It all started with Pam Geller who writes the blog, Atlas Shrugs 2000. (I'm not going to give you a link to her blog. You're better off not knowing about it if you don't already. As the old saying goes, if you don't want to associate with the Devil, then don't invite him in.) Don't know who she is? The best description I've found is here, on "Loon Watch." She will say anything and do anything for attention, and money, since her blog has advertisers who pay her and she is vehemently racist. Her latest target just happen to be Muslim, who could be anyone, and Arab, who may not be Muslim. Both she and her advertisers like what she does because she is so outrageous that all of the crazy conspiracy theorist read her blog. Before she wrote her "conspiracy theory" article on the Mosque, nobody was paying any attention to it (the Mosque), not even Fox News, who had given the whole story of the Cordoba House a shrug. But, a few loons who read Geller's blog, such as Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, picked up on the story and off it went into viral mode. From there, Fox News backtracked and its loony bins, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O'Rielly picked up on it, then Rush Limbaugh and now the virus has spread to the more "normal," albeit right-leaning, talk show hosts and opinion editors who usually keep there heads. Not anymore.
And, everything being said sounds sssoooo reasonable and logical that now we have 70% of the country against the "Oh My God! Terrorist Center - Ground Zero" Mosque and in other parts of the country people are picketing and demonstrating against mosques and good friends on Facebook are showing their so-called patriotism by publishing Toby Keith's latest oh so proud nationalistic clap trap. And, there is not one scintilla of evidence that supports any of the rage or hate. What started out by a bigot is now being used for political purposes to exploit fear, bigotry and hate and it is all paranoia, emotion and fear.
And, you know you're wrong. At least I hope you know you're wrong, or else we continue the meltdown into anarchy. Mob rule has never worked. Rule based on emotion and fear has never worked. In every case I've read about, the ultimate end of fear and emotion appears to be war, and we don't need to look any farther back than the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq to prove that point. But, you can go back as far as you want into any country who has ever gone to war, any war. It is all foolishness.
The issue has to do with the First Amendment to the Constitution and, unless you've been asleep or dead, you've already heard that. If you are among the 70%, then you've brushed that aside saying, "BUT," this or that. But, in this case, we should be "sensitive." But, in this case, we can't have a "terrorist training center" in New York. But, in this case, blah, blah, blah. I've even heard, "...the Constitution was written so long ago that it needs to be changed." If you believe that, then you're really out to lunch. The biggest and most meaningful "But" is, however, that all of the arguments against the Mosque are all nonsense.
The First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
In the days when this was written, the Jews were the "other" religion most hated and subjected to every kind of discrimination their neighbors could think up and there were no Jews among those who had the most to do with writing the Constitution. They were, after all, the ones who "killed" Jesus. You've heard that before. In fact, of those men who had the most influence in writing the Constitution, most were Christians, and a few could have been considered "devout" or even "fundamentalist" Christians. One wonders, then, how they could have given so much freedom to "other" religions? Especially to the Jewish religion. I happen to believe that it was their knowledge, and perhaps fear, of what they called "the beast," their term for the "mob," that was more inclined to be filled with passionate emotions and fear than reason. It turns out that they, the writers, were all very well read and had a deep knowledge of history, especially in regards to human behavior. They knew that the beast cannot rule because it goes this way one moment and the other way the next, all based on emotion. John Adams, probably the most influential in the final draft of the Constitution said, "Reason holds the helm, and passions are the gales." But, it appears that today, passions are the hurricanes and reason can no longer hold the helm. The seas are too rough. The Great Meltdown of America has started or is well underway.
So, whatever your reason is for not allowing the Mosque to be built, you need to let it be built, otherwise we've lost our way. In fact, following the likes of Pam Geller should make you ashamed of yourselves. The other question is if it's Muslims we hate now, who is next? Hindus? Buddhists? Those who don't go to church? Or, do we go back to hating the Jews again? You lost me when you joined the beast on this path. I won't follow the meltdown.
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment