Can We Call It What It Is Now?

It's funny, sad really, because I have been meaning to write about the Park51 nontroversy for a while now. It's been all over the news and blogs, but with our painstakingly short national attention span, I figured the issue would have fizzled out by the time that I got around to forming a post. Clearly I underestimated the utter stupidity and ignorance of the masses.

Glenn Greenwald has a very thorough (and now, prescient) piece about the debate over the Park51 Islamic community center. Read the whole thing. I don't agree with Greenwald entirely; I do think that the issue is a bit of a distraction and a wedge issue created to bring out the mouth-breathers and generally keep any discussion off of the economy. Let's face it - the midterms will primarily be in large part about economic matters. And Democrats - if they haven't already - will begin hammering away at the Bush/Republican economic legacy day and night in key races. So while the Park51 mosque shouldn't be dismissed as a distraction in its entirety, the label is not without its merits.

The reality is the core of the issue is exactly what Greenwald posits: it's all about good ol' fashioned American racism and xenophobia. Would we be having this debate if the construction in question were a synagogue, a Christian megachurch, or a Catholic church? The fact that the proposed site is near Ground Zero is immaterial, but rather a convenient way to conflate the debate and ignite anti-Muslim sentiment. Don't believe me? Check the links in Greenwald's piece; mosques are now running into anti-Muslim resistance across the nation.

But aside from that, let's let the actions of the bigots speak for themselves: today a NYC cab driver was slashed and stabbed after answering affirmatively to a question of his Muslim faith. Now a mosque in California has been vandalized with a sign decrying the worship of 'the god of terrorism' near Ground Zero. And I am sure these will not be isolated incidents.

I am confident that the Park51 center will go forward as planned, and admirably, a large contingent of families of 9/11 victims have come out in support of its construction. But the path will needlessly ugly.