Doc has posted extensively about the World Trade Center in film, and I can't help but comment about President Obama's comments on the planned mosque near Ground Zero, the place where radical Muslims attacked the United States, its way of life and its economic system. Click below for more on the mosque and Obama:
Let me be clear - I agree unequivocally that the muslims have the right to build a mosque on private property anywhere they want in the United States, including close to Ground Zero. The fact that our country would allow such a mosque to be built close to such a sacred location is part of what makes it great and infintely better than Islamic countries. But to do so is extremely inappropriate and an aggressive provocation by a religion that includes zealots that celebrate that attack.
Being allowed to practice your religion freely is different than having the President of the United States embracing that religion, which BHO is clearly doing in his remarks (linked to above). I disagree wholeheartedly with even hosting an "Iftar Dinner" at all and honoring a religion that a not insignificant percentage of hates America. And I say this as someone that can't stand watching Glenn Beck and has a decent amount of respect for Obama. His comments whitewash Islam and hyperbolize any contrition and patriotism that has been shown. Video of some of the comments here.
Friday, August 13, 2010
Mosque at the World Trade Center
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5 comments:
I agree with nearly everything you say in paragraph two. I do believe that sensitivity should guide Muslims not to build a mosque in this location even as I believe they have the right to do so. Again, I feel it shows horribly bad taste, and I'm one of those that doesn't believe that Islam is necessarily violent*. That said, I didn't find Obama's speech to be inappropriate. Bush hosted an Iftar dinner at the White House EVERY YEAR he was president, both before and after 9/11. A quick google of Bush Iftar will display a series of news articles from his presidency that quote from his speeches. They appear to be quite similar in content to Obama's. I'm not sure I understand why we have it, but something tells me Fox News is giving this significantly more coverage based on Obama's last name, not any actual shift in the Executive Branch's stance towards Islam.
*On a side note, while I don't think Islam is necessarily violent, Christianity is the only major monotheistic religion that wasn't started by a military leader. Judaism goes back to Moses or Abraham (you pick), both of which were military leaders, and Mohammad was a gifted military leader in his own right. This doesn't historically appear to make Christians act less violently, but it does make them less likely to site the founder of the faith as their model in so doing. It has also born a significant stream of pacifists, something the other two have not been able to do as of yet.
I stand corrected on bho's hosting of the dinner's and would broaden my comments to include criticism of Bush for having those dinners as well. I still think obama's speech was too friendly towards muslims. Some might say that is good foreign policy so that the islamic radicals won't hate us - to those I would say that placating and coddling an enemy like that isn't going to make them go away, so I'd prefer to treat the religion with dignity and respect, but nothing more.
ahh, the walkback: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/15/us/politics/15mosque.html?_r=1&hp
He should have focused on fixing the economy on January 20, 2009. It's been nearly 19 months and all he's done is give one political payback after another, hand out bailouts that only help his supporters, and regulate every single private industry - thereby giving an incompetent and inefficient government even more powers to encroach, corrupt, and ruin. I couldn't give a damn about a mosque at Ground Zero. New Yorkers get what deserve. As usual, I'll stick to my default libertarianism: Do whatever the hell you want; just don't ask me to pay for it.
Must read column on the subject from Ross Douthat: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/16/opinion/16douthat.html?_r=1&hp
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