic muckraking on the part of FOXnews, Drudge, Rush, Beck, and the GOP at large and is not some Grand Effort to preserve the Sanctity of Ground Zero and the victims of 9/11/01.
But, by all means media, keep reporting as if that list is entirely made up of sober and serious information sources. After all, the sooner Tashtego drowns the sooner that flag will get fixed. Tap tap tap.

Mind: Blown

Douthat: asked and answered

ross douthat:

Would Friedersdorf and others really like to live in a world where the two-thirds of Americans who oppose the [Park 51] project just had their sentiments ignored, because of the bigotry woven into the anti-mosque cause?

tom socca:

Is this a rhetorical question? Here’s one in return: how do you get onto the New York Times op-ed page without a sixth-grade civics education? Would I like to live somewhere where people are allowed to practice their religion, even when two-thirds of the general public would deny them that right if they could? Hell, yes, I would, Ross Douthat. That place is called America. Love it or leave it.

Asked and answered auto-reblog.

(via abbyjean)

I understand the impulse to find another location for the mosque and community center. I understand the pain of those who are motivated by loss too terrible to contemplate. And there are people of every faith – including, perhaps, some in this room – who are hoping that a compromise will end the debate.
But it won’t. The question will then become, how big should the ‘no-mosque zone’ around the World Trade Center be? There is already a mosque four blocks away. Should it too, be moved?
This is a test of our commitment to American values. We must have the courage of our convictions. We must do what is right, not what is easy. And we must put our faith in the freedoms that have sustained our great country for more than 200 years.

Michael Bloomberg, far and away the best voice on this non-mosque not located at Ground Zero.
Why should a former Republican who is a mayor (albeit of a very large city and the city in question) be absolutely crushing what should be the utterly obvious Democratic position here? And why is it that the Democrats are not absolutely trampling themselves to get out in front of (or at the very least alongside of) Bloomberg, a recently Republican mayor? This is why they fail.

There’s no point in trying to do something good if it’s met with enormous resistance from a lot of folks.

Howard Dean, on the Park 51 Islamic community center

If this is what he truly believes, then really, to hell with him. (via savingpaper)

Agreed. This quote is so astonishing, it’s hard to believe it hasn’t been Breitbarted. But it hasn’t. If this building which, amongst many other features, also contains a prayer room isn’t broadly popular, then it shouldn’t be built and the First Amendment can go fuck itself along with the spirit of most of the rest of the Constitution.
Remember, this is coming from the man who proclaimed himself a representative of the “Democratic wing of the Democratic Party,” largely in direct response to this kind of horse shit. Assuming that quote is still operative, then we can only conclude that the Democrats now are entirely made up of Clintonian triangulators: never take a stand, never push for an idea, and never, ever lose sight of what is polling well, regardless of how that may fit with what you know to be right. Work instead to make progress around the margins, and always be willing to compromise even that if that’s what it takes to please Our Republican Overlords. And they wonder why Democratic enthusiasm is down. And think we’re all on drugs.
There really is no hope anymore. Total collapse, popular uprising, military coup…whatever it is, something is going to happen, but whatever that future something is it doesn’t seem likely to include a rebirth of a governing philosophy from either side that isn’t based upon rank ignorance and limbic-system politics. This is how empires crumble.

CNN and Free Speech

Lemon: Don’t you think it’s a bit different considering what happened on 9/11? And the people have said there’s a need for it in Lower Manhattan, so that’s why it’s being built there. What about 10, 20 blocks . . . Midtown Manhattan, considering the circumstances behind this? That’s not understandable?
Patel: In America, we don’t tell people based on their race or religion or ethnicity that they are free in this place, but not in that place —
Lemon: [interrupting] I understand that, but there’s always context, Mr. Patel . . . this is an extraordinary circumstance. You understand that this is very heated. Many people lost their loved ones on 9/11 —
Patel: Including Muslim Americans who lost their loved ones. . . .
Lemon: Consider the context here. That’s what I’m talking about.
Patel: I have to tell you that this seems a little like telling black people 50 years ago: you can sit anywhere on the bus you like – just not in the front.
Lemon: I think that’s apples and oranges – I don’t think that black people were behind a Terrorist plot to kill people and drive planes into a building. That’s a completely different circumstance.
Patel: And American Muslims were not behind the terrorist plot either.

Because there is a difference between what you can do, and what you should do. For instance, you can build a Catholic Church next to a playground. Should you? Or am I alone in thinking it’s a little too soon for that?

John Oliver, the Daily Show.