Perhaps you’ve noticed that there’s a bit of a kerfuffle going on about a proposed Islamic community center that would be built about two blocks from the World Trade site. The Beckian Tea Bags for Brains folks rage that building a mosque on “sacred ground” would “defile” the memories of the thousands that died on 9/11.
Let’s clarify, shall we?
This is a mosque, people:
This is a community center:
Anyone notice a slight difference in scale? The Cordoba Building will be about 13 stories tall and in downtown Manhattan, it will look like that white guy who used to play basketball for the Utah Jazz, remember him? John Stockton:
A big guy, but on the court with those other really big guys? Not so imposing. Ditto Cordoba House. It will be surrounded by tall buildings filled with capitalists busy making sure to preserve the financial loopholes that allowed our economy to mimic the record of the Knicks last year (and the year before that, and the year before that, ad infinitum).
You’d think that perhaps leaders of the Tea Bag Brains would worry about financial malfeasance, huge unemployment numbers, and stuff like that – you know, the stuff that really hammers middle America.
But then…on second thought? Nah. Economic despair and financial unrest create anxiety, which with the right words can be turned into fear. And all those Tea Bag Brains are steeped in it: a thin bitter brew of fear, anxiety, and ignorance, with a little fame-mongering thrown in for good measure.
If John Stockton and Karl Malone can create one of the most formidable pick n’roll plays in basketball history, surely an ugly 13-story community center and worship space can co-exist with the steroidal slabs of apartment buildings that already exist downtown?
