by Eric Martin
Nicole Belle attempts to beat back some of the misinformation surrounding the GOP's recent cause celebre: opposition to the expansion of the community center run by a moderate Muslim group a few blocks from the World Trade Center.
First and foremost, the Cordoba House is not a mosque as Muslims generally use the term. There will be no minarets, no calls to prayer. It is a cultural center, which will include a prayer room. From their website:
This proposed project is about promoting integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion through arts and culture. Cordoba House will provide a place where individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, will find a center of learning, art and culture; and most importantly, a center guided by Islamic values in their truest form - compassion, generosity, and respect for all.
The site will contain tremendous amounts of resources that otherwise would not exist in Lower Manhattan; a 500-seat auditorium, swimming pool, art exhibition spaces, bookstores, restaurants - all these services would form a cultural nexus for a region of New York City that, as it continues to grow, requires the sort of hub that Cordoba House will provide.
That sounds really insensitive, doesn't it? The Cordoba House is planned along the same lines as the nearby 92nd St Y, which offers Jewish cultural events through out the year.
Secondly, it's not at Ground Zero. It's two blocks away and the thirteen story building will be dwarfed by the 105 story Freedom Tower and 9/11 Memorial and Museum that are actually being built at Ground Zero.
I'd add a couple of thoughts to this: First, as a friend reminded me recently, it's time to retire the "Ground Zero" phrase as the way to describe the World Trade Center site. It's been almost ten years since the attack, and with construction underway, it is time to put down the langauge of the siege. This is something that I will aspire to.
Semantic quibbles aside, the Cordoba community center site is two blocks north of the WTC (along West Broadway) and a half block to the east, with several large buildings in its line of sight (including the rather large Barclay Towers apartment building). In other words, it is unlikely that anything other than glimpses of the taller World Trade Center buildings, with head tilted upward sharply, will be possible from the site in question.
So the proposed site is not "at" the WTC site, nor does it "overlook" it. Not that it should matter if the Cordoba site was directly adjacent, but it is telling that opponents of the Cordoba project exaggerate for effect. Back to Belle:
Thirdly, and it's embarrassing to see Americans once again championing ignorance, but Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the chairman of the Cordoba House, is a Sufi. Al Qaeda is Sunni (actually, more accurately Wahabi) and consider Sufis apostates. Al Qaeda has less tolerance for Imam Rauf than Sarah Palin, as frightening as that is to consider.
And finally, as much as it pains me to have to point out something so obvious, it was not just Christians and Jews who died on 9/11, any more than it was...just Americans. And the Muslims who live and wish to gather in New York at the Cordoba House are more than likely Americans. You know, with their Constitutionally-protected right to practice the faith of their choice. Do they not deserve a chance to heal from this tragedy as well?
Apparently not, according to some.
UPDATE: Matt Duss makes the point that the Cordoba issue is a question about fealty to American values, and the durability thereof. Marc Lynch is also spot-on:
It's not just the clear national security imperative to build strong, positive relations with Muslims at home and abroad, and to avoid strengthening al-Qaeda's narrative of a clash of civilizations. It's not just about the security needs in counter-terrorism, where the Muslim-Americans most offended by right-wing bigotry are the main bulwark against radicalization in their communities. It's that the right-wing campaigns are so deeply and fundamentally contrary to American values. America is exceptional for its acceptance of faith in public life and for its tolerance of different religions within a common national identity. While the GOP base may thrill at the escalating anti-Islamic rhetoric, most mainstream Americans will recoil when this hits prime time. It may not look like it right now, but I think that the rising anti-Islamic trend on the right will backfire by highlighting its true extremism, if not downright lunacy.
That remains to be seen. Although it is likely that, long term, this is a losing strategy, just as the Southern Strategy has weakened the GOP's demographic base going forward, it could provide a short term boost. Recall, the Southern Strategy paid dividends for decades.
This town, it's f*@king insane...
Posted by: Larv | August 02, 2010 at 02:43 PM
Thanks. This is what I've been trying to get across to anyone who will listen. I fear the "Ground Zero mosque" frame is too widely ingrained at this point, however.
