Who-sane's

By this post I’m not pretending to feel how it’s like to be subjected first-hand to injustice due to a religion or faith. But upon hearing and watching all the news of Park51, (twitter updates) the so-called Ground Zero Mosque, I find myself thankful for the basic human rights I’m enjoying at the moment: the freedom to practice my religion without shame or fear. Something, sadly, our Muslim counterparts in the most “developed” parts of the world are being robbed of.

Park51 Rendition

Patriotism is good, extreme patriotism, or jingoism, is not necessarily a bad thing. But when ideas stretch out to their extreme, and xenophobic supremacist ideologies lead to the utter refusal to rationalize, that is when a situation becomes serious, or even scary. And it all becomes even more absurd, and very hypocritical, when people’s rights are well acknowledged but are taken away from them.

Perhaps the location of the mosque isn’t the most ideal (although, mind you, it’s not really at Ground Zero!), and could be interpreted by the dim-wits as provocative, except project Park51 helped expose an often belittled and overlooked truth: Islamophobia is very real and it’s a growing trend.

But instead of being cynical, adding more fuel to the fire and encouraging spiteful acts, couldn’t those visionary objectors, mainly republicans, think of it as a mean to bridge the ever increasing gap between our faiths? Why couldn’t they look at it as a platform, of close proximity, for constructive interfaith and religious dialogue? Why not view it as a middle ground to understand the true meaning of Islam, as it should be portrayed, rather than in the eyes of the Bin Ladens of the world? Of course, that takes us back to the above-mentioned point of the utter unwillingness to rationalize, such as the lovely gentleman below, who seems to have “learnt everything about Islam from 9/11″! This goes to show how willing some people are to have a constructive dialogue.

But it doesn’t stop here. A new subcategory has emerged, which could befittingly be described as Muslim Islamophobes. Here is a good example that Bill O’Reilly,  of course, loved interviewing. Those are Muslims who are afraid that practicing their religion freely might be interpreted as insensitive or even provoke anger and hatred, so they prefer not to be vocal about it.

Yes, sadly, this is what it has come to. Not just muslims, but people who might even look like Muslims are being harassed (like this poor dude minding his own business only to be mistaken for a Muslim during a Ground Zero rally. You could imagine what would have happened to him if he weren’t quick to emphasize: “I’m not even a Muslim, MOFO’s!”).

Luckily, there are lots of voices of reason out there, that are one way or another trying to talk some sense into the people, resentful of  the sentiment that only applies to the uncultured segment of the society, which sadly form the majority (probably the same people who think Obama is Muslim). Those are puppets, easily steered by the prejudgemental and rogue politicians, who adore nothing more than these controversies that make them come across as responsible and caring citizens, looking after the well-being of their fellow Americans.

Two time Piltzer Prize winner, Nicholas Kristof, wrote:

Why do so many Republicans find strip clubs appropriate for the ground zero neighborhood but object to a house of worship? Are lap dances more sanctified than an earnest effort to promote peace?

Dick Cavett, sensibly, said:

Maybe we shouldn’t have Christian churches in the South wherever the Ku Klux Klan operated because years ago proclaimed white Christians lynched blacks. How close to Hickam Field, at Pearl Harbor, should a Shinto shrine be allowed? I wonder how many of our young people — notorious, we are told, for their ignorance of American history — would be surprised that Japanese-Americans had lives and livelihoods destroyed when they were rounded up during World War II? Should all World War II service memorials, therefore, be moved away from the sites of these internment camps? Where does one draw the line?

What the ignorant, such as he who idiotically compares an Islamic Community Center to “putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum“, fails to realize is that all this is exactly the aftermath extremists are happy to see and have been working so hard to achieve: stirring hatred among faiths that leads to provoking violence. If more Americans hate Muslims, alienate, bully and subject them to inequality, the natural progress of events is a great deal of frustration, that God forbid, could lead to further acts of violence and retaliation.

Finally … I can’t help but imagine that somewhere … in a cave … a long-bearded man is sitting in a lotus position … smirking … full of pride … that his evil plan is finally coming to fruition.