Muslim community center controversy is just insecure Americans blowing smokeAugust 20th, 2010 4:53 pm CT
Brandon Brose
St. Louis Libertarian Examiner
Sadly, America still has a long way to go when it comes to tolerance. Gay rights have come a long way since 40 or 50 years ago, but gays are still discriminated against in many arenas and are pariahs in several communities. Atheists still to this day cannot get elected president, and there is only one openly atheist sitting Congressman at the moment. And, most relevant to today, Muslims are still targeted for hate crimes and the victim of extreme prejudice by ignorant, clueless citizens.
Obviously, much of the "controversy" surrounding the mosque is the result of bigotry; a lot of Americans just plain don't like Muslims, either because they think Islam is "evil" (compared to the totalitarian Jewish laws in Leviticus and Deuteronomy?), or perhaps they just too easily fall victim to the Muslim-phobes' propaganda. Too many Americans think all Muslims are terrorists, as laughable as that sounds, and they thus assume that the "mosque" near Ground Zero will be a terrorist recruitment center. Of course, as Reason's Radley Balko and others have already pointed out quite well, most Muslims are decent, patriotic Americans who have assimilated quite well.
Or perhaps it's the nonsense and rumors surrounding Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Even though the imam is, by all measures, a very moderate Muslim who abhors terrorism and extremism, he has still been the target of the most ridiculous slander. Folks like Sean Hannity have claimed that he believes America deserved 9/11, which is a lie, and the full quote is something that even patriotic Americans like me and Ron Paul agree with! Rauf's refusal to call Hamas a terrorist organization may seem strange, but it seems more like naivete or just a general unwillingness to get too involved in politics. They have even made a huge deal about "the funding", as if to assume that a Muslim wanting to build a mosque or community center could have only obtained the money from terrorists, even in a liberal city like New York with 8 million residents. Of course, why terrorists and extremists hell-bent on killing would waste money funding a Muslim center rather than spending it on weapons and bombs is beyond me.
Examiner-Muslim community center controversy is just insecure Americans blowing smoke===============================================================================
It is not just Leftist and Islamsits we have to watch out for. We have to out for those 100 Percenters who tend to be Libertarian. This writer is clearly naive and insecure, like leftists are.
