Hendrik Hertzberg on the "ground zero" (not) mosque

[MBS]

Hendrik Hertzberg is an oasis of sanity in the cacophany of Cable-News-24/7-Hysteria-Nation

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/08/16/100816taco_talk_hertzberg

Ah, the “Ground Zero mosque.” Well, for a start, it won’t be at Ground Zero. It’ll be on Park Place, two blocks north of the World Trade Center site (from which it will not be visible), in a neighborhood ajumble with restaurants, shops (electronics, porn, you name it), churches, office cubes, and the rest of the New York mishmash. Park51, as it is to be called, will have a large Islamic “prayer room,” which presumably qualifies as a mosque. But the rest of the building will be devoted to classrooms, an auditorium, galleries, a restaurant, a memorial to the victims of September 11, 2001, and a swimming pool and gym. Its sponsors envision something like the 92nd Street Y—a Y.M.I.A., you might say, open to all, including persons of the C. and H. persuasions.
. . . .
Last Tuesday, after the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission, in a unanimous vote, gave Park51 a green light, Mayor Michael Bloomberg celebrated the occasion with a speech that, in its gruff eloquence, will be remembered as a high point in his distinguished tenure. “We may not always agree with every one of our neighbors,” he said."That’s life. And it’s part of living in such a diverse and dense city. But we also recognize that part of being a New Yorker is living with your neighbors in mutual respect and tolerance. It was exactly that spirit of openness and acceptance that was attacked on 9/11."

That should have been the end of it, but it isn’t. The midterm elections loom.. . By the end of last week, John McCain had joined his former running mate’s chorus. (“Obviously my opinion is that I’m opposed to it.”)

In a famous letter—the one that holds that the United States “gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens”—George Washington offered a benediction. . . Washington’s point remains. His letter was addressed to the Jews of Newport, Rhode Island. But, as he knew, Muslims are Abraham’s children, too. By the McCain standard, George Washington was a three-time loser: as President, he lived in New York City; the nation’s capital bears his name; and, even by the standards of his time, he was an élitist. Nevertheless: he was right. ♦

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/08/16/100816taco_talk_hertzberg#ixzz0wn7PLb5R

[dkf]

1. Richard Haas had a good point this morning.

First of all the freedom to do something does not dictate if it is wise to do so. Second of all if the Mosque is built there it will be a focus of minute attention with every sermon scrutinized and every person entering it checked for connections to extremists.

This Imam has also thrust himself in the international eye as the leader of American Muslims. This may or may not be true but that seems to have been part of the intent.

The mosque will be an eternal hot issue for all sides. I sure hope they don't mind the microscope. I also hope there are no Jeremiah Wright instances in this man's career.

[mwb970]

2. Someone should make a video of the walk from GZ to the community center.

Just a real-time cell-phone video on YouTube of the (fairly long) walk past many skyscrapers, stores, etc. between the two points would go a long way to clarifying just how absurd the hyper-ventilation about "sacred ground" really is.

[Jim Lane]

4. Someone has. Here's the YouTube link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUYOPHxpTfU

[mwb970]

6. Well, yeah, that's the general idea.

But this looks like a missed opportunity to me. It needs narration and personality, for starters. Surely someone can do a better job than this! (I'm sure I could, for example.) But it does manage to show that's it's a "fur piece" from Point A to Point B.

[BlueMTexpat]

3. The Founders of this Nation were Deists, for the most part.

Their philosophies were formed during the Enlightenment after study of the detrimental, repressive and often disastrous effects that resulted when too many narrow-minded religious leaders wished to impose their narrow-minded ideologies not only on their followers but on everyone. Deists firmly believed in separation of Church and State. As do I.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism

Thank you, Hendrik Hertzberg, and thanks for posting, MBS. People like you both help to keep me sane.

The comments received from far too many uninformed or genuinely bigoted RWers make me practically unable to believe how much this country has changed from its post-WWII ideals and particularly since the JFK era. I was among some of the first Peace Corps Volunteers to serve - in a Muslim country at that - and we were welcomed there with open arms. My whole experience was a positive eye-opener. Education and understanding make all the difference.

I cannot believe how frighteningly repressive the ambiance in this country has become - most especially since 1980. I live abroad now but come to visit family and friends and to meet various professional commitments. The relief I feel upon leaving - that I will not have to hear the same old same dangerous silliness day after day after day - with idiots being treated as if they actually should be listened to - makes me genuinely sorrowful for us all. We have gone backwards instead of forwards.

I had hoped, with Obama's election, that we could finally get back to moving forward, to fulfilling the genuine promise of a better way. But I have so far been extremely disappointed by the failure of too many Dems in leadership positions who mistakenly prefer to seek common ground with those who lack reason and logic and who glory in their prejudices and bigotry rather than with those of us who have always supported them and progressive agendas through thick and thin.

[marias23]

5. Our strength is that we can allow the mosque

[MBS]

7. a related piece in WaPo, by Eugene Robinson (8/17)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/16/AR2010081603306.html

Most important, organizers have made clear that the whole point of the project is to provide a high-profile platform for mainstream, moderate Islam -- and to stridently reject the warped, radical, jihadist worldview that produced the atrocities of Sept. 11, 2001.

"It will have a real community feel, to celebrate the pluralism in the United States, as well as in the Islamic religion," Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, said in May as she argued for permission to build the center. "It will also serve as a major platform for amplifying the silent voice of the majority of Muslims who have nothing to do with extremist ideologies. It will counter the extremist momentum."

Actually, it will take much more than one community center to stop radical jihad in its tracks. But it's hard to think of a better way to give extremist ideology a major boost than to demonstrate what far too many of the world's 1 billion Muslims already believe is true: that the West rejects not just extremism but Islam itself.