The Times-Dispatch editorial board missed an opportunity recently when it wrote, "And while we recognize the sponsors' right to erect an Islamic center on the controversial site, we question the wisdom of the project." As if this project were akin to flag-burning or Nazis marching in Skokie--one of those envelope-pushing first amendment exercises we have to put up with in a free society.
The so-called Ground Zero Mosque is neither a mosque nor is it located at Ground Zero (although if it were I wouldn't mind a bit). It's a community center, not unlike a JCC or a YMCA, and it would stand a couple of blocks away from where the World Trade Center once stood. Why does this bother anybody? What could be more routine than people peaceably assembling to pray and play together?
Muslims too died in the 9/11 attacks. The United States is not at war with Islam, as President Bush (for all his faults) reminded us when he distanced himself from General Boykin's ill-advised comments that cast the War on Terror as a religious war. The only reason why anyone would take offense at a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan is if they were operating under the erroneous assumption that the United States is indeed at war with Islam.
No doubt many people do labor under that erroneous assumption. Politicians and pundits, if they aren't completely worthless, would do us all some good by disabusing them of that notion. And yet here they come, from Joe Lieberman to Sarah Palin, pandering to ignorance, ginning up resentment, tarring the innocent with guilt by association.
There's been a lot of it going around lately: Shirley Sherrod the racist. Tinkering with the 14th Amendment. And now nationwide outrage over what really ought to be a rather pedestrian issue for the planning and zoning board in New York City. When things go wrong, blame the dark-skinned people.
And things are going wrong. Lots of people are out of work. In Iraq, we find ourselves in the denouement of a war, not so much at the end of the war, much less having achieved victory. In Afghanistan, things are going from bad to worse; who knows whether this or any strategy will work? Who knows even how to define victory in Afghanistan?
But manufactured outrage over the so-called Ground Zero Mosque will not put a single person back to work, make the world a safer place, or undo one bit of the damage we've done over the past seven years.
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