Image by permanently scatterbrained via FlickrPeople who oppose plans to build a mosque in Manhattan are, we all can agree, completely off their rocker, right? I mean there isn't even a teensy little bit of wiggle room, right? This is merely an ongoing attempt to demonise all Muslims, to paint all Muslims with the same brush: as terrorists, as enemies of the state and as 'outsiders'.
I honestly didn't believe this idea would catch fire. I try to be generous in spirit and say, 'the majority of American conservatives are not reactionary bigots who oppose things for their own sake and secretly want religious homogeneity in the USA'. I try to think that nobody outside of a fringe would honestly be ridiculous enough to claim that putting a mosque in the same neighbourhood as the former site of the World Trade Center (I hate the phrase 'ground zero', by the way) would be considered a 'slap in the face'.
But no. It really is as ridiculous as this. It really is as ridiculous as Obama needing to remind Americans that they have a constitution, as Democrats opposing the mosque and Republicans supporting the right to build a mosque, but no one actually coming out and supporting the mosque. As ridiculous as the Jewish Anti-Defamation League saying the mosque should be built elsewhere. As preposterous as people getting all upset about Imam Rauf's comment to 60 Minutes that American policies were an 'accessory' to the crime of 9/11 - a comment that just seems to me to be common sense and not in any way pro-terrorist or anti-American.
But... but no. Instead we have legions of raving lunatics talking about respect for the families of the victims of 9/11, an argument that seems almost comical in its absurdity, were it not so sad and pathetic. And no, the image accompanying this article doesn't have anything to do with Cordoba House. It's just another example of what annoys me so much about the American Right.
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