Jihad Me at Hello

Did you hear?!?! OH THE OUTRAGE!!!! Muslims terrorists want to build a shrine of the 9/11 attacks on the White House!!! And since Obama is a Muslim he doesn’t mind!!! WHAT IS HAPPENING TO AMERICA?!?!??!?!?!

Ok ok, so that’s not quite true. But Muslims Extremists, who hate the US are trying to build a mosque on GROUND ZERO!!!! NOT IN MY LIFE TIME ASSHOLES!!! These colors do NOT run! However the do take brisk walks.

Ok, so actually some Muslims, want to build the equivalent of a Muslim YMCA a couple blocks from Ground Zero.

But still… TERRORISM!!!!!!! Look out!


Are we still at this point where pathetic jingoism is a mainstay in the vernacular of the average American? New polls from some college you've never heard of probably say yes.

For those of you who don’t watch Fox News, there is a proposed Muslim Cultural Center being built 5 minutes from the Ground Zero site. However it keeps getting reported that it is a Mosque, and it’s actually ON GROUND ZERO. Now first of all if this was true, I wouldn’t care. But it’s not true. It’s not a Mosque. There is a Mosque in it, among many other things. Not that any of that should matter. I'm just saying, if a Target shows up in your neighborhood, you can't really say that there is a new record store in town. its just happens to ALSO sell records. Just trying to be fair and balanced here. Speaking of fair and balanced, Fox News reported that 64% of all Americans think the Cultural Center shoudn't be built on Ground Zero. And they have won! because as i mentioned before, it was NEVER planned to be built ON GROUND ZERO. ever. it’s a couple blocks from Ground Zero. Not on it. I know some people who live about the same distance from Ground Zero as this proposed building, and they don’t tell people that the live on Ground Zero. Just because I work near Fenway Park, doesn’t mean I’m Youkilis.

People from all over the accepted political spectrum have weighed in. Everyone from Republicans to Democrats to… well really only those two, have been able to voice their opinions on the news. Sarah Palin said some stuff, and so did other guy! And also whats-his-face! Even President Obama has voiced his opinion. Of course many people think it’s not his place to comment on the matter. Yet they think it IS their place to comment on it. interesting.

So of course the issue with this whole thing is that Muslims, in the name of their religion took down the towers, and therefore the idea of other, different Muslims setting up a place to hang out anywhere near the site, is just too much for some people to handle. after all, can you imagine being attacked by someone and then having them set up shop in your country? it would almost be like how the US military has army bases in ALMOST EVERY COUNTRY WE'VE EVER ATTACKED. thankfully there haven't been any problems with them yet.

But this whole debate is really making me think. And you know what? The slaughter of large amounts of people in the name of a specific God, and then putting up houses of worship and community in the areas that those slaughters occurred, IS pretty offensive. The idea that so many people died in the name of one religion just seems so terrible and inhumane. This shoudn't be allowed ANYWHERE! So let’s start taking down EVERY CHRISTIAN CHURCH ON U.S. SOIL.

I’m serious. I will be behind the banning of this Center in NYC, if every other House of Worship on or near a site of slaughter and genocide is taken down first. Which honestly is probably everyone of them. We like to pretend that Europeans showed up on this land, and then slowly the Natives just disappeared or assimilated. nope. we killed them. most of them actually. nations of them. Just because a very small minority of Native Americans are making a killing with casinos, doesn't mean the score is even. The forced "Americanization" of Native Americans is well documented and was widely celebrated until last the 60 years or so. Many Native religions' practices weren't even considered legal until 1978's t00-little-too-late American Indian Religious Freedom Act.

The talk about the Muslim Center being insensitive to the victims' families rings hollow when one looks at how Native Americans are STILL treated today. Leonard Peltier's prison sentence isn't very sensitive. Reservations having the highest per capita poverty rates in the country isn't very sensitive. Not to mention Manifest Destiny. Not to mention,when families of 9/11 victims called for no invasion of Afghanistan or Iraq, called for the US military to leave both countries, nobody listens. Isn't it AS insensitive to ignore the 9/11 families who choose "to trust in our principles rather than cave to our basest fears".

Or is it that sensitivity isn’t really the issue? Is it more that many Americans are fear-based, un-educated bullies, who want to have their cake and eat it too. It couldn’t possibly be that the idea of any other religion than Christianity getting a leg up in this world is too much for our fragile egos to take. “But Islam is so violent.” sure. It’s a religion. But looking at the history of this nation, can we really feel so high and mighty? After all, I believe there was Bible verse that said (and of course i could be paraphrasing here) "let he who is without sin, cast the first stone. otherwise, shut the fuck up."

Something like that.