Elisabella
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quote:
ORIGINAL: FirmhandKY
The problem I have with your attitude, and the attitude of many of the posters who seem to support this same point of view, is that there seems to be a couple of unspoken corollaries to your basic "get over it" message.
These corollaries seems to be "shut up and sit down" and "suffer in silence".
Ah not quite. More like "what now?"
People are hurt and offended...do they want to stay that way? What are they going to do about it? What course of action will they take in response?
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Some - such as you - seem to be willing to grudgingly admit that people who do not wish the mosque to be built have a right to their opinion ... as long as they shut up about it and seek help privately.
Ah I'm talking to two groups of people though. The people who I think should really seek help are the people who are hurting over this, who are grieving dead loved ones, I understand where they're coming from. I might sound snotty but I do think speaking to a grief counselor, if needed, and trying to move past the white hot searing pain into something more bearable, more livable, is the best advice I can give to those people.
The other group...the ones who are vocal about how the mosque shouldn't be built because it's insensitive...the ones waving "sensitivity" like a banner justifying their own insensitivity, I have far less time for.
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Others simply attack anyone who believes that the mosque should not be built, calling them "racists" and "Islamophobs", and deny even the possiblity that someone has a right to a contrary opinion.
The word that comes to my mind is "hypocrites" - what could be more cruel than telling a group of innocent American civilians that they have so much in common with violent, mass murdering terrorists that their very presence is traumatic? And this, while preaching sensitivity?
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I think both attitudes point to a grave lack of understanding about morality and humanity, and point to symptoms of an underlying cruelty and callousness. Or, at least a "tone deafness" to the realities of the human condition.
I agree.
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From my perspective, it's not a legal issue. If the builders have the permits and such, then there is no question that they can build whatever they want, where-ever they want.
But is it the "right" thing to do?
Building the mosque? Honestly, I don't care either way, if it's built or not built. I'm not Muslim, I don't live in NY, I'll never visit this facility.
What I think is far more important is peoples' reactions, the precedent they are setting.
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I also think this can be explored further, and think Tazzy has an excellent point that you so quickly dismiss without deeper reflection.
Which point is that? The point about the abolitionists and the suffragettes? I didn't dismiss that...I was serious when I said I did not understand the point she was making. I don't see the parallel between PTSD over an act of terrorism and a coordinated effort to fight moral injustice.
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When slavery was legal in the colonies, and then the United States, it was also "a legal issue". Slavery was perfectly legal within the laws of the areas in which it was practiced.
But some people were "offended" by it, or found it "insensitive".
Apparently, according to your beliefs, they should have "shut up and sit down" or "seek help". There were no "deeper moral issues" involved. Slaves were property, pure and simple.
Eventually, those who didn't see it as simply a legal issue ensured that the legal yet morally indefensible condition of slavery was eliminated from the US.
The same with the right of women to vote.
Yes, yes, you disclaim ... but what "deeper moral issue" is involved here!? You see none!
And that is the problem. You and the others who see no "deeper moral issue" are either morally tone deaf, ideological partisans, or simply haven't reflected enough to see the issues.
I don't suspect that will change. I don't expect you (plural, generic) to see it.
Doesn't mean it ain't so.
As I told Tazzy, if she really believes there is a deeper moral issue, she should continue to fight for what she believes in. I'll say the same to you. But in each of those cases, there were deeper issues than sensitivity. They were about human rights.
I don't see this as a moral issue, at least not in the way you seem to be presenting it. To me it's about emotions running high due to surface similarities between two unrelated groups - the terrorists who murdered thousands of people in 2001 and the community who wants to practice a minority religion, today, 9 years later.
Look, all debate aside - I saw on another thread, someone posted that "tolerance and acceptance led to the Holocaust" with the implication that fear-mongering against a minority religion and nationalism fed by the tearing open of old wounds would be the solution. I'm not going to debate the idiosyncrasies of what her words might really have meant, if you think I'm reading it wrong just dismiss this last paragraph...speaking from the heart here, I'm scared for the future of America, I'm scared that reckless emotion will eat away at everything that country could be.
I'm in Australia now. I should wash my hands of it all. I don't know why I even care.
< Message edited by Elisabella -- 9/14/2010 1:51:18 AM >
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RE: How to overcome being easily offended - 
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