I must say that this ad leaves me almost speechless with rage:
Just to be clear, the plan for the proposed community center, to be called Park51, does not, as the ad, which was paid for by something called the National Republican Trust PAC, might suggest, actually involve spiking a minaret into some smoldering ruins, to the sound of masked men cackling. (“Where we weep, they rejoice.”) It would be on the site of a defunct Burlington Coat Factory, on Park Place, two blocks away from Ground Zero. In the same vicinity, there are several fast-food places, bagel shops, banks, shoe stores, a movie theatre, a couple of churches, at least one gentleman’s club, and, even nearer, Century 21, the discount department store.
I do not mean—I hope this is obvious—to call for an expulsion of strip clubs or designer-sale free-for-alls from the zone around Ground Zero, but to point out that the area is a busy, living neighborhood that has flourished since and in defiance of the terrorist attacks. (It is home, among other things, to a great Little League, on whose fields there is, depending on how the games go, both weeping and rejoicing.) A mosque near Ground Zero is not, as the ad says, a way to “celebrate that murder,” but a celebration and sign of everyday life, and the way it continues, as well it should. Downtown is a community, one in which Muslims live. Why on earth shouldn’t there be an Islamic community center?
Or are these people against mosques in general, anywhere? Should Muslims not live downtown, not worship downtown, or not worship at all? How would the supporters of the National Republican Trust PAC propose to enforce that? And what country do they think they are living in?
The ad also says that the mosque would be “a monument to their victory.” But who says that they—whoever “they” are; it’s never really specified—are the victors? We were challenged and hurt by September 11th, but we certainly weren’t beaten. The only way that would be true is if we take on an aspect of defeatism and panic, and forget who we are.
We haven’t yet. The community center has been approved by the community board—it just needs to get past the landmarks commission—and has the support of local politicians, including Mayor Bloomberg. (“I think our young men and women overseas are fighting for exactly this—for the right of people to practice their religion and for government to not pick and choose which religions they support, which religions they don’t,” Bloomberg said.) So it is not only infuriating but a little alarming that the video concludes that “the politicians are doing nothing to stop it” but “we Americans will be heard.” Then these title cards:
Who cares what the National Republican Trust PAC says? Unfortunately, the campaign against the mosque has gotten a depressing amount of publicity. Sarah Palin has joined in, although her tweet on the subject may be best remembered for the invention of the word “refudiate.” (That’s what Palin was saying “peaceful Muslims” should do to the community center.) In an interview on the Fox Radio show “Kilmeade and Friends” Scott Wheeler, the executive director of the PAC, told Brian Kilmeade that his opposition to the mosque “doesn’t really have a lot to do with politics.” (Funny, then, that the ad opens with the title card, “The Audacity of Jihad.”) “And these idiots in New York approved it,” Kilmeade said. Yes, we did, and with pride.
