Rian? I'm glad that you don't attribute the crimes of a minority to a majority. But in my experience at least...most people do. That's what I'm trying to say.

I don't think it's a fair assumption to say 'most people' about much of anything. Most people that you've spoken to, maybe. I even qualified my own statement, saying that "I think... most people who were old enough" would agree with me on this particular issue.

And I genuinely don't understand the ones who don't, especially ones who weren't old enough to remember or comprehend what happened. I'm not old enough to clearly remember the Oklahoma City bombing, for example. I was only nine years old. It would be ridiculous for me to have strong feelings about what happened when I don't even have a sharp recollection of it. Just as I don't have strong feelings about the Gulf War, Waco, or Clinton's sex scandal--I wasn't old enough for them to be significant to me.

The collapse of the WTC is poignant to me because I remember that day, as clear as if it had just happened, and also because it informs everything going on in my life today. But to continue to blame an entire religion of people because some zealot maniacs did something that you don't even remember? It feels false to me.

And you who seek to know me,
know that the seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.

Meg, just because "most people" do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. The mob did call for Jesus' crucifixion.

I actually remember Sept 11th pretty clearly--like Rian, I was in high school. There were less than five hundred students if you counted the freshman through seniors; we were all pulled out of class, into chapel, where we were essentially given a "don't freak out but be careful" talk from our teachers.

Then we were released to our advisories. Ours had the news on, and the ten of us crammed into the librarian's office, saw the footage as the second building fell.

As I recall, the Muslim students were just as upset as the rest of us.

Now, I will say, I was scared that day--I think we all were, partially because it was so surreal. I know a lot of my classmates were terrified: mostly the ones who had friends or family in New York. A lot of them did. We weren't allowed to have cell phones with us at school; I've never seen so many kids walking with them out, on, open--everyone trying to get more information, trying to find out if anyone they knew had been hurt or killed. Everyone talking, supporting each other.

The problem I have with the controversy over building the mosque is that it's because it's a mosque. When the American Muslims had nothing to do with the bombing. When they were just as scared and upset as all of us. I guarantee you the terrorists on the planes didn't spare the Muslim passengers. Nor did they transmit any Secret Muslim Messages to the employees of the WTC. It wasn't just the non-Muslim kids who had their phones out, who were bursting into tears in the halls. Everyone was affected by this. Every American.

And I think, if you're trying to deny an American citizen the right to worship where they please, your justification needs to be a little stronger than "they scare me!"

*sigh* I'm not saying the right thing to do is what every one else does.:P I'm simply saying that I don't think this is as crazy and unprecedented a reaction as some people seem to think.

That's all. Now I think I will bow out before I get further misunderstood.

I say screw it, let 'em build it.

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Noobs, beware, I eat you.

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Yesh, I am a Galaxy. JOIN ME!

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It appalls me how I can post pure logic at one point, and then go right back to being a troll. Meh, this is the way of the INTARWEBZ, and I am one of it's numerous children.

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>>And I'm having a hard time not feeling like they are rubbing this into our faces and being like, "HA! NOW we're going to build a mosque here on top of it all!" THey prolly aren't, but...idk. 9/11 was a scary time and I really wish that they could find somewhere else to go.

Meg, this is why I was assuming you agreed that it was the "right" reaction, particularly the last sentence. Also regardless of whether you consciously feel it is right to conflate an extreme minority with the whole of a group, you are doing it in this paragraph, "feeling like [Muslims in general] are rubbing [9/11] into our faces": if you truly feel it is wrong to connect the extremists with the whole, you should at least examine statements like this, think about the feelings that motivate them and how you might fight against such impulses.

Like I've said, also, it's not that I don't understand why some people feel this way. My kneejerk reaction is uneasy, too. I mean, at this point in our society, prejudice against Muslims has been pretty ingrained for the last nine years, to the point that very few people even protest the use of "Muslim" as a negative term. That sort of thing gets into your head whether you want it to or not, whether it's right or not.

But aren't we called to overcome our baser impulses? Fear and hatred are about as base as it gets.

At the risk of repeating myself, I'll say: I really think we need to stop implicitly condoning prejudice, as a society, and I think allowing the mosque to be built would be an important, visible step in that direction.

One of the remaining roadblocks has come down for the project. They have permission to demolish the building already at the site. More info at [news.yahoo.com]

And you who seek to know me,
know that the seeking and yearning
will avail you not,
unless you know the Mystery:
for if that which you seek,
you find not within yourself,
you will never find it without.

*Saw topic and almost ran the other way but was too curious. Will now.*

Uhhhh yeah about this...

You were saying Max? :)