I am against building an Islamic community center near ground zero. I am not of the opinion that the government should step in and stop this from happening, and I am not against it because OMG MUSLIMS ARE RUBBIN R NOSES IN IT. I am against it because I think it’s a terrible PR move for the muslims in question. I think if they put aside all the we-have-the-right stuff (which is of course absolutely true) and instead look at the actual ramifications of the decision, they might well agree that this is a move that most in the area will consider tacky and mean-spirited.

Personally, I don’t think that’s the case. It’s entirely possible, mind you, but if that were the case then the choice of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is a poor one. From all I’ve heard about him, he has the personal life goal of improving Western culture’s relations with Islam. I’ve seen reports that focus on the fact that some of the money for the community center is coming from Saudi Arabia, and since nine of the 911 terrorists were from there, obviously this is just another attack on the West. To me, that’s patently silly. If they were looking to attack the West with their giant moneybags, they would probably finance real actual terrorist types, rather than a community center run by a moderate.

However, like it or not, people are going to read into this through their own fears. 911 changed a lot of people’s ability to accept Islam as anything more than a religion of psychotic killers. This is foolish. There are many fabulous muslims who have come forward and condemned the terrorists. However, there certainly is validity behind the fear. Militant Islam holds the West as its enemy, and have carried out and attempted a number of attacks upon it. We are bombarded by images of angry Muslims promoting violence and treating the terrorists like martyrs to be emulated. John Q. Public is going to have a hard time with that one.

And the spin doesn’t help. The media, particularly Fox and the other right wing media outlets, are turning this into a massive story where there isn’t one. Honestly, if there weren’t spin doctors screaming about the Islamofascist threat, we wouldn’t give a crap about a mosque being built near the site. But it must have been a slow news day.

Deepak Chopra disagrees, for which I am incredibly grateful. To be fair, he agrees with me on everything I’ve said here, except he believes that since fear of Islamic terrorism is being manipulated, the people should just get over it and be happy. It’s an excellent piece, because I don’t imagine there are that many times Deepak has written anything that didn’t include the word quantum.

For my nickel, they aren’t doing anything wrong building their community center there, but it will be twisted and used as a tool to spread mistrust and fear by the right wing media, and as such it will have an uphill battle bridging any gaps between cultures. And that’s why I think it’s a bad idea.

Jim