False. Why aren't religions condemned as harshly as the people who think this Mosque is in poor taste, when they attack pseudo religious paraphernalia in the West?
The association here is that a subculture of one particular religion is associated with that particular religion. That the same people should be just as intolerant with other religions, does not justify their intolerance with that particular religion. In other words, you only reinforce the point that we should not identify any religions with their extremists. Rather, we should make an educated decision as to whether the mosque/community center promotes extremism - the same extremism that caused 9/11. Clearly it does not and has nothing to do with that act.
As I already pointed out, why is it the same people that defend the attacks on western culture, as PC, now calling anyone that questions the taste of putting a Mosque at this location, intolerant or bigot?
I wouldn't get caught up in any political groups or politically charged words, and rather deal with the issue at hand. If you get stuck in this ball of yarn, the whole argument just gets thrown off course.
I don't think you'd find any people who believed that anyway.
Most of us agree that the attacks on the WTC were done by extremist terrorists, who use their brand of Islam to hate the US.
In my opinion, it is completely and utterly misguided for any thinking, reasonable person, to believe it is a good idea to put an Islamic cultural / religious facility in that area. The idea behind it will be misinterpreted and distorted, and the whole thing will become perverted.
I do believe some people wondered at the logic of Protestants parading past a Catholic area in Ireland recently, which then started up fights and riots. This is the same concept - it is seen by many as an act of provocation, a deliberate insult to what is an extremely sensitive, hurtful memory.
Anyone with any common sense would see that this is a bad idea.
Your justification for what is
reasonable is based on the attempt to withdraw from the provocation of ignorants. If everyone acted reasonably by your definition, we would continue to harbour ignorance without bringing important topical debates to the forefront.
Essentially, Obama's assertion of the mosque/community centre was indeed a provocation of the ignorant. And while it has caused an initial rift, this clash of ideals will only be a good thing for Western culture. And it won't be too long from now that those same people who are offended will realize it was a silly thing to worry about in the first place.
