Recently, a friend uttered the following cliches to me:
"This thing isn't a mosque and it's not AT Ground Zero. What happened to tolerance and religious freedom? And why does the media make it seem like 99% of people are against the mosque? What am I missing?"
Oh, just plenty.
At the risk of being perceived as arrogant, bigoted, out of touch, fringe, and condescending...too late. Here's my response:
Actually, the media is trying to make it look like 99% of Americans are FOR the mosque and a tiny sliver of bigoted conservative people are against it. They are only off by about 120 percentage points as 2/3 of Americans are against this.
Religious freedom is a red herring issue. If it's not a big deal, than the people behind the mosque should have no problem moving their plans, brutal or peaceful, elsewhere for a different day. After all, sensitivity toward others is a two way street. Why can't the Greek Orthodox church down the street that wants to rebuild get a permit to do so? Religious freedom and all blah, blah.
Not all Muslims are Islamic fanatics, but all Islamic fanatics are Muslim putting most Americans in the realm of reasonable and rational skepticism since it was an all-Muslim cast bringing down the towers 9 years ago. They are suspect. Not us.
Having said that, I will answer the religious freedom canard on it's face. No, I don't believe in religious freedom for people who have killed 3000 innocent Americans and openly and explicitly lust for more on YouTube, and, no, I don't have any tolerance for a totalitarian ideology cloaked in religious garb that shows nothing but intolerance in return for our reluctant mercy. And chew on this. Does it not occur to apologists for these people that Rauf and his travelers in the Muslim Brotherhood are the face of right wing extremism? RIGHT WING. I'm a righty American, and even I can see that.
Left-wingers for decades have always been panicked at the dystopia that would occur if Christian Republicans got power foisting a theocracy on the nation that brutalizes Jews, women, and homosexuals. That didn't happen despite a GOP majority running the congress and presidency for most of the past decade. Well, now these same people are rolling out the red carpet for people who have explicitly promised to do just what the left has feared all along. Explain THAT.
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