Sarah Plain purports to stand for American idealism and power. She lauds American achievement and resilience in every speech she gives. So it’s curious why she– and many other conservatives– oppose the building of a Mosque near ground zero in lower Manhattan:
”Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate… …peace-seeking Muslims to reject the mosque in the interest of national healing. UNNECESSARY provocation.”
Hidden beneath Palin’s egregious command of the English language lies an even bigger issue. Palin openly displayed a hostility toward Americans of Islamic faith–and indeed Muslims around the world. Is there any doubt that on September 11th, a portion of those 3,000 Americans killed were indeed Muslim? Have we moved so far away from American commonality, we don’t bat an eye in the face of blatant bigotry and intolerance? Noah Millman speaks on this:
Some of “them” are “us.” There are American Muslims. There is an – there are various – American Islam(s). That’s just a fact. There are certainly Muslims (mostly non-American) who deny that fact – who want to argue that Muslims in America can have no true loyalty to America, but must be loyal to some imaginary global Islamic communal interest. And there are certainly non-Muslims who would deny that fact in similar terms. But a fact it is. The problem with this Republican line is not so much that it discourages moderate Islam – though obviously the message “no Muslims wanted” is a terrible one – but that it quite blatantly writes American Muslims out of the American people.
We have capitulated to terror so much we’ve surrendered our common sense and devalued our American ideals. American fear actually emboldens radical Islamists, and weakens our resolve to combat real terror. Isolation and intolerance is not a panacea for the battle we’re facing. Conservative line of thinking on this Mosque initiative only serves to highlight our inadequacies in confronting the real enemy of American idealism: American fear.
I thought American principles were stronger than this? Those conservatives who preach strict adherence to Constitutional principles should not do so selectively–they cannot trample first amendment and property rights issues when convenient–and when it benefits their base. Intellectual inconsistency does not seem to be their strong suit. Instead of making the case for American exceptionalism, Palin, Gingrich, et al are indeed doing the opposite– they’re vilifying peaceful Muslims, strengthening the Jihadists, and weakening American power. This is the trifecta of the ill-informed and unenlightened.
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Twitted by Maggie4Obama // Aug 24, 2010 at 9:50 pm
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