The "Ground Zero" Mosque

Why the furor over the Ground Zero mosque is misguided.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• president
• obama
• peter
• king
• representative
• new
• york
• ground
• zero
• mosque
• islam
• 9/11
• muslims
• lower
• manhattan

[MorningofMourning]

you're incredibly naive... and you really don't understand muslims. do you know why churches are illegal in iran and saudi arabia? do you know why churches in pakistan, egypt, yemen and iraq are destroyed, and why christians are killed on a daily basis in those countries?

if i'm your neighbor and come over and slap you hard in the face, and then my wife, who did not slap you, comes over later that same day and asks to use your backyard for a party. how would you respond to her?

[heartsleeve]

@MorningofMourning I find it humorous that a person who has so obviously never met a Muslim would call me naive. I know many Muslims. None advocate what is going on in any of the countries you've listed. In fact, that's why many of them are in the US. And yet, many of them ascribe their reasons for feeling as they do about the places they or their families come from to their religion, which they see about peace and loving their fellow man.

You know only stereotypes and ignorance.

[MorningofMourning]

@heartsleeve did it occur to you that maybe the muslims you've talked to are just pacifying you with what they know you want to hear? anyhow, take it however you want. if you want to play make believe that's up to you.

but ask yourself this, if muslims could have our entire legal system replaced with sharia law, do you think the muslims in this country would vote for or against its implementation? i think you would find your muslim friends quick to take away your freedoms and values.

[heartsleeve]

@MorningofMourning I know dozens of Muslims, and count Muslims among many of my close friends. I seriously doubt that all of them are all conspiring to pull the wool over my eyes, pretending in their daily lives to EVERYONE they know to be moderate just so that someday they can unleash their inner terrorist on us all. You sound like a conspiracy theorist and a nut.

[heartsleeve]

@MorningofMourning Do you even know what sharia is? Do you realize that sharia isn't a single, monolithic thing? That it varies from place to place? Do you realize how many Muslims actively speak out against sharia laws in their own countries, in countries they have been exiled from, in countries they have left voluntarily because of the persecution they faced for being too moderate? The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country wouldn't vote for "sharia" law...whatever that even means.

[MorningofMourning]

@heartsleeve if what you're saying true, then why are muslims not coming out against this ground zero mosque? they know it's upsetting (rightly or wrongly) to many non-muslims, and especially those in nyc that perhaps lost loved ones.

yet they don't seem overly concerned about the feelings of non-muslims.

[heartsleeve]

@MorningofMourning Maybe because they realize that most of the people who are upset about it are people like you, who only know them as stereotypes and are discriminating against them unfairly? If someone was discriminating against you wrongly, based on prejudice and bigotry and ignorance, would you comply with them just so you didn't hurt their precious little feelings?

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning haha allright have a good life and pray for this economy to get better.

[MorningofMourning]

@djwestbrook36 certainly we can end it. if it makes you feel any better i got a taste of what you're feeling when i found out the oslo terrorist was a christian. i was so sure it would turn out to be a muslim i even posted it on my Facebook page before they caught him. but i got egg on my face, and in front of my family and friends no less. i felt like shit for a week.

that taught me a painful lesson. keep your mouth shut until you know for sure.

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning allright j agree with alot of your points and i hope u see some from my side but lets end this convo because honestly..getting too wrapped up in this stuff makes me depressed. haha

[MorningofMourning]

@djwestbrook36 all muslims aren't being punished for the actions of terrorists. but they are being treated with suspicion because of the common denominator they share with terrorists. if this was the 12th century, when the church of europe was engaged in the holy crusades... creating mayhem and death... the spanish inquisitions and witch hunts... well, i would not be at all surprised for someone to take a few steps back if i introduced myself as a devout christian.

can't you see that?

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning i know this is kinda gonna get racist and i dont wanna get racist...but honestly..(and I have tons of black friends and their good people) but aren't we in more danger to get shot or jacked by a black gangster from the hood then fall victim to terrorism?

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning true. I mean i dont have much to complain about 99 percent of americans dont even treat me differently. i mostly only see this stuff on the internet. i c your point but i just dont think that there that big of a threat. i feel as the threat has largely after 9/11 been less than a normal crook stealing or a gangster shooting someone. i just think that actual terrorism is just too small to punish a large group of people.

[MorningofMourning]

@djwestbrook36 well, i dunno what to tell you then. certain people have evil in the name of a religion to which you belong. guilt by association may not be fair, but it's human nature. if the bad seeds had tattoos on foreheads, then fine... but they don't. we can't tell which of you is going home to tuck your kids into bed, and which ones are going into their basements to finish building a bomb.

you want me to see your side of it. can you at least try to see ours?

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning Im trying dude. but honestly at least that stuff of killing children stoning is mostly bad to 95 percent at least of the Muslims. dont forget...when we complain...we do it out of fear. we're scared that everyone will think of us as terrorists. i'm scared that what you say ppl will actually believe in and vote to deport me. i mean that sounds like a nightmare to me. Don't forget while you guys are scared, we are scared too.

[djwestbrook36]

@MorningofMourning yeah i guess it would be ok to build it somewhere else as long as it didnt become a precedent of always pushing the mosques around. it would have to be one time only, because if it happens again, then we begin to be dehumanized. isnt the burka already outlawed?? i mean i dont know nothing about the rye playland so i cant even argue. At the end of the day..i want the people i grew up with not to think I'm going to kill them.