Comments | wendymr: I despair

wendymr

I despair

Jul 14, 2010 21:32

"It would be a terrible mistake to destroy a 154-year-old building in order to build a monument to terrorism."

Poll Right. A mosque - a building used for prayer - is apparently 'a monument to terrorism'. Reading the CNN story on the subject, and the objections of those opposed to this, astounded me. Reading the comments below it sickened me.

Yes, those ( Read more... )

online fuckwits, wtf?

Comments 29

dark_aegis July 15 2010, 01:35:20 UTC

*sigh* I despair of my country sometimes.

neadods July 15 2010, 02:09:39 UTC

You shouldn't have read the comments; anything like this brings out the worst of the worst, and it's bad for the blood pressure. I've been following this story for a while - Dispatches from the Culture War has been keeping an eye on it.

Bigotry and hatred have been deliberately fostered here for nine years, and now there is a horrifically large segment of the population that considers logic, reason, and equal rights a direct threat to themselves.

That is coupled with a virulent belief that Christianity is the "default" state of the country, and thus Christians cannot be terrorists. Not when one blows up a building with a daycare. Not when one pilots a plane into an IRS building. That's not terrorist, that's defending yourself against a government that many pundits have been calling rogue and dangerous.

"Everybody knows" that there's no such thing as Christian terrorists. No matter what atrocities are committed in the name of religion.

wendymr July 15 2010, 23:01:20 UTC

Oh, yeah, I know that comments on that kind of story will be rife with the stupid, the bigoted and the outright offensive. I sometimes do skim over them because I like to see what the balance is like - and sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised to find more people on the side of sanity than not, such as on another article I looked at yesterday, about Argentina legalising gay marriage.

And yes to the rest of what you say. So much for freedom of religion! This is where I need that 'Jesus wants his religion back' icon...

juliet316 July 15 2010, 02:09:51 UTC

It's stupid. It's just so incredibly stupid. Yes, some terrorist cells operated out of mosques, but NOT ALL OF THEM. Let them have their place of worship and prove that we can really move past 9/11.

wendymr July 15 2010, 03:09:01 UTC

Let them have their place of worship and prove that we can really move past 9/11.

Yes, exactly - it occurred to me that the best memorial would be to build that mosque. By doing so, Americans - Christian and Muslim alike - are saying to the world: we are all Americans and we are united. We will not let you in your terrorist cells and sects around the world create divisions between us.

Or is that just too sensible for some people?

juliet316 July 15 2010, 03:13:16 UTC

Or is that just too sensible for some people?

Sadly, that seems to be the case with many of these people.

tardis_stowaway July 15 2010, 04:20:36 UTC

Yes, exactly - it occurred to me that the best memorial would be to build that mosque.

Exactly! In the vicinity of Ground Zero is a great spot for this mosque/community center.

The way we defeat terrorism is not military occupation of a foreign country or even banning liquids on airplanes. We beat the terrorists when we refuse to be terrified and continue to hold up the standard of freedom, which includes freedom of religion for Muslim people. Calling their places of worship "monuments to terrorism" is only going to make Muslims more angry with the US and more sympathetic to the lunatic fringe.

Thread 5

yamx July 15 2010, 05:26:35 UTC

It recently occurred to me for unrelated reasons how much the world has changed since 9/11. And to think there must be teenagers today who don't really remember a time before the "War on Terror." :(

kaffy_r July 15 2010, 07:00:47 UTC

You are right. They are wrong. Eventually, the right - by which I mean understanding, peaceable communication, and openness to diversity - will prevail. It seems like it won't right now, and this sort of thing makes me as crazy as it makes you, but it will become better.

kerravonsen July 15 2010, 07:05:38 UTC

Unfortunately, I am reminded of the quote from SomeFamousPersonWhomIForget: "All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

So... what can we do, then? How can I fight the Stupid?

azriona July 15 2010, 10:35:01 UTC

Edmund Burke, goes one theory, an Irish philosopher who lived in the 18th century, although a similar quote appears in Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace. (Yay, WikiQuotes.)

As for fighting the stupid, I have no idea. I've found that the more committed someone is to the Stupid, the less likely they are to change their minds.