As a Conservative, I find it a little hard to swallow when some folks who wave my ideological banner do something completely stupid. The topic of conversation today being the construction of a Mosque at ground zero.
Many are taking the knee jerk position of decrying the construction of a Muslim house of worship on the site where nearly 10 years ago, terrorists – Muslim extremists – killed 3000 innocent people in the name of their “holy war.”
These people forget that we were attacked due to religious intolerance. These people forget that right now we have brave Americans fighting an unpopular war (was there ever a popular war?) to defend amongst other things – the American constitutional definition of religious freedom and tolerance.
Now I won’t overlook the fact that the Imam who is building this Mosque is completely fucking insane, or that the sources of the money being used to fund this project are questionable, but at the root of this action is the very freedom of religion that we are all guaranteed in our founding document, the very freedom that we were attacked for having on 9/11.
I agree, that the location isn’t the best for two main reasons. First, it is ground zero. You put a bunch of Muslims, good or bad there, the average New Yorker/American that doesn’t stand to benefit financially (I am talking to you, Michael Bloomberg…jackass) is probably going to take issue with it one way or another. The second reason? It’s been nearly 10 years since the attack and for all intents and purposes, ground zero is still a well maintained and wholly undeveloped crater. As a proud American capitalist, I find that completely fucking retarded. So if you are really upset that the first new construction at that site is a Mosque, maybe you should stop bitching about it long enough to ask WHY NOTHING ELSE HAS BEEN BUILT THERE IN TEN FUCKING YEARS!
My friends, religious extremism is a problem which has faced our species and planet for a very very long time… and it won’t be resolved within our lifetime… so how about we get off our collective asses like we did on 9/12/01 and rebuild the freaking world trade center already?
Assholes.