A Mosque by any Other Name.. Is Well... Less Controversial
A Mosque within a 50-mile radius of Ground Zero freaks out America. Islamic leaders suggestion to fill it with illegal immigrant babies only adds fuel to the fire.
Additionally,
Palin "refudiates" classiness by getting involved via Twitter.
First off let me say, I get it. I really do. I get why even the most liberal and tolerant of Americans ( Read more... )
Additionally,
Palin "refudiates" classiness by getting involved via Twitter.
First off let me say, I get it. I really do. I get why even the most liberal and tolerant of Americans ( Read more... )
a. You are so super smart.
b. You should check out this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZpT2Muxoo0 Some other smart thoughts on this issue.
c. I live in a super, ultra, mega conservative county of the (actually very liberal) Minnesota. Most people that I have talked to about this issue are against the "Ground Zero Mosque". (They're also in favor of Prop 8 and changing the 14th amendment and so on and so on.) What I have found is that there seems to be a portion of this country (and it's mostly white, mostly Republican, mostly "Christian") who seems to think that there is a limited amount of freedom and success and happiness to be had in this country. In other words, if we let "others" get too happy then we're going to be less happy. Just for example, look at one of the driving arguments behind Prop 8 - It denigrates traditional marriage. It all boils down to "If everyone is allowed to be happy then I will be less happy." I makes no sense but a lot of people feel that way.
Anyway, I could go on and on and on about this but my main point is this: A lot of people can't be happy unless they feel like they've got some power or privilege over the "other guy" and Muslims are a real easy "other guy" right now. It makes me sad that people can't see how scary and potentially destructive the "other guy" mentality is and where it can lead. I wish more people subscribed to the idea that we all do better when we ALL do better.
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this, so much. i cannot remember where i read it, but i remember an article on socialism and it pointed out that arguments against it boiled down to "if everyone is wealthy, no one is wealthy. if my neighbor has the same things that i do, then i might as well have nothing." america is trapped in this hyper-competitive culture bubble, in ways that are detrimental. there are too many people like this, who simply cannot be happy unless they know there is someone who is worse off and/or beneath them. they need to feel self-righteous, and you can't be self-righteous unless you have someone to judge. this is where the 'other guy' mentality comes in.
of course if you try to call them out on this they will argue vehemently that they are just standing up for what is right and what they "believe" in, but it's just b/c they're unable or unwilling to see that this intense need for righteousness is circular - what they "believe" in requires that they look down upon/judge others who don't mirror that belief system. looking down on others with different ideals in turn feeds into and strengthens said system, which requires them to look down even more on those who don't meet their standards of believing...and it goes on and on.
and a lot of it of course also comes down to sheer ignorance. i find it sad that it is so easy to invoke fear-mongering just by throwing religion into the picture. (which picture? any picture, just pick one!) logic and basic facts fly right out the window.
and stickers, thank you for making this post, now i don't have to make one of my own, lol. i have way too many 'really need to make a fb note about this' ideas that i still haven't gotten around to doing.
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But yeah, I feel both you and Jen. I was going to add something in there about gay marriage. It's strange that as consenting adults they had to even ask "permission" in the first place to do something that was so common to everyone else. And now we pull it back and forth without any rational thinking trying desperately to hold control over the one section of euals that we have.
Prisoners are beneath us, but gays are on our level, let's see how much we can eff with them. IT's ridic.
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