Soapbox

    Tonight President Obama made a brief address regarding the withdrawl of combat forces from Iraq. A Facebook "friend" of mine posted a reminder that Obama had voted against the surge and Bush had done all the real work.
    Obama had better give George Bush credit where credit is due!
she said.
    Yeah…. some relationships you just know at the beginning are doomed.

   When this former elementary school classmate was suggested to me as a friend a few weeks ago, I went to her profile page and read what information was available.
Political affiliation: Republican. Religion: Baptist. Residence: Texas.
    Don't think so. Not that any of this information means she isn't a perfectly nice person. I don't like putting people in boxes based on labels,  but clearly, other than our first names, we have absolutely nothing in common. So I did not "friend" her.
     But then she "friended" me.  I hate ignoring friend requests, even when deep inside, I know I probably should. I have had enough experiences recently to have learned that it's not possible to be friends with everybody, and not good for my blood pressure to try.  But I felt put on the spot- what excuse could I give? Sorry, but I'm probably not Jesus-y enough for you tastes?  Way to stereotype! So I said yes.

   To her credit, she has not made a peep about any of the politically and culturally liberal things I have posted recently, like believing that "those people" wanting to build a Muslim cultural center are actually Americans, or thinking a high school should treat a gay student like a human being. You know, wacko-liberal stuff like that. (Of  course, it's possible that she hid me the second day of our "friendship" and hasn't seen most of it. Hmmm….)
So I decided that I would just ignore her posts, and her friends comments that, indeed, Obama is just an idiot who does not know right from wrong.  They are entitled to their opinions and sure as hell wouldn't be swayed by anything I might say. Better to say nothing at all.

    But if I were to comment….it might go something like this:

     You want Obama to give George W. Bush credit for Iraq? You mean for starting this hideous, illegal monstrosity to begin with, in the absence of any evidence that war was called for and against the opinion of  much of the international community?  Absolutely! Let's do it!
    Let's give him credit for the hundreds of thousands of deaths and the billions of dollars wasted! Let's give George Bush his due credit for the lies that killed babies and shattered lives, causing such devastation in Iraq- and also in Afghanistan! That poor mis-begotten nation might well not be in such dire circumstances today had the U.S. not diverted its attention and resources over  to that stupid excuse for a war in Iraq.
    You remember Iraq: it's the war we started to stop the weapons of mass destruction, which Bush joked might be under his desk while our children were being maimed and killed in pursuit of them-  yeah yeah the weapons  we helped Sadaam build when we thought he'd use them against Iran, the ones Bush knew weren't really there any more. Ha ha, yeah, that was a good one, George! Funny as a crutch on a 19 year old with one leg!
    Iraq, the war that, when the first lie fell apart, Bush tried to justify by saying it was "liberating" the Iraqi people…  those Muslim people… who,over  in  America apparently do not have the liberty to worship around "regular" "decent" people. Liberation. Well, he liberated millions from their homes, and liberated a lot of their heads from the rest of their bodies, so…ok. Credit for that kind of  liberation, at least.

     But wait- don't forget to credit Bush with the Clinton budget surplus that, with the help of two preposterous wars, he turned into such a deep, life-sucking black hole of debt that the repercussions have made families jobless and homeless and put us in a position to be unable to help when it is most needed.
You remember, the debt: it's that thing you didn't give a s**t about 2 years ago and suddenly is all important- that thing you treat as if it just sprang like Athena, fully grown, from Obama's pointy, socialist head.

    Absolutely! Let's give George W. Bush the credit he is due for the FINE job he did in Iraq! In fact, let's give him complete and utter credit for the clusterf**k that has been- and will continue to be- Iraq!  Hear hear!!
 

     Yeah, it's definitely best that I not say any of those things. Jumping on this woman and her right-wing friends is not going to undo the war, unspeak the lies or bring back the dead. So I"m not.
    But I am not good at holding my tongue… it makes my fingers all spitty.

     I am so discouraged by the misplaced- and often blatantly false- outrage over the proposal to build what is being (wrongly) called the Ground Zero Mosque. The Cordoba House Mosque and community center would replace a similar, smaller facility that has been in lower Manhattan for some years. It would also be about 2 blocks from  "Ground Zero"… but apparently this whole area is hallowed ground when the wrong people try to go there.

    The politicians and pundits (and assorted other hate pimps and idiots) are taking time out from their socialist witch-hunt and their campaign to dismantle the 14 amendment to launch a mission to convince the average American in Peoria that it will somehow adversely affect their life if Cordoba House is built.
    It's like spitting on the graves of the sacred dead of 9-11 victims!!

    Only it's not. At all. And by the way, where's your ginned-up outrage over the Muslim prayers being said daily at the Pentagon?

    Sara Palin tweets that the mosque "stabs at the hearts" of America. Newt Gingrich says that the president,  who said that people technically have a right to build a house of worship where they choose in the United States of America, is "pandering to radical Islam."  Which is interesting, because you can hardly get less radical than the theology of this mosque or the members' wish to build a larger building… but  pandering is certainly something Newt knows well.

