Mosque - 1, Ground - 0

OK media, you win.  The ground zero mosque is, somehow, a topic worthy of a national debate.  I suppose I'll throw my hat in the ring as well, even though it's utterly pointless and stupid.

First of all, I take issue with the term "ground zero mosque".  It is neither on ground zero, nor is it a mosque.  It's a few blocks away from ground zero and it's a Muslim community center.  (It's at this point that half of everyone reading this will tune out and lose any sliver of open-mindedness that might have existed.  But I guess I'll continue anyway.) It'll have a basketball court, swimming pool, auditorium, culinary school, and *gasp* a place for Muslim prayer.  If the "place for Muslim prayer" part makes it a mosque, then the pentagon is technically a mosque.  This is little more than a YMCA with a prayer room.

The media pundits have gotten very good at misleading phrases just like this.  Death panels, blood for oil, welfare queens, vast right-wing conspiracy, yes we can, ad nauseum...   These phrases might sound vaguely correct, but they're horribly misleading.  "Ground zero mosque" is just another one to add to the list.  Is everything around ground zero a "Ground zero [something]"?  Ground zero starbucks.  Ground zero McDonalds.  Ground zero jiffy lube.  Ground zero homeless bum begging for change and vodka next to the ground zero transvestite prostitute.  Just how far away does something have to be before it stops being in the "ground zero" halo area?  Would it be OK if they built this building 5 blocks away?  10?  20?  Where do you draw the line with this?

There are really only a couple things to consider here.  Is the land privately owned?  Why yes, yes it is.  Can people do whatever they want with the land they buy (for the most part)?  Why yes, yes they can.  But there I go, trying to use logic and reason in an issue as emotionally ripe as this one.  So instead of trying to give you my opinions, I'll take some time to address a few of the arguments I've heard.  And give you my opinions in the process, I guess.

"THEY'RE BUILDING A MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Shut up, they're building a Muslim cultural center a few blocks away from ground zero.

"BUT MUSLIMS BLEW UP THE TOWERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Shut up.  The 'terrists' were Muslim extremists.  Stop grouping a whole religion into the most radical elements of that religion.  It's not as if all Christians rub little boys, blow up abortion clinics and protest war veterans' funerals with "God hates fags" signs.  Muslim does not equal Terrorist.  It's a very simple concept.

"BUT THEY COULD BE TRAINING NEW TERRORISTS THERE!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Seriously, I heard someone argue that.  I don't even know where to start with this one.  But I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that if you actually believe this, then there is nothing I can say to make you come to your senses.  It's like arguing with someone who thinks Bush was behind 9/11.  Or, better yet, it's like trying to convince a complete moron who thinks they're really smart that they are, in fact, a complete moron.

"WHAT IF SOMEONE BUILT A JAPANESE CULTURAL CENTER DOWN THE ROAD FROM PEARL HARBOR??!!??!!!!???!!!????!!!??!???!!" - First of all, if some Jap bought the land, he should be able to do whatever he wants with it.  And yes, that includes building a Japanese cultural center.  Second, shut up and click here.

"BUT THE PEOPLE ON THE LEFT ARE CONSTANTLY ATTACKING CHRISTIANS!!!!! - Shut up.  When someone tries to keep you from doing your Christian thing it pisses you off.  So your response is to keep Muslims from doing their Muslim thing?  How childish is this?  Seriously, it's the same response you get when you ask a 5 year old why he did something wrong.  "BUT MOM, HE DID IT TO ME FIRST!!!!!!!!!"  Turn the other cheek and stop whining.

"NYC ALREADY HAS A LOT OF MOSQUES!!!!!!!!!!! THEY DON'T NEED ANOTHER ONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! - Shut up.  If you substitute "Wal Mart" for "mosque" you would be pissed at anyone making that same argument, and rightly so.  If there are too many mosques, then nobody will go there and it'll eventually shut down.  Let the free market decide how many mosques should be built in an area.  Yeah, you can't pick and choose when you want to invoke the free market argument.

"BUT THE TERRORISTS WILL VIEW THIS AS A VICTORY AND USE IT AS A RECRUITING TOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - Shut up.  I'm so sorry that I don't allow the opinions of religious extremists to dictate my actions.  Forgive me.

BUT IT'S INSENSITIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - OK, this one I can actually understand.  I think it's a knee jerk emotional response with no real merit, but I can at least understand the response.  9/11 was an extremely tragic event, and it changed us all in some way.  In many ways, it defined this generation.  But we all need to take a deep breath and think things through before we start letting our emotions control our logic.  And by "we all" I mean "men".  Women, there's no hope for you using logic in emotional situations.  And what is the only logical argument here?  Let them build the mosque if they want.

Maybe the people behind it have ulterior motives.  Maybe it's insensitive.  Maybe it's an asshole thing to do.  I might actually agree with some of that, but so what?  This is fucking America.  You know what we get to do in fucking America?  We get to be insensitive fucking assholes as long as we're not hurting someone else or stopping someone else from being an insensitive fucking asshole.  Once we start to prevent someone from pissing us off, then we start to lose the right to piss other people off.  And just because something pisses someone else off doesn't mean they shouldn't get to do it.  Maybe the mosque pisses you off.  I can appreciate that.  But that doesn't mean they shouldn't build it.  Eating meat pisses some people off, but that doesn't mean we should quit eating it.  Driving an SUV pisses some people off, but that doesn't mean we should quit driving it.  "In God We Trust" on our money pisses some people off, but that doesn't mean we should quit using it.  Saying "Merry Christmas" pisses some people off, but that doesn't mean we should quit saying it.

You see, almost everything that someone does will piss off someone else.  Maybe the greatest quality of America is that we don't get caught up with the emotion of being pissed off.  We have been pissing each other off throughout our history.  You know what we do about it?  Nothing.  Sure, we argue and protest and scream and yell.  But ultimately, we let people go about their business even if it offends others.  Christians, Jews, Atheists, etc. have all been offending their fellow Americans for as long as America has existed.  And now the Muslims want to join the party.  I say let them in.  After all, we've been building ground zeros next to their mosques for years now.  And if you want to buy the land next to their mosque and build a 1,000 foot tall statue of Muhammad, I'll defend your right to do it.  Even if it does make you an insensitive fucking asshole.