Allow me to get on my soapbox for a minute...

Preface: In college, I came to the conclusion that you don't do yourself any favors by being ignorant. When I restarted this blog, I told myself I'd start writing about politics and serious subjects, in addition to the fluffy stuff. I purposely made the layout more friendly to the fluffy stuff, in part because I wanted to present such things to people who wouldn't normally care about such things. I can kind of understand why people don't care about politics or feel that it is beyond their control, but I feel that such an attitude is generally inexcusable. Roll your eyes as you will at the talking heads on the news networks or politicians in an election year (like this year!), but the things they do and say affect everyday people, including you and I. To me, choosing to be ignorant or apathetic about politics/current events/why shit matters is the same as choosing to let people walk all over you, because you've taken yourself out of the conversation and taken away your own voice. Even worse, in some instances you've made yourself unavailable to help others.

This so-called "Ground Zero Mosque" has been a big shitstorm for a little while, and I find the discussion fairly ridiculous. It's not a mosque, it's not at Ground Zero, and it shouldn't be a big deal. It's a community center, currently named Park 51, that happens to be run by a group of Muslims. This is America, and everyone gets to practice whatever religion they see fit to practice. Your relationship with your higher power or whatever is your business, not mine. If you own land, you get to build whatever you want on it.

Those responsible for the 9/11 attacks were part of a militant Islamic group, and I'm pretty sure most Muslims want nothing to do with those guys. Grouping all the many branches of Islam* together and labeling them all violent jihadists is like saying every Christian church is like the Westboro Baptist Church (the group that protests everything and everyone with signs like GOD HATES FAGS, they're pleasant). But the discussion on TV and on the internet will inevitably affect everyday people, and that's what really bothers me. All the hatred and fear that gets stirred up with such inflamed discussion of Islam or Ground Zero or Al Qaeda affects people who just want to go about their lives and be happy. There's enough racism and xenophobia and fear already out there, why would you want to make it worse?

My dear Japanese grandmother experienced stuff like that after Pearl Harbor was attacked. She's told me people would hurl racial insults at her or treat her badly just for being Japanese, despite having brothers who fought in the war for America. I can't help but assume that Muslims go through that kind of crap everyday after 9/11, even though a few hundred victims of the attack were Muslim. Given the extent of the news coverage of this community center, I'd bet that innocent people using Park 51 for knitting class or playing basketball or prayer will get harassed, too. It's not fair.

I have no big influence on this issue, but I can put my two cents out on the internet and hope maybe someone thinks about it a moment after reading this post.


*Fun semi-related fact: Jesus is totally in the Qur'an! Check out the Wiki page.