A cross at Auschwitz and a mosque near Ground Zero

[erudito]

I have been aware of the controversy in the US about the proposal to build a mosque near Ground Zero but not following it all that closely. But a post by Maverick Philosopher has crystalised my thinking on the matter.

He cites a very useful analogy with Carmelite nuns taking over an abandoned building next to Auschwitz to pray for the souls. This

Comments

[newredshoes]

Wow. This analogy is so far-fetched and ill conceived I almost don't know what to say. As someone who is a Jew, an American and someone whose sister worked across the street from one of the towers and happened not to be working that day, I need to tell you that this is wrong. For starters, not everything is like Auschwitz, not even if someone is building a Chinese restaurant and a nunnery in Guernica or the Killing Fields, Second, the community center and mosque is five blocks away from the site, and it's meant to be a site of interfaith learning and outreach. (Not to mention the fact that there already is a mosque near the site.) Third, vilifying Muslims, people who also died and were harmed by 9/11, and denying them space because of 19 assholes with boxcutters is vile and un-American. Fourth, this is a center dedicated to refuting the asshole hysteria that made 9/11 possible.

But mostly, not every damn thing is like Auschwitz. It's not some convenient analogy for people to whip out when they feel oppressed and they're not.

You should follow this matter more closely before you make statements like this about it. Especially because I see them first thing in the morning and this Tea Party idiocy really gets my ire up.

Analogy

[erudito]

not everything is like Auschwitz
Well no, of course not. Analogies are rarely perfect. But they do not have to be. I don’t have to claim that 9/11 was the same as Auschwitz, merely that it is like it in sufficient ways to make the same points germane.

As for the proposed mosque, it is two blocks from the site, in buildings damaged in 9/11 and is rather bigger than an "interfaith centre": As Wikipedia puts it:
Cordoba House, also referred to as the "Ground Zero Mosque" and "Park51", is a proposed $100 million, 13-story, glass and steel Islamic cultural center and mosque that is in the planning stage.[4][5] The plan is to raze an existing 1850s Italianate building that was damaged in the September 11 attacks, and build the mosque in its place. It is to be built two blocks (less than 600 feet, or 180 meters) from Ground Zero in New York City. Groundbreaking is planned for late 2010.[6][5] It is anticipated that 1,000 to 2,000 Muslims will pray at the mosque every Friday, once it is built
The issue is not building a mosque, nor even building a mosque in New York, but building a mosque which is clearly intimately connected to 9/11.

And the original name was not exactly tactful either.

Re: Analogy

[newredshoes]

I still think this is absolutely bogus reasoning, and a distraction from the fact that conservatives in America tend not to care about New York and 9/11 unless they can use it as a source of outrage. It's much more convenient to let the spit fly about an unpopular group of brown people than it is to commit to giving health care to 9/11 aid workers who are still suffering ill effects from their brave work at the site.

Also, let me say it again: Muslims are Americans too. Muslims were harmed and killed on 9/11 too. Muslims were part of rescue and recovery efforts too. Muslims have every right to be there. This is a manufactured controversy rooted in nativist paranoia, and it infuriates me to see such willful ignorance and hatefulness taking cover behind a concern for "sensitivity."

Re: Analogy

[erudito]

I really do not care about internal American political games and it is very tiresome to reduce every contentious issue my "goodies and baddies" like that.

You might be interested in this piece where some Canadian Muslim writers say that the proposed mosque is a deliberate provocation. They have also come up with a striking analogy.

The point is not about "Muslims", the point is about being how inappropriate it is to build a mosque at the site which was a major jihadi attack.

Re: Analogy

[newredshoes]

Look, bully for you, because tiresome American internal political games is exactly what this is about. I don't like to be combative in other people's journals, but I find it laughable that you have a strong, forthright opinion about an issue and then back off because you don't like to get your hands dirty with other opinions, particularly opinions coming from the country you're discussing.

Re: Analogy

[erudito]

I haven't "backed off" at all, my opinion remains the same. But if a gay Australian (me) and a couple of Canadian Muslims also find the proposed mosque inappropriate, clearly it is not just a response driven by internal American political points-scoring. (A prominent American Muslim is quoted as being against the proposed mosque.)

Politicking works most effectively when it taps into genuine political sentiments. Perhaps, rather than just dismissing alternative views as "bogus", it might be more sensible to try and understand where people are coming from. After all, if there is one that gives the Tea Party real legs, it is the feeling of not being listened to.

Angelo Codvevilla's recent essay is useful for grappling with that.