Where should the new NYC mosque be built?

[bush_cheney2004]

I should hope so. If not, then what difference does it make which side I'm on?

Sounds like you want to be on the "superior" side, even if the "enemy" is/are Muslims.

[Machjo]

Sounds like you want to be on the "superior" side, even if the "enemy" is/are Muslims.

Seeing that I don't profess Is;am, I therefore cannot really be a Muslim. So I don't really get to choose side in that sense. I am what I am. So I suppose that if our side did descend into Barbary, all I could do would be to try to pull it out of Barbary.

I guess a good example is that of Haseawa Teru. She fought on the Chinese side though she herself was Japanese. She did not do it for profit of any kind but rather because she knew her side, Japan, was in the wrong, and as a patriot, owing to her love for her country, she felt she had to fight against that injustice.

Today, though many Chinese hate Japan and the Japanese people, many of those Chinese who know her story are more inclined to not lump the Japanese together. Thus, by having chosen to fight for justice rather than any particular country, she has helped to elevate her country today in the minds of some Chinese.

I guess another way of looking at it is that we are more critical of those we love or identify with. Since I do love Canada, naturally I'm more likely to expect Canada to live up to the highest standards.

[Bonam]

Seeing that I don't profess Is;am, I therefore cannot really be a Muslim. So I don't really get to choose side in that sense. I am what I am.

On the contrary, conversion to Islam is a fairly quick and simple process. Additionally, one can certainly "side" with Muslims without converting to Islam. You have every choice you could want in this regard.

[Shady]

Using some of the same twisted logic I've read in this forum:

There can never be such a thing as a racist Tea Party member. Because the Tea Party took a vow against racism. So any racist Tea Party member isn't a real Tea Party member.

And there can never be such a thing as an adulterous Republican. Because any Republican that commits adultery can't be a real Republican. Because Republicans stand for values n such.

And there can never be such a thing as a pedophile priest. Because any real priest would never molest a child. Therefore, it isn't a real priest.

And so on, and so on.

Anyways, I was thinking. George W Bush should build his Presidential Library at ground zero instead of in Texas. And nobody should complain right? Because he has the right to.

[bush_cheney2004]

Seeing that I don't profess Is;am, I therefore cannot really be a Muslim. So I don't really get to choose side in that sense. I am what I am. So I suppose that if our side did descend into Barbary, all I could do would be to try to pull it out of Barbary.

You have been trapped by the same error....assumed superiority. There is a reason we call the enemy...."enemy"....the outcome of the conflict will demonstrate any practical "superiority".

Today, though many Chinese hate Japan and the Japanese people, many of those Chinese who know her story are more inclined to not lump the Japanese together. Thus, by having chosen to fight for justice rather than any particular country, she has helped to elevate her country today in the minds of some Chinese.

So using your logic, many Chinese are incapable of understanding such a distinction. Who else do you wish to judge today? You're on a roll!

I guess another way of looking at it is that we are more critical of those we love or identify with. Since I do love Canada, naturally I'm more likely to expect Canada to live up to the highest standards.

But it doesn't...and you already know that. Canada lives up to standards that are in its best interest, just like any other nation state.

[capricorn]

Seeing that some think building the mosque 2 blocks away from ground Zero is too close, I'd like to know how far away we think the mosque should be built so as to avoid offense.

Feel free to comment.

Wasn't there a Catholic church destroyed at ground zero? If so, it would surprise me that the Muslims would pass up the opportunity to build their mosque on that very site. This is what religions have been doing over the centuries. Build on sites previously occupied by other religions as a form of conquest.

[Shady]

I also think the Republican National Committee should build a new headquarters at ground zero.

[bush_cheney2004]

...Anyways, I was thinking. George W Bush should build his Presidential Library at ground zero instead of in Texas. And nobody should complain right? Because he has the right to.

Damn! I like that idea even better, and will pledge 50% of all donations to the B-29 Museum now under construction in Nagasaki.

[Bonam]

I still think this is the best use for the site:

http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/0/V/P/newwtc2.jpg

[Guest TrueMetis]

I think the fact this issue is causing so much controversy and bad feeling is a pretty good indicator that it is a bad idea. It won't heal anything. Quite the contrary and I think those who are promoting it are displaying at the least, poor judgment.

Uh what about de-segregation? That caused a lot of controversy and bad feeling, should they have not done it? When the f*ck did controversy become a bad thing?

