Posted on 08/18/2010 6:30:21 AM PDT by detritus
It is hard to imagine that anything has gone unsaid about the so-called Ground Zero mosque, but an important point seems to be missing.
The mosque should be built precisely because we don't like the idea very much. We don't need constitutional protections to be agreeable, after all.
This point surpasses even all the obvious reasons for allowing the mosque, principally that there's no law against it. Precluding any such law, we let people worship when and where they please. That it hurts some people's feelings is, well, irrelevant in a nation of laws. And, really, don't we want to keep it that way?...
...[T]he more compelling point is that mosque opponents may lose by winning. Radical Muslims have set cities afire because their feelings were hurt. When a Muslim murdered filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam, it was because his feelings were hurt. Ditto the Muslims who rioted about cartoons depicting the image of Muhammad and sent frightened doodlers into hiding...
This is why plans for the mosque near Ground Zero should be allowed to proceed, if that's what these Muslims want. We teach tolerance by being tolerant. We can't insist that our freedom of speech allows us to draw cartoons or produce plays that Muslims find offensive and then demand that they be more sensitive to our feelings....
Nobody ever said freedom would be easy. We are challenged every day to reconcile what is allowable and what is acceptable. Compromise, though sometimes maddening, is part of the bargain. We let the Ku Klux Klan march, not because we agree with them but because they have a right to display their hideous ignorance.
Ultimately, when sensitivity becomes a cudgel against lawful expressions of speech or religious belief--or disbelief--we all lose.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Hi Sis!
I have cookies. No worries.
Cool!
I may end up with crumbs in my bed tonight but I’ll send them home early. *snort*
Come on over here to the new thread. It’s September already wherever Sionnsar’s at.
Bummer about the computer. We can run wash on Saturday morning if it’s necessary, while we’re getting the petz squared away. That reminds me, I need to talk to Vicki about the catz and lizards.
Well, not that it IS that way now, Kathleen, but you make a great point, nonetheless!
Let's keep "marriage" between one man and one woman. We can't let gay's feelings stand as a valid argument for letting them go rampaging through the dictionary, after all.
Let's enforce ALL of our immigration laws. We can't let illegal immigrant's feelings bullyrag us into compromising our borders; it is those same borders that define the bounds within which all of our laws apply. So, by God let them all apply!
Let's strip the Second Amendment of all of the subsequently-imposed State and Federal infringements. We can't allow the feelings of Sarah Brady and her fellow travelers to trample the foundational, Constitutional right of 350 million Americans.
Let's end abortion once and for all. We cannot countenance that the feelings of a cadre of inconvenienced women and apprehensive teen girls be the anvil of Death for even one more of our precious unborn children. Of what meaning, after all, are the unalienable rights to liberty and the pursuit of happiness without the paragon of all rights — the right to life?
Oh, there's more where all of that came from, but for now — yes, Kathleen, I'll enthusiastically endorse your offer. By all means let's dispense with the misguided notion of "feelings as valid argument." Let's adopt new editorial standards that evict feelings from inclusion in what goes out as "news."
Get your J-school buddies on the horn and spread the word; it's a new day in media.
Oh. I wasn’t paying attention during August.
Neither was I ... misplaced most of the month.
Everything after the Ides is a blur.
Kathleen, Kathleen, Kathleen.
We teach tolerance by requiring people to be tolerant, whether it is of siblings playing with toys, or of religious zealots seeking to be so "submissive" that they want to get right in our faces about it.
Home now from Atlanta, but have to be up in 6-1/2 hours to begin the trip to Spokane. Boarding passes (both ways) are now printed, so I'm off until whenever...
Only on FR! It's still August here (for 2 more hours) but apparently we got our first October rain today. Heavy rain & wind.
"I do believe it is ... September." -- Will Geer to Robert Redford in "Jeremiah Johnson", when asked the time.
When I worked in camera shops in Reseda, North Hollywood and Tarzana, I was always running into stars. It was pretty cool, too!
Not making babies cry is always a plus with anyone!
It IS September. Time flies when you’re having fun. “They” say.
Yes, it is September. I’m not sure whether I like the idea, but you have to start somewhere.
True. But the time is flying too quickly for me, and I seem to have not been able to accomplish any goals for August. :o|
HIYA babe!!
Nice guy though.
It was fun to talk to them. And tell stories!
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