The Mosque near Ground ZeroI am personally against the construction of the mosque (just as I abhor the racist and bigoted reactions against it): but I am against it for a different reason. It will stand as a symbol to remind Americans and others of the association (in Western minds) between Islam and terrorism. A gesture intended to appease the mainstream culture received a slap on the face. Predictable though. I mean, many in the American associate Sep. 11 with Islam, so this silly project will only serve as a permanent reminder. Cordoba my potato. Sects and religions are not coexisting peacefully: neither here nor there in Muslim lands.
And :
"The controversy continues. The original idea is lousy: a kitsch of sorts but why should religious kitsch be denied to Muslims when it is a habit among all religious groups in this country. Of course, the debate is more than filled with much more than a tinge of racism and bigotry that you expect when the debate is about Muslims in the US. Support for the Palestinians becomes evidence of terrorist inclinations and sympathy. It is really ironic that when Muslims try to appease the country in which they live in and they try to win popular sympathy they get slapped on the face. This is one example. By the way, according to the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence, mosques should not be constructed adjacent to one another because the idea of the mosque was to congregate as many Muslims as possible, and there are already two mosques only blocks from the site. But the ADL is clear: they dont mind if a mosque is constructed provided it is on the moon.
"I am personally against the construction of the mosque (just as I abhor the racist and bigoted reactions against it)"
ReplyDeleteFinally a voice of reason!
I heard another reasonable ojection to the mosque from a Lebanese neighbor of mine who said they don't need to spend $100 million on a building to pray in because it gets away from what a mosque is supposed to be for. I'm generally against any muscular display of power that any religion puts on and I think the money could be better spent-perhaps on a Nakba museum at the same location-that is needed more in this country than another ostentatious house of worship.
ReplyDelete...But in the end, I don't have problem with the mosque. It just comes down to big city politics. There must be over a hundred ethnic communities in New York City, and they all want some kind of symbolic validation-and that usually comes down to a parade or a community center. There are enough fucking parades in New York already. At least with a mosque, you have a schedule to avoid high traffic times. I could see how it could be a problem if they wanted to build a monument to Osama bin Laden. But what they are saying with the mosque is. "Look at us, we are normal Americans too."
Regardless of whether or not it will be a mosque or a cultural center with prayer space, it is two blocks away from Ground Zero.
ReplyDeleteIf it reopened as a Burlington Coat Factory, would we call it a Ground Zero Burlington Coat Factory? This whole issue has been much ado about nothing.
The Ground Zero Synagogue—Lebanon Becoming More American than America Should you expect the Lebanese to allow a synagogue to be built on their Ground Zero, in the aftermath of a 9/11 that occurred 5 years after ours and which, “proportionately” speaking, was 30 times the size of ours?
ReplyDeleteWell guess what you hateful, misguided, twit?
THEY DID.
In the process of re-building Beirut yet again, in 2008, renovations began and have now been completed on the Maghden Abraham Synagogue located in the middle of newly renovated downtown Beirut in an area known as the “Solidere" which has become the focal point and showcase of Lebanon’s rebirth.
This isn’t some hole in the wall, nondescript, “excuse me” synagogue hidden out of view so as to not “offend” Lebanese non-Jews—this is an elaborate, ornate, beautifully designed, cathedral-style house of worship built for a Lebanese Jewish population that totals less than 500 in a country of more than 4,000,000 (in stark contrast to the eight million American Muslims living in the United States).