“We all know this is so wrong.”
I think it’s wrong. But even the various politicians and commentators who oppose it all fail to articluate exactly why it is wrong. They all talk about sensitivty and appropriateness, and that totally misses the point.
It is much more imortant than just not hurting feelings. It is not about the message it would send to to the victims of 9/11. Rather, it is about the message it would send to Muslims here in the U.S. and around the world.
We are dealing with cultural symbols, and they are very powerful. We must not allow a cultural symbol of Islam to be built on the ruins of a cultural symbol of America which was destroyed in the name of Islam. That would symbolize, in a very tangible, physical way, a victory of Islam over the U.S. Allowing this would validate the 9/11 attack and invite future attacks.
I don’t think what I have said is terribly insightful or original. It seems obvious. So why am I not hearing this argument? Or have I missed it?
I think you’re absolutely right, and I think everybody knows this deep down inside and that is what is causing such unease and anger. But many people are afraid to say it because once they say it, they will have acknowledged exactly what is going on, what Islam is doing, and then they’ll have to find some way of dealing with it.
It’s easier to think of it as an act of appalling insensitivity than as an act of aggression and a monument to an Islamic victory, which is all that it is.