Posted by: Enrique Arroyo | August 02, 2010 at 02:45 PM
Good catch Larv.
Posted by: Eric Martin | August 02, 2010 at 02:48 PM
This town, it's f*@king insane...
Larv, I was this close to pouncing on this with "Hey, don't blame 'this town,' I resent that, a majority of people here in Manhattan actually approve of the Center, and it's all being stirred up by a bunch of politicians who don't give two sh*ts about NYC, they just wanna yadda yadda..."
And then I thought there might be something else going on with your comment.
Good thing I googled.
Posted by: Uncle Kvetch | August 02, 2010 at 03:05 PM
I have to admit I was sort of trolling for just such a indignant response, UK. I could have also gone with "Big city, it's a living hell".
Eric, good title. Energy might be my favorite album ever. I usually have to think about your titles, but as soon as I read that one my brain added "...spiderweb across the land like a giant rash". I can't tell you how old it makes me feel to realize that album is more than 20 years old.
Posted by: Larv | August 02, 2010 at 04:08 PM
This whole thing is as weird and unexpected to me as an attempt to bar the construction of a synagogue would be, or an open statement that you should vote against Obama because he's black. It's such a throwback.
Posted by: Jacob Davies | August 02, 2010 at 06:42 PM
Same script, different year; the Repubs always find some sort of boogeyman other to prop up at election time. Reagan's commercial about the Russian Bear, Bush I's Willie Horton, the Welfare Queen, Ice T and Cop Killer, and waves of job paranoia involving immigrants all come from the same place.
The Republicans create an other for their base, and it usually isn't too difficult for people to get frightened and look for the GOP for protection.
I'm a doctor, and I take Medicare, and as a result I have a number of older patients. I had people in TEARS in 2008 at the thought of Obama emptying the prisons, refusing to punish black crimes against whites, and stealing from them to pay blacks for their suffering. One woman was planning to move in with her son for protection.
The Republicans do this because IT WORKS. It plays on peoples fears and gets them to vote for a party that otherwise might not have much to offer them. People can be manipulated, and all the facts in the world won't make a difference to them. There are people out there who listen to hours of Right Wing Radio, with no other source for news, no counterbalance to this bigotry. They hear it at church, from their friends and neighbors, and never look for another point of view.
Posted by: Jim Reuther | August 02, 2010 at 07:29 PM
While I agree wholeheartedly with the conclusion, I find this point of dubious value:
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf [...] is a Sufi. Al Qaeda is Sunni (actually, more accurately Wahabi) and consider Sufis apostates.
Substitute Khamenei and Shia for Rauf and Sufi, and you still have a true statement. It's not in itself much of a recommendation.
Posted by: Mike Schilling | August 02, 2010 at 07:32 PM
It's not in itself much of a recommendation.
Sufis: lovers, not fighters. Hence, the relevance.
It's such a throwback.
We're Americans. We recapitulate our political ontogeny on a daily basis.
No surprises there.
Seriously, Cordoba should have just done the paperwork, hired their contractors, and built the damned thing without making any public announcement. Nobody would have known or cared that there was a Muslim-sponsored community center two blocks away from the WTC site.
They wanted to extend a hand of friendship. They weren't counting on the flying monkeys.
Posted by: russell | August 02, 2010 at 07:55 PM
But no one expects
the Spanish Inquisitionthe flying monkeys!Posted by: RogueDem | August 03, 2010 at 01:39 AM
It's not in itself much of a recommendation
No, but it hollows out the suggestion that the expansion of the Cordoba site would be treated as a victory by al-Qaeda and other Sunni, Salafist extremists.
Posted by: Eric Martin | August 03, 2010 at 06:47 AM
Larv: I haven't stoppped listening since my junior/senior year in HS.
Still a good choise if you're looking for a boost of, well, energy
Posted by: Eric Martin | August 03, 2010 at 09:37 AM
Seriously, Cordoba should have just done the paperwork, hired their contractors, and built the damned thing without making any public announcement.
