Ground Zero Mosque Nonsense.

I missed my Saturday post because I was busy watching Doctor Who, so I feel like I should post tonight. BEFORE I watch Doctor Who. :D

One thing I did actually want to talk about: the whole Ground Zero Mosque Extravaganza.

AMERICA. DUDES. WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM? Do you not remember that whole freedom-of-religion thing that is in your beloved Bill of Rights? Would you not be all up in arms if someone wanted to stop YOU from building YOUR churches? This whole issue is just beyond ridiculous.

Let's get something straight right now. RIGHT NOW. Are you listening, America? I'll put it in simple terms you can all understand, so pay attention:

MUSLIM =/= TERRORIST. ALL MUSLIMS ARE NOT TERRORISTS. ALL TERRORISTS ARE NOT MUSLIM. Anyone remember that Unabomber guy, Ted Kaczynski? American citizen, freakin' genius - terrorist. The Oklahoma City bomber dude, Timothy McVeigh? American citizen, Army vet, raised Catholic - terrorist. His partner, Terry Nichols, was a Michigan farm boy, football player, veteran - and terrorist. Oh, and this awesome guy: Eric Robert Rudolph, the Olympic Park Bomber (killed two and injured over 150 people in a series of Southern bombings between 1996 and 1998), a Southern boy, Catholic, a veteran, far-right affiliations - and a terrorist. All of these people were born and raised on American soil and all of them killed Americans on American soil. Some of them were even in the military, fighting for their country. Most of them were Christian. NONE OF THEM ARE MUSLIMS, ALL OF THEM ARE TERRORISTS.

There. Now that's out of the way. It really irks me that a lot of people seem to think that ALL or MOST terrorists are Muslim. But what irks me even more is the anti-mosque movement. Terrorism aside - because this isn't about terrorism, it's about religion - people don't want the Muslims putting up mosques at all. I could understand, maybe, not wanting a mosque at the site of an alleged Islamic terrorist attack, but it makes complete sense for a city with a large Islamic population to build a mosque, just like it makes sense for a place with a lot of Jewish people to have a temple. No one pitches fits when Jews put up temples, or when different Christian sects build their churches. But the second an Islamic community decides they want somewhere to worship, too, they get attacked, protested against, even BOMBED.

Now, I don't think that Muslims in NYC having a sense of community, a place to feel closer to their god, and a place where they can feel safe and be themselves is in any way a threat to the US, but most Americans seem to feel that it is. How completely unfair is that? I mean, imagine for a second - here you are, in this glorious country founded on freedom, which indeed preaches "freedom of religion" as one of its citizens' most important rights, and all you want to do is pray to and worship your god. But you're not allowed. Your ways and traditions are mocked, feared, maybe you're not even allowed to perform them in public places. Your church is vandalized, people stand outside yelling insults and threats for hours, maybe it's even bombed. Maybe your family members are killed in a bombing. You're blamed for something you had nothing to do with, just because of the color of your skin, the style of your clothes, and the religion you follow. You're punished and blamed for these things, and the whole country is against you, even if you're American-born. And there's nothing you can do, because any retaliation or protest will be construed as terrorism and you'll be arrested or shot or possibly deported. You have no friends in school or work because people are afraid of you. Imagine being a little Islamic kid, friendless and shunned at school, mourning the loss of a family member from a mosque bombing, and now you're not even allowed the comfort of your religion and religious community.

We don't assume every German person is a Nazi. We don't assume every Chinese person is a Communist. We don't assume every English person wants to take over the world. We are so worried about being politically correct, about not making racist-sounding statements, about not offending anyone in any way... and then we do stuff like this. Why is this okay? Why is it even an issue in this country?

People can be so freaking cruel to each other, and I just don't understand it. I just can't understand why we do these things to ourselves. Did you ever stop to think that maybe being so intolerant of Muslims may cause MORE terrorist attacks? Did you ever think that by allowing them to build their Ground Zero mosque, it could be an opportunity to forgive and forget, to maybe lessen the tension between all of us? The actual terrorists are the crazy, hardcore religious people, in ALL religions. But there are an awful lot of Muslims in our country who are perfectly nice people, perfectly sane and normal and peaceful people, and by refusing to let them worship, by grouping them all together and labelling them "TERRORISTS," we are alienating our own citizens. How is that American?

And as far as Obama's reaction goes, I'm a little upset with him for "flip-flopping," although nearly all the articles I've read cite him as supportive, so I guess the flip-flopping is behind him. I can understand that this would be a difficult thing for him to speak decisively on, also. Salon.com has this to say:

President Obama delivered a strong defense on Friday night of a proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, using a White House dinner celebrating Ramadan to proclaim that "as a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country" . . . .

"I understand the emotions that this issue engenders. Ground zero is, indeed, hallowed ground," the president said in remarks prepared for the annual White House iftar, the sunset meal breaking the day’s fast.

But, he continued: "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable. The principle that people of all faiths are welcome in this country, and will not be treated differently by their government, is essential to who we are."

As Salon.com states, this is awesome because there's nothing he can gain politically from his support of this, but there is substantial risk politically. He's speaking not with himself and his job in mind, but with our country and our rights in mind. And that's what a president should do. You go, Obama. Four for you. <3

Also, as a side note: all you people who are all like "It's insensitive to the people who lost family members and stuff in 9/11," just shut up right now. If they were building any other building there you would not have an issue, so just shut up.

The went on a lot longer than I thought, and I got a little rambly, so I guess I'm pretty angry about it. But I just think it's insane, and a horrible thing to do. WHY CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG, PEOPLE.



Some articles about this issue and terrorism in general:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism
http://socialistworker.org/2010/08/30/challenge-to-islamophobia

John Green's video about Islam - very helpful in understanding the actual religion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jQ67cdzDyI