17 August 2010 Hallowed Ground

My long-time on-line friend Dwight Holmes posted this link on Face book. His opinion regarding the proposed GZ mosque is much like mine, grounded in a real understanding of the U.S. Constitution, opposed to theocratic fundamentalism of any brand. Thanks, Dwight, for initially posting the link to Daryl Lang’s excellent photo-essay.

http://daryllang.com/blog/4421

“A few photos of stuff the same distance from the World Trade Center as the “Ground Zero Mosque”

In the words of the blogger, Daryl Lang who posted the photo essay linked above:

“What’s my point? A month ago, I wrote about my support for a group of Muslim New Yorkers—whom I consider my neighbors—and their right to put a religious building on a piece of private property in Lower Manhattan. Since then, the debate over the Park51 community center, inaccurately nicknamed the “Ground Zero Mosque,” has jumped from talk radio to mainstream conversation, and turned nasty in the process. Sarah Palin wrote that, “it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project sponsored by such an individual to go forward on such hallowed ground.”

Look at the photos. This neighborhood is not hallowed. The people who live and work here are not obsessed with 9/11. The blocks around Ground Zero are like every other hard-working neighborhood in New York, where Muslims are just another thread of the city fabric.

At this point the only argument against this project is fear, specifically fear of Muslims, and that’s a bigoted, cowardly and completely indefensible position.

Update: Read some samples of reader feedback on this post.

I’ll leave it to anyone who cares to read more of the commentary posted by Mr. Lang. I found it timely and appropriate.

The concept of “hallowed ground” in my thought processes refers most often to a battlefield. It is a place where people fought battles and died for various leaders over political and philosophical ideals that they might or might not have understood at the time they fought and died. The battlefields of the American Revolution meet the criteria, the demise of divine right monarchy and colonialism at the hands of leaders schooled in the Enlightenment and willing to sacrifice their lives to bring about a new nation founded in the principles of the Enlightenment.

The battlefields of the American Civil War are equally hallowed, as they saw the battles that ended slavery in the United States. There’s a terrible emotional impact present at these Civil War battlefields. Regardless of how valuable the land may become to developers, they should always remain undeveloped, a tribute to the men who stood shoulder to shoulder and marched dry-mouthed and shivering into massed musketry and artillery to make their nation a better place.

The WTC hole in the ground, now called Ground Zero, was a commercial site. It remains a commercial site. The deaths of thousands of innocents never were presumed important enough to prevent the site becoming anything but another commercial zone. The value of the land has always outweighed the cultural and social impact of the attacks. In fact, the attacks of September 11 2001 were intended to be a blow to the economy of the U.S. rather than to cause deaths. Those thousands of employees and rescue workers who died were, sadly, collateral damage. If they had all escaped unharmed the financial impact would have remained the same. In keeping with the nature of the location, the site has been presumed to costly to remain hallowed.

That is, until the demagogues of the GOP and the Tea Party mobs saw a means to increase their television ratings and to bring the Christian fundamentalists into positions where they might increase their grasp of political power. Suddenly hate mongering about Islam became the topic of the day for every GOP and Tea Party speaker. Fox News spun lie after lie and reinforced them by mindless repetition. Now, the ground is suddenly sacred, suddenly hallowed. I’ll believe it when the national park signs go up at the perimeter of a new historic park. Until then, I’m sorry for all those people who died at the hands of religious fanatics, who want to control how everyone prays. And I’m sorry for all the hatred being stirred up by religious fanatics who want to control how everyone prays. It’s good thing they call their supreme beings by different names. Otherwise it would be difficult to tell them apart when they kill people who refuse to live and pray the way the killers wish.

The threat of rain is high today. If we’re lucky we’ll get some more rain. Gloria and I broke down and subjected Loki to a bath of sorts this morning. Loki did not appreciate our efforts. We’ll see how long it takes for her to start talking to us again.

Corned beef and cabbage for dinner tonight.