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

YAYS FOR THE GAYS

So as I'm sure you've all heard, Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage in California, got overturned yesterday! WHOOOOO *throws party hat and chucks confetti everywhere* Go and watch this in celebration, it's funny and there's a bunch of cool celebrities in it INCLUDING THE ALL-POWERFUL NEIL PATRICK HARRIS: http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c0cf508ff8/prop-8-the-musical-starring-jack-black-john-c-reilly-and-many-more-from-fod-team-jack-black-craig-robinson-john-c-reilly-and-rashida-jones?rel=featured

It only lasted two years, and after it was voted in, there were mass protests and candlelight vigils and all kinds of things going on in the CA LGBT community. It was a disappointing decision, but any event that brings people together to fight for equality and freedom and love is a good thing in my book. So eventually people protested and sued so much that they threw it out, saying that it violated the constitutional rights of gays and lesbians.

Currently there's a stay on the issue, meaning it's basically still in effect as no courts will marry a same-sex couple yet, while both sides are still going at it. The guys against it are all "Let's just keep pushing it back with appeals and stays and ridiculous nonsense so that no one can ever be happy!" and the guys for it are like "Dudes, you're not freaking taking our rights away again. STFD AND STFU."

Also, there's a huge uproar about how Obama is like "I don't agree with gay marriage, but I support equality for the GLBT community." WHY IS THAT NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR YOU? Shut up about him being wishy-washy, 'cause in my opinion that is EXACTLY THE RIGHT RESPONSE. He's saying it's not his personal belief, but ultimately he wants to do what's right. And the people who are like "WELL IF YOU SUPPORT THEM WHY ARE YOU TAKING SO LONG TO MAKE THINGS BETTER FOR THEM HUH HUH HUH WHY," you guys should also shut up. Being president is hard, and he's doing the best he can given the circumstances, and you should stop having a hissy-fit every time he makes a decision you disagree with. No one is ever going to be the perfect president, but he's doing a fine job. WHATEVER, NAYSAYERS. YOU GO, OBAMA. FOUR FOR YOU.

Anyway. It makes me literally feel sick that this is such an issue. It makes me so angry and so sad that people are arguing this. First of all, the government has no right to tell me who I can and can't marry. It's a personal decision, it affects no one but the two of us, and I really don't see how it's any of your business if I want to marry a woman or an illegal immigrant or a Martian, as long as they're of age and agree to it. Secondly, the idea that marriage should be between a man and a woman is outdated. Back when that was a true fact, you not only would have been killed for being gay, had rules against marrying black people, and allowed polygamy to happen, but also weren't allowed to get divorced or anything. It's a bit different in the world these days, and we need to get with the times.

But mostly, my issue is this: all they want is to officialize (shut up, I'm making it a word) their love, prove to the world that they belong to each other, just like millions of other people do every day. Celebrities get married for mere days, sometimes hours, but as long as it's opposite-sex it's fine. People get married, then divorced, then married, then divorced, then married, but as long as they're all the other gender, that's totally cool. People can marry foreigners just so they can stay in the US, but gays can't get married because they truly want to be with each other, simply because they're the same gender? My friend Erin put it like this:

"i also don’t understand how anyone came to think that whether or not gays can marry should become the entire country’s business. no one gives a f**k if heterosexuals marry. but gays have to ask permission from the entire country just to love someone and declare that love?" (sic except that I censored her - I'm family friendly. XD)

That is seriously skewed logic, there. Why is it different for a man to marry another man instead of a woman? Who is it really going to hurt? And why is that any of our business? Like the meme goes, "Opposed to abortion or gay marriage? THEN DON'T HAVE ONE AND SHUT THE F**K UP."

Erin also said this, which nearly made me cry:
"and if you’re too stuck to accept, at least try to tolerate. after all, we grew up tolerating your jeers of fag, lesbo, dyke, queer, fudgepacker. we grew up tolerating your shoves and pushes. your ignorance. we grew up tolerating a world where we would never be completely accepted. we grew up thinking we needed to hide. we tolerated hiding ourselves from the world and changing ourselves to fit in the narrow-minded views of others.

and we’re not accepting that anymore.

and we’re not apologizing for it any longer.

we tolerated your hate, you can tolerate our want to LOVE." (sic)