Ground Zero Was An Excuse

No one could have guessed that Republican attacks on the Park51/Cordoba House project and Democratic cowardice especially from New York's delegation on defending the 1st Amendment would lead to mosque projects coming under attack elsewhere in New York as the state descends upon an unpopular minority.

A church may be a church, and a temple a temple, but through the prism of emotion that still grips many New Yorkers almost a decade after 9/11, a mosque can apparently represent a lot of things.

In the last few months, Muslim groups have encountered unexpectedly intense opposition to their plans for opening mosques in Lower Manhattan, in Brooklyn and most recently in an empty convent on Staten Island.

Some opponents have cited traffic and parking concerns. But the objections have focused overwhelmingly on more intangible and volatile issues: fear of terrorism, distrust of Islam and a linkage of the two in opponents’ minds.

“Wouldn’t you agree that every terrorist, past and present, has come out of a mosque?” asked one woman who stood up Wednesday night during a civic association meeting on Staten Island to address representatives of a group that wants to convert a Roman Catholic convent into a mosque in the Midland Beach neighborhood. 

Oh wait...this was happening in June, months before the "Ground Zero Mosque" became a national issue.

Wait, you mean there's been an organized campaign to attack the first Amendment rights of American Muslims for months now, and Ground Zero had nothing to do with it whatsoever?

Oh but wait again:  it's not just New York.  There's been an organized campaign to stop the construction of places of worship for Muslims in this country for months now.

Two weeks later, the New York Times and the Associated Press are catching up with The Upshot's reporting on the growing opposition to mosques around the country. Mosques in small communities in Tennessee, California and Wisconsin — far from the emotionally loaded Ground Zero site — are facing protests from community members who contend that the Muslim houses of worship serve as training grounds for jihadists.


Both stories highlight a recent two-year study by Duke University and the University of North Carolina, which found that mosques and other community organizations like Muslim bookstores help prevent radicalization among American Muslims.

So the Republicans have successfully packaged anti-Muslim hatred as "too close to Ground Zero" and now it's perfectly acceptable to oppose mosques anywhere in the country.  Hey, is Tennessee too close to Lower Manhattan?  It's a "9/11 victory mosque" right?  They only build them in "places they have conquered" right?  They're all "terrorists" right?

"Everywhere there's a mosque, there's a tension now," Ahmed told The Upshot two weeks ago, citing his year of field research visiting 100 mosques around the country.

That tension doesn't seem likely to let up any time soon. On Friday, about a dozen protesters confronted worshipers at a mosque in Bridgeport, Conn., yelling at them with a bullhorn: "Murderers!" and "Jesus hates Muslims."

Sorry Bridgeport Muslims, you're too close to Ground Zero.  Sorry Muslims in Tennessee, Wisconsin and California, you're too close to Ground Zero.

Sorry American Muslims, the First Amendment just doesn't apply to you.  Apparently after 9/11 the Constitution was changed and nobody told you.

Cordoba House was an excuse.  The reality is that Republicans have been playing the anti-Muslim card since 2008 in order to gain political power.  It didn't work in November 2008.  But November 2010, well...apparently you can never have enough minority group scapegoats to blame for the economy.

And the Republican party is more than happy to pile on the hate while the Democrats cower.  If you don't see where this is going -- one in five Americans now believe Obama is a Muslim and that's up since he was inaugurated -- then you're willfully being blind.

And that's just what the GOP wants.