Stop Spreadin' The Hate

I'm sick and tired of the fear mongering going on regarding the "ground zero" mosque issue. First of all, the terrorists who committed the crime in New York were no more Muslims than Terry McVeigh (the convicted Oklahoma bomber) was a Christian. They were terrorists who used the veil of religion to commit their crime just like any other group of extremists. I don't buy into the lie that religion had much of anything to do with this crime.

Secondly, the American mass media has fanned the flames of this issue by creating a false dichotomy in order to build their audience the same way P.T. Barnum sold snake oil before the Civil War. The "mosque" that seems to be at issue will be more of a community center just like the YMCA or a Jewish community center a few blocks away from the World Trade Center site. What P. T. Barnum understood was simple mathematics: build your audience and there's a greater chance you'll sell your product. The mass media has a product to sell. Not only is the mass media jumping on this bandwagon, but politicians are also taking sides and using this issue to build their own audiences, and selling their product, while using the mass media as their stage.

A hundred years from now people will wonder why we didn't stick to our Constitutional principles and allow the religious freedom we are all supposed to be able to enjoy. And personally, I think it's about time that we all grew up a little bit and take a look at the big picture more often. It's been nearly 10 years since that terrible September morning. I recall it as if it were yesterday. But grieving for the loss of a loved one past a few years is not normal grief. If anyone else experienced a loss 10 years ago and were still expressing pain about it this long, we know that something isn't right about that. It's time to move on, people. Move on emotionally. Move on psychologically. Let go and be free.