When enough is enough and yet isn’t
Last week our President decided to weigh in on the mosque that is proposed to be built near Ground Zero in NYC.
He said he was in favor of the mosque being built.
A couple of days later (after receiving unfavorable polling results I assume), he spoke on the subject again and said that it was legal for the mosque to be built and that he wasn’t speaking on whether it was right.
My first objection is that he said anything at all. Just because someone us the president doesn’t mean that they have to weigh in on everything (Snookie, Lindsay Lohan, etc).
My second problem with his comments is that I don’t think one person is arguing with the fact that the mosque can be built legally as far as zoning and real estate law are concerned.
The issue is that it’s a question of tact and our country taking on the role of “Thank you sir, may I have another?”
Many people preach that our nation is a nation of tolerance and then spew on about the fact that we are a melting pot.
But we are NOT a melting pot as a nation anymore.
What the United States has become is the global subway system but not everyone pays the fare. Lots of folks jump the turnstile but still use the service, where in the old days we were the bus where every rider paid and THEN got on and headed for their destination.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against immigration. I am against illegal immigration. It’s right there in the name despite efforts to refer to the folks that do it as “undocumented workers.” That’s meant to distract us from the truth.
If I drive without insurance, instead of being fined and/or jailed, can I just call myself an undocumented driver?
Of course not.
The other really important difference between the past and now is that, in the past, that meant that the incoming parties assimilated themselves into our culture and our society.
Now, there is no assimilation. By and large the new version is isolationism. Work illegally, pay no taxes, get free education and health care and other services but send the money home.
and forget tolerance from anyone BUT Americans. Film makers no longer write Arabs or “Palestinians” as bad guys, lest folks get their panties wadded up about stereotypes and profiling, yet we can use Nazis and Americans and any other group.
Further, we cannot joke or make fun of or criticize Moslems or, God forbid, draw satirical comics about them. Anyone else? Sure. But don’t upset the Muslims. Even though they burn our flag, our presidents I effigy and the bodies of our dead servicemen.
And that takes me back to the reason for this post and the Ground Zero mosque.
Of course the folks interested in building the mosque have the right to build it. I have the right to do Many things that would offend those around me. But I choose not to out of tact and good taste.
Why can’t this group say “You know what? I understand that even though we peaceful Muslims had nothing to do with 9/11, it would still be in poor taste to build a house of worship in the shadow of that site where folks worship the God I’m whose name the terrorists committed those horrid and unforgivable acts. We’ll find another site that suits our needs and and doesn’t put unnecessary strains on our relationship with the community.”
Why is that so hard to understand?
Because that’s not what the “offended” really want.
They want to push and push and take and take, and it will never be enough.
Someone very educated regarding the trouble in the Middle East told me a story once regarding the Palestinian statements that if Israel gave the their land back, they’d just leave the Jews alone.
He said that compared to the Muslim inhabited land, Israel is but a matchbook in the middle of a football field.
I’m getting close to done with our nation, it’s leaders (and other nations) using the “turn the other cheek” approach to illegal aliens AND terrorists and extremists.
In the 1900′s, this nation needed people to come here and build a society and a culture and a populous. We don’t need immigration for that reason anymore.
It’s time for us as a nation to stand up and let folks know the difference between your right to do something and the necessity of that something.
It’s also time for us as a nation to be offended and stop being so tolerant of those that live among us yet criticize us, our nation and our way of life at every turn.