The terrorists already started their "holy war". The choice that remains to us is whether to fight back or to submit.

Note that this reply is not in regards to the NYC mosque, but to the specific statement quoted.

Why bother with either? The terrorists aren't exactly hugely powerful. The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken. They've got nothing. When they get the ability to kill more people than car crashes do in a year then I'll be worried.

[Bonam]

Why bother with either? The terrorists aren't exactly hugely powerful. The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken. They've got nothing. When they get the ability to kill more people than car crashes do in a year then I'll be worried.

What? You are inclined to do nothing to stop terrorists, you are not worried, until they kill more than 1.2 million people per year?

Edited August 8, 2010 by Bonam

[DogOnPorch]

Why bother with either? The terrorists aren't exactly hugely powerful. The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken. They've got nothing. When they get the ability to kill more people than car crashes do in a year then I'll be worried.

Do you really think that's a good tactic to use?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VX_(nerve_agent)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smallpox

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapon

[DogOnPorch]

What? You are inclined to do nothing to stop terrorists, you are not worried, until they kill more than 1.2 million people per year?

what he said...

[capricorn]

Why bother with either? The terrorists aren't exactly hugely powerful. The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken. They've got nothing.

That's what everybody thought until Richard Reid the shoe bomber armed his shoes. Now we all have to take off our footwear before boarding a flight. What's next?

When they get the ability to kill more people than car crashes do in a year then I'll be worried.

I am more likely to be kept awake at night by 3,000 people killed in a single terrorist attack that 3,000 people a year killed in car accidents.

[Guest TrueMetis]

What? You are inclined to do nothing to stop terrorists, you are not worried, until they kill more than 1.2 million people per year?

When did I say nothing? pretty sure what I said was.

The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken.

[bush_cheney2004]

When did I say nothing? pretty sure what I said was.

Better still...hijacked aircraft have killed far fewer than motor vehicle homicides....why even bother to do that in your parametric approach?

[Bonam]

When did I say nothing? pretty sure what I said was.

The really useful steps to stop them from hijacking planes again have already been taken.

Hijacking planes is hardly the only concern that terrorists pose. I also still find it disturbing that until terrorists kill 1.2 million people per year it "doesn't concern you"... how many must die for you to take notice?

[Guest TrueMetis]

Hijacking planes is hardly the only concern that terrorists pose. I also still find it disturbing that until terrorists kill 1.2 million people per year it "doesn't concern you"... how many must die for you to take notice?

When they start actually being a threat, then I'll notice.

[DogOnPorch]

When they start actually being a threat, then I'll notice.

Or not if you're too close.

[Guest TrueMetis]

Or not if you're too close.

If they attack where I live we can add seriously incompetent to the list.

[Sir Bandelot]

I put three blocks away because, it's one block further than where it is now. So long as it's not in a building that was damaged by 9-11, that should appease the people who are against muslims.

And it illustrates this point for the ones who are set against this mosque- it does not really matter where mosques are built. Muslims will still go there to pray to Allah. All kinds of muslims. So move the mosque one block, and there it is. Like the saying goes, if the mountain will not come to Muhammad...

[DogOnPorch]

If they attack where I live we can add seriously incompetent to the list.

The larger the centre you live-in or visit, the higher the chances of terrorism being an event in your life. That's a no brainer. Smallpox would, of course, not care where you live.

[Guest TrueMetis]

The larger the centre you live-in or visit, the higher the chances of terrorism being an event in your life. That's a no brainer. Smallpox would, of course, not care where you live.

And yet the chances are still so small that worrying about it at all is pretty much pointless. Smallpox would care where I live as there aren't any samples in Canada.

Edited August 9, 2010 by TrueMetis

[DogOnPorch]

And yet the chances are still so small that worrying about it at all is pretty much pointless. Smallpox would care where I live as there aren't any samples in Canada.

Weaponized smallpox exists still in the former Soviet Union in vast quantities. Turned out while the Americans were getting rid of their biological weapons, the Soviets decided to push ahead with mass inoculations for the deadliest forms of variola and mass produce a strain called India 1967. Need I say what a yummy prize some of that nasty stuff would be for terrorists.

It's located here...poorly guarded. Once an island...no longer an island.

Re: the chances of a terror attack. Once you've been involved in one, those slim chances mean nothing.

[Jack Weber]

If they attack where I live we can add seriously incompetent to the list.

Now that's funny....