    And I keep reading statements like "They should build their mosque somewhere else, somewhere that it won't bother us. We have a right to object: after all, Muslims killed those people in the twin towers!!!"

    Yeah. You know what? Men killed those people, too. Shall we declare ground zero a "ladies only" zone? No men's bathrooms near Ground Zero! How dare you guys PISS on our hallowed memories??!!!
That makes about as much sense.

    And then there's the old "But why do they have to build it right there?? Couldn't they just show a little consideration for our feelings and go somewhere else"
    So… during desegregation, do you think those black kids should have shown a little consideration for the angry white people and stayed away from that high school in Little Rock? I mean, it's not like there weren't other schools they could have gone to, right? Just because you have the legal right to do something doesn't mean it's the thoughtful thing to do.
   I suppose they could build somewhere else- but why do you want them to?  Muslims have been quietly attending one of the two mosques in the area for years without anybody's sensibilities being harmed- what has changed?  It's not like somebody woke up one day and said "Hmmm…where can we build a mosque that will piss off the most Christians?" They just want to keep doing the same thing in a bigger facility.

   What I think they really feel- but won't yet say- is "keep ground zero for the real Americans." Because as with this 14th amendment garbage and all the "sanctity of marriage" intolerance, it really comes down to  that us verses them paradigm.
"They" should have a little more respect for "Us"!

    Thing is, Muslim americans ARE us, just like gay Americans are us, and hispanic Americans are us and athiests, and  Chinese Americans and Mormons and handicapped people are us.
   The Muslim community in Manhattan shouldn't have to ask permission to live their regular lives from people who treat them… well,  like "them".  Last time I checked, there wasn't a religion test for citizenship (though some congressman from Texas will probably propose one next week!)
    And don't forget there were a number of Muslims killed on 9/11 too. If that doesn't make them part of "us", I don't know what does!
    Look,  I'm sorry about your 9/11 pain, all you people who don't actually know anyone who was killed there and yet are still feeling stabbed almost 10 years later. Has it occurred to you that some of the folks that attend this mosque might have lost friends and family there and have a little pain of their own?? Or does their pain not matter cause they're- you know, Muslim?

    If you know anything about the Imam of this mosque, you know that he has been a rallying point for moderate Islam and a voice against intolerance. Which is what we're all saying we want from "these people", right? Where is peaceful Islam when al Qaida is out to destroy us? 
    Well, folks, they're right here, in lower Manhattan, preaching tolerance…. so we treat them with intolerance, tell them that, because of their religion, they aren't good enough to go places that "real" Americans go.

    Wow. Good idea. Way to act just like the societies we condemn who do not allow freedom of religion.
    These days, we act like "freedom of religion"  just means "freedom for everybody to share MY religion or be quiet!" Sure, you can be Jewish, or Muslim, or Buddhist… but if you don't look like I do, speak like I do, worship like I do, then please have the decency to stay out of sight.

    Finally, I just don't understand why so many otherwise good-hearted people are bothered by this. Why do you think it is your business? Why does it even matter to you? How does this adversely affect your life? No one is asking you to go to Cordoba House.  No one is going to try to convert you as you walk down the street… you know, the way some Christians do, handing out bibles in the park and shouting at you that you're a baby-killer and you're going to hell.

      The Muslim religion did not kill anyone, any more than Christianity killed people at Oklahoma city.  People do all sorts of evil things and make God the scapegoat. It's not God's fault.
     These people did not kill anybody. The members of this mosque were not out cheering in the streets when the towers fell. They're not terrorists- they are cab drivers and doctors and bank tellers. They live here and pay taxes and vote and send their kids to school, and I guarantee you, they were weeping for the hate that fell from the sky on September 11th, just like you were. How can their presence violate your hallowed ground? It's their hallowed ground, too!!

   This is the United States. Sometimes we are asked to tolerate things that make us uncomfortable, because that's who we're supposed to be. Don't turn America into an apartheid state where different people have different rights, subject to the whims of the majority. If that happens, to borrow from that annoying phrase we heard after 9/11– the terrorists have won. Because America won't be the land of the free any more.

     So relax. Un-clench yourselves just a little bit and look around you. The gay people across town have not ruined your life, the brown babies born at the hospital today haven't destroyed America, and the Cordoba House Mosque will only stab at your heart if you let it- if you take a knife and shove it in.

Update: Newt Gingrich says the mosque is a symbol of "Islamic triumphalism." Huh? You mean like those ghastly mega-churches, who call kids "God warriors"? So then Christian triumphalism is ok but not any other kind?
    He also said building the mosque there is "like the Nazi's putting a sign at a concentration camp."
   BZZZZZT!! Oh, gosh, sorry Newt, but thanks anyway for playing "World's Dumbest Analogies"!

   You know what is is like? It's like Japanese living near Pearl Harbor. It's almost exactly like that. The people we're talking about were there before it happened, have been there ever since and they personally had nothing at all to do with the attack. Yet there they are!!! Somebody alert Glen Beck, he'll want to get right on this OUTRAGE!