Mosque at 9/11 ground zero?
« on: 2010-06-06 16:32:58 »
I'm not so concerned about mosques near ground zero. Perhaps I'm just conditioned for such ironies and insults. But I'm happy to have Pat Condell remind us what we are in for if we don't sort our our secular values before we receive the Muslim waves yet to arrive in the US.
Re:Mosque at 9/11 ground zero?
« Reply #1 on: 2010-06-06 17:29:01 »
I like Pat Condell because of his brave and unflinching opinion based on basic values. But really, even as an American I'm not feeling so insulted that political-Islamists would figure out a way to dance on the victim's graves. Its not so much more shamelessly shocking if slightly more alien that our own religious right crusaders and their willingness to read "god's will" into every natural disaster and foreign affair. It all registers an even if somewhat disconcerting "whatever" on the nutcase spectrum. Crazy people say and do crazy things, Pat, but then you knew that already. Thanks for bringing it to our attention, of course. You're always a good chap for that canary in the mine issue We really ought to be considering that unless we take a stand for basic first amendment secular values, how fragile our brand of democracy will eventually seem to the full onslaught of political Islam which Europe is currently enjoying, and that we cannot ultimately avoid in the US sooner rather than later.
Re:Mosque at 9/11 ground zero?
« Reply #2 on: 2010-06-10 12:08:25 »
Like I said in response to Pat Condell's video piece, I'm not feeling anymore insulted by Muslims erecting a mosque at ground zero than I am by any of the other religiously inspired atrocities that the civilized world must endure at the hands of any brand of inhumane religious zealotry. I'm sure this kind of hateful response here is exactly the kind of thing that the mosque builders hoped to elicit. All the religious nutjobs more or less suck on this issue either in the initial attack, or the illegal crusade into Iraq by our Christian president at the time, etc. I'd love it if we could establish a "no religion" zone around ground zero in acknowledgement of the dangerous universal memetic cancer which keeps this brutal silliness alive.
The North Bergen Record brings us the worst people in the world (via) …
As a hot, humid wind blew off New York Harbor, Mitzner joined some 500 others to stir up a rhetorical whirlwind of protest against a proposal to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the site of America’s bloodiest terror attack.
Unfortunately, this is what Ground Zero has now become — a scene of protests. [...]
Indeed, in tone and in the personalities it attracted, Sunday’s rally was far different from the many Ground Zero gatherings and memorial services of recent years.
Only a handful of victims’ relatives came on Sunday.
Sunday’s crowd included representatives of the conservative Tea Party movement, some of them wearing anti-tax T-shirts that had nothing to do with Ground Zero, Islam or terrorism.
“We must take a stand and we must say no,” shouted rally organizer Pamela Geller as the crowd roared approval. Moments later, another keynote speaker, Robert Spencer, sparked more cheers when he asked, “Are you tired of being lied to?”
Spencer, however, did not explain precisely what lies he was referring to. [...]
At one point, a portion of the crowd menacingly surrounded two Egyptian men who were speaking Arabic and were thought to be Muslims.
“Go home,” several shouted from the crowd.
“Get out,” others shouted.
In fact, the two men – Joseph Nassralla and Karam El Masry — were not Muslims at all. They turned out to be Egyptian Coptic Christians who work for a California-based Christian satellite TV station called “The Way.” Both said they had come to protest the mosque.
“I’m a Christian,” Nassralla shouted to the crowd, his eyes bulging and beads of sweat rolling down his face.
But it was no use. The protesters had become so angry at what they thought were Muslims that New York City police officers had to rush in and pull Nassralla and El Masry to safety.
“I flew nine hours in an airplane to come here,” a frustrated Nassralla said afterward.
The incident underscores how contentious — and, perhaps, how irrational — the debate over the mosque has become.
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We really ought to be considering that unless we take a stand for basic first amendment secular values, how fragile our brand of democracy will eventually seem to the full onslaught of political Islam which Europe is currently enjoying, and that we cannot ultimately avoid in the US sooner rather than later.
