Right wing trying to stop Muslims from building a center in New York is in top 10 of their stupidity

[ck4829]

"Hey, Japanese people, you can't build anything in Hawaii. Go away."
"Hey, Mexicans, remember the Alamo. You aren't allowed there. Go away."
"Hey, people who dislike the federal government, stay out of Oklahoma City. Go away."

Now it just sounds silly, doesn't it?

[LiberalLoner]

1. Right wingers that I know will say right to your face, that we are at war with ALL

Muslims. And they don't seem to have any idea exactly how many people that really involves, to be at war with everyone holding that religion....

[Deep13]

3. That's a war we can't win.

Especially since a good number of Americans and citizens of other western democracies are Muslims. I think there is some truth in saying we are at war with Islamic theocracy, but not all individual believers everywhere.

There was a short TV interview that sticks in my mind that aired a few days after Sept. 11. The news people said they wanted to gage the reaction of NYC's Muslim community to the attacks. They interviewed an Arab shop owner. The man was furious saying that Bush knew who was responsible for the attack and that he (Bush) had to go kill them. It is just one guy, but he viewed himself as being in the same boat as the rest of NYC and saw the attackers as the enemy.

[Deep13]

2. While I agree they have a right to build, it isn't really the same as what you are saying.

Obviously, the First Amendment grants freedom of religion and no city zoning board or whatever has a right to exclude a religious congregation from a spot simply because of their choice of religion. That's the law and that's that.

Still equating ethnicity with religion is not a good analogy. Ethnicity is simply a biological fact over which people have no control. Being Japanese or Mexican is irrelevant to what a person thinks or does. Japanese people in 2010 had nothing to do with bombing Pearl Harbor. Simply being Japanese does not mean they inherit guilt for the deeds of their ancestors. Being Japanese does not mean they are actively encouraging attacks on the USA.

Muslims generally are not responsible for Sept. 11 and no one who becomes a Muslim in the future is either. Again, I reject guilt by association. Nevertheless, they still promote the set of ideas that convinced the terrorists that murdering 3000 people was the right thing to do.* (I'll let the Muslims decide for themselves whether "real" Islam condones suicide bombing or not.) Now granted, I don't know why NYC Muslims chose that site. It may be to protest the 9/11 violence. It may be to mourn its victims. It may simply be that it is a good location at a reasonable price and it has nothing to do with 9/11.

Frankly, I felt the same way about seeing churches inside the walls of Dachau concentration camp. Antisemetism has its roots in Christian doctrine and the R.C. Church leadership in particular was complicit in Nazi atrocities. Many Christians (by no means all or perhaps even most) reject antisemitism just as many Muslims reject violence. Still, it was the irrational ideas that triggered the violence in both cases.


*Note that I draw a distinction between guilt and causation. My ideas can contribute to bad acts by others without me being responsible for what they do. The mere fact that someone follows the same religion as anti-abortionists and Klansmen does not mean that he or she is responsible for the murders of abortion doctors or lynchings. Still, without the religion, there would have been no such murders, just as without Islam there would have been no Sept. 11. Without roads, there would be no traffic accidents. Causation does not imply guilt.

[Bitwit1234]

4. So since I disagree with republican policies

can I stop them from have a campaign headquarters in my town. Can I stop the NRA from advertising on my local news station. While I am not against guns I don't like the NRA promoting guns as their way to RAISE MONEY. And the people who support them are too damn stupid to realize that. So if you disagree with something that should give you the right to ban them from certain places...tsk tsk tsk Civil rights be damned folks when will it end.

[Ian David]

5. No more chrisTian churches in Oklahoma City.