I'm pretty sure you can't do that in New York without going through a permitting process that includes the opportunity for community input, even if you don't need a zoning variance. Of course they could have just called it something else, like Happy Funtime Puppy Land (Now with Ice Cream!) and left the Islam part out until the grand opening.
Posted by: Hogan | August 03, 2010 at 10:07 AM
I'm pretty sure you can't do that in New York without going through a permitting process that includes the opportunity for community input
Yeah, that's probably true.
No matter what these guys did, they were in for the full shriekdown, because they're Muslim and they want to do anything at all in the general neighborhood of the WTC site.
Remember the proposed memorial in Shanksville? It was CRESCENT SHAPED and oriented toward MECCA!!!!!!
I appreciate that lots of people were freaked out by 9/11. We all were. But at a certain point you have to move on with life.
Paranoia strikes deep.
Posted by: russell | August 03, 2010 at 11:12 AM
My favorite bit has been the discussion I've seen at least twice:
"How would you feel about a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor, huh?!"
"Dude, there *is* a Shinto shrine at Pearl Harbor."
Posted by: Hogan | August 03, 2010 at 11:35 AM
But how does that make you feel?
;)
Posted by: Eric Martin | August 03, 2010 at 11:48 AM
Guardedly optimistic. Also, hungry.
Posted by: Hogan | August 03, 2010 at 12:15 PM
Sounds like someone needs some meatloaf.
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | August 03, 2010 at 12:27 PM
Alas, today I'll have to make do with leftover orange chicken and green beans. Straight white men just can't catch a break in this country, amirite guys?
Posted by: Hogan | August 03, 2010 at 12:51 PM
Sounds like someone needs some Meatloaf
Sorry, but somebody had to do it.
Posted by: russell | August 03, 2010 at 03:06 PM
It's Meat Loaf, two words. He's very insistent on that. :)
Posted by: Nate | August 03, 2010 at 04:25 PM
As in "Don't let your meat loaf."
Posted by: hairshirthedonist | August 03, 2010 at 04:38 PM
When you lie down with dopes, you tend to stand up stupid
Likewise, I'm sure. Nice to meet you.
To claim the new structure will contain a 'prayer room' and not a mosque is a deceptive attempt to de-emphasize the Islamic religious aspect of the project.
It's a religious and cultural center being built by Moslems. Moslems will attend it, will pray there, and it will no doubt have a strong religious aspect.
Call it a mosque, call it whatever you like, I don't really give a crap.
I don't care if they build a mosque dead center on the site of old WTC buildings. It would, no doubt, upset some folks, but there is absolutely nothing that the Muslim community in the USA can do that isn't going to upset some folks.
That sucks, but that's the reality. I'm sure they're used to it by now, and I'm sure they've learned to just carry on in spite of all of the people who fear and hate them.
There are billion and a half Muslims in the world. There are a couple million Muslims in the US. There are about 650,000 Muslims in New York State. I don't know exactly how many Muslims are in NYC, but it is no doubt tens if not hundreds of thousands.
Muslims live here. They've lived here for years and years and years. You probably know some, or at least encounter some every day as you go about your business.
They're not out to get you.
Give it a rest.
Posted by: russell | August 03, 2010 at 05:30 PM
Russell: I deleted the comment from Jay Jerome. Apologies if it makes your response harder to follow, but worth it in the end I would say.
Posted by: Eric Martin | August 03, 2010 at 05:32 PM
crap, I shoulda known it was Jay.
Posted by: russell | August 03, 2010 at 05:50 PM
actually, if it was Jay, maybe they *are* out to get him.
Posted by: russell | August 03, 2010 at 05:51 PM
Bloomberg spot on on this one. Link at sig.
Posted by: Enrique Arroyo | August 03, 2010 at 07:46 PM
They are just normal people like you and me who are trying to make a living and don't need their lives making harder by ignorant fools.
Posted by: Garys shotcrete | August 04, 2010 at 03:03 AM