Ground Zero Mosque Controversy for Dumbies

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I love racially and religiously tinged fear mongering, especially when it comes from people who live hundreds of miles away from what tourists tend to call "Ground Zero", but what New Yorker's call Lower Manhattan.

Over the past several weeks now, White Christian blowhard politicians have condemned Brown Muslims over their "insensitivity" in wanting to build a third Mosque two blocks away from the site of the former World Trade Center. Well, I don't think that most of these people actually knew that there were two other Mosques near "Ground Zero"-- one of which was there nearly 10 years before the Twin Towers were built. But I guess that doesn't matter when you're a self-centered bigot. And that's exactly what these people are-- make no mistake.

Some of you will think that I'm insane-- mostly those of you that live no where near New York City, and probably wouldn't know a Muslim from Muslin cloth. For anyone to assume that all Muslim are terrorists, you would also have to assume that Christians are equally guilty of such things. Aren't Christians responsible for bombing abortion clinics?  Christians in the KKK murdered Blacks, Jews, and Catholics in the name of their religion. In fact, Christians militias and terrorist groups are responsible for more killings in this country than most people would want to admit to. But no one is going to throw a shit-fit if someone builds a Christian church or starts a Christian church group in a Black or Jewish neighborhood, would they? No they wouldn't. And do you know why? Because somehow, we've managed to separate the lunatics from the rest of the flock. But that's not good enough for Muslims, now is it?

Personally, I think that religion is dangerous...only because people tend to ruin it. In theory, I guess it's good to believe in things that help you cope and get through life, if "life" is a little too much for you. But there are too many idiots out there that either use it to manipulate others, or misinterpret it to justify their inability to use reason and rational thought. People like Newt Gingrich, who compared building the new "Ground Zero" Mosque to building a Nazi center next to a Jewish Temple. I'm sorry, but that's just 12 kinds of stupid. I mean, this guy is supposed to be the "brain" of the Republican party, and this is what he comes up with? Seriously, how many times are these intellectually lazy GOP nimrods going to use the "Nazi" card? Do us all a favor, guys-- put it back in the deck.

I see Muslims every day. I speak to them every day. I even work with a couple. I've lived in NYC for well over a decade. I was in town on 9/11, and the days, weeks, months and years after that. And believe me, Muslims were just as upset about that attack as everyone else was. They felt that they had to go above and beyond to prove to everyone that they were not like those radical idiots. They decorated their cabs with American flags. They wrapped their hair with red white and blue turbans. They wore flag lapels-- anything to show that they were not with those terrorist pricks. But that's not good enough, is it?

If this is the way we're going to be-- if we have to force Muslims to prove themselves-- then why don't White folks prove to everyone else that their not the inbred racists that they are perceived to be? I was told when I was growing up that I would have to work 10 times harder than every White person-- you had to FLY to where a White person merely had to walk to.  Why? Because you had to prove yourself. You had to prove to the White folks that you were worthy of their respect. BULL. SHIT. That's what I say now, that I'm older and I know better. I've lived and worked with and around White people for most of my life, and I've gotta tell ya...they're no better or worse than anyone else. In other words...they are NOTHING special. At all. They are just as infallible as everyone else. So why should anyone have to go out of their way to prove anything to them?

Cordoba House is the name of the group that wants to build the Mosque in Lower Manhattan. They are an out-reach group, trying to heal the relationship between the Muslim World and the West. They are one group out of billions of Muslims that have absolutely no interest in terrorist activities WHATSOEVER. But that really doesn't matter to the intolerant among us. Granted, no other country in the world is as free as this one is. That's what makes America so great. What makes it not-so-great? Our ignorant, backward, emotionally-stunted countrymen and women that proudly trumpet their uneducated views. Bigots, racists, morons. These are the people that get in the way our evolution. These are the people that politicians constantly cater to, so they can scrounge up a few extra votes. It's a shame, really, because it makes all of us look stupid.

President Obama is right to stand up for our nation's religious freedoms. There is not one person living in this great nation that can call themselves an American, and not believe that. The attacks of September 11th were shocking to all of us-- particularly those of us that were here, and in DC, and Pennsylvania, that day. As horrified and as angry as I was about the attacks, I'm not in the mindset of condemning all Muslims for them. If I go there, then I should blame all White people for slavery. And Jews should blame all Germans for the Nazi Party.

It's pretty stupid to blame a whole for the sins of a relative few. And the only way we're going to survive as a people and as a nation, is if we get our collective heads out of our asses, and squash our bigoted tendencies. Like it or not, we are becoming less and less influential in the world. The last thing we need to do is extend our enemies list. But hey, if you feel comfortable in your hatred, and find solace in some loudmouth cable television goons or manipulative politicians rationalizing your bigotry...well, what can you say to that? I think Forrest Gump said it best:

"Stupid is as stupid does."

And that's all I have to say about that.