Ground Zero Mosque Part II

Two nights ago, I posted a story arguing why people from outside the Ground Zero area (let alone Alaska, Washington, Albany, or even Westchester County) should not involve themselves in the debate regarding the "Ground Zero Mosque." Now, I will discuss the politics around the issue.

Last week, the National Republican Trust PAC produced an ad that denounced the mosque's construction. CBS and NBC refused to air it.

Later in the week, Sarah Palin endorsed New York Assistant Attorney General Ann Marie Buerkle who is running against freshman Democratic Congressman Dan Maffei for Congress in NY's 25th Congressional District which consists of the Syracuse area. Buerkle is a Tea Party favorite already. It has been hinted that Palin, then to up the ante of her endorsement, then decided to discuss what she felt to be a local issue. On Sunday, she tweeted "Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn't it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate." However, as many people pointed out, "refuidate" is not a word in the English language. Palin later deleted that post and replaced it with "Peace-seeking Muslims, pls understand Ground Zero mosque is UNNECESSARY provocation; it stabs hearts. Pls reject it in the interest of healing." I can't speak for anyone else, but I don't find anything provoking about the Islamic center (nor can I figure out whom it is provoking since "provoke" means to provide a stimulus for a response typically of a confrontational manner). As for healing, I, for one was never hurt. Maybe it is the New York spirit in me, but what doesn't kill me makes me stronger. Was 9/11 a tragedy? Yes. But terrorism aims to invoke terror, if we need time to heal, the terrorists have won.

Later, the former governor humorously tweeted "'Refudiate', 'misunderestimate,' 'wee-wee'd up.'" English is a living language. Shakespeare liked to coin new words too. Got to celebrate it!"

To go off on a small tangent, to be honest, Sarah Palin is no William Shakespeare. Though, I am not an expert in English linguistics, I doubt that there are a dozen writers alive today that match his skill. The brilliance of Shakespeare are the number of ententes he could make in a single sentence, how prop-use and stage direction could be determined from the text, and how his texts were written in such a way that (with a few obvious exceptions like Julius Caesar) the story lines could be used in any time period. The words that Shakespeare invented were used for these causes. It should also be noted that the words were being coined during the early development stages of the Modern English Language; so, of course, the ability to add words would be much simpler. An interesting factoid that I leaned from my English teacher in my senior year in high school is that there are roughly 100,000 words in the English language; the average college graduate knows 10,000; William Shakespeare coined 1,000 words. 1% of the English language versus the "word" "refudiate," and Sarah Palin thinks she has earned the right to compare herself to Shakespeare? Whatever.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has endorsed the proposed Islamic Center, which, I did not learn until this morning is more of a YMCA (complete with community rooms, meeting rooms, a gym, ad a pool). The center's only "mosque" element is a Muslim prayer room.

Following the tweets by Sarah Palin, Bloomberg staffer Andrea Batista Schlesigner took to Twitter herself saying "@SarahPalinUSA whose hearts? Racist hearts?" And, later "@SarahPalinUSA mind your own business." The tweets were later deleted. However, Schlesinger explained herself "Deleted post bc I regretted curt response. But the fact is, I believe this city belongs to everyone - and no one more than another."

Her next tweet said "Unlike @SarahPalinUSA, I was born here and grew up here. Was showing off to a visitor today - look how beautiful and diverse my city is." That tweet personally speaks to how I feel about New York City as well. Once, I had to take an out-of-towner around the city. On an A train, there was a cross-gendered man, I thought nothing of it. My guest, however asked me "Is that a tranny?" I matter-of-factly replied in the affirmative. My guest, however, remained uneasy for the rest of the train ride.

Schlesinger's final response to the former governor read "I felt the pain of 9/11, the trauma. I got through it by believing in my city. Not through fear and hate." That is the New York spirit. I see crazy people on the subway singing randomly "Adam at a party, Adam at a party, Adam at a party, Adam at a cel-e-brat-ion" (as was the case with my commute yesterday morning) and I think to myself "I love New York." We realize that there are much bigger things with which to concern ourselves than petty disagreements, divisions, and judgments.

Bloomberg spokesman Stu Loeser told Politico's Maggie Haberman, in response to Schlesinger's tweets "Andrea was only speaking for herself, she has the right to her own opinions." Yesterday, Mayor Bloomberg said "In terms of her [Schlesinger] comments about Sarah Palin, I don't agree at all. I don't think Sarah Palin is remotely racist." Then, the mayor came to Schlesinger's defense saying that as to Palin's comments about the Islamic Center, he "couldn't disagree more."

Republican NY gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio lately has been attacking his Democratic New York opponent Attorney General Andrew Cuomo for not investigating the funding of the Islamic Center. Cuomo has claimed that he would not investigate based on mere here-say out of respect for freedom of religion. However, Cuomo spokesman Rich Bamberger said "Anyone who has evidence of wrongdoing [as per the funding sources] should send it to us [the Attorney General's Office] and we will review it." Still Lazio is calling the center Cuomo's "trophy mosque"

Interestingly, NY1 did an interview with the Islamic Center's developer, Sharif El-Gamal, and he said that the reason for building the center was, in fact, to spite the terrorists that attacked while highlighting New York's diversity and community. "What happened that day affected me personally, affected my city. I was one of the first people that was down there at 9/11 and for 48 hours I was there helping my heroes, helping the firefighters, the policemen and I was giving water to everyone. What happened that day was a personal attack on me as a New Yorker. Something that I will never forget, never forgive those terrorists for what they did. And those terrorists did not act in the name of Islam. [my emphasis added]" The reason for the Islamic Center, from what I can read from that quote, is to denounce radical Islam and how Islam is a mainstream religion that does not wish to do harm against others. What place better than New York City, two blocks from the World Trade Center, to give the middle-finger to the terrorists by personifying in a building what we believe in as a nation, a city, and a society?

I reiterate, if just because it will irk the terrorists to end because us Americans live in a pluralistic and diverse society and the Islamic Center will be proof-positive of that, I support the project.