After watching the rant made by Keith Olbermann on the Islamic Community Center controversy in New York, my view on the whole matter has not changed; it has only been strengthened. The controversy is about the construction of an Islamic community center that will be open to the public and will be constructed about 4 blocks from Ground Zero of the World Trade Center. There are actually people (idiots would be a better word for them) who are protesting [bitching about] the construction of the community center because they think it's a Muslim Mosque and they don't want one being built so close to Ground Zero. But wait, it isn't a Mosque at all! It is a community center, a place that is (and will be) open to all people. According to Keith Olbermann, it will have a culinary school, a basketball court, and out of all the thirteen floors on the building, only two will be dedicated to prayer and worship. And yet, many people feel it is some place where Muslim terrorists will be trained. Really, are these protestors really that stupid? So I should be afraid of chefs and basketball players? Oh, I'm so petrified!
It seems to me that this country has a strange habit of demonizing an entire ethnic or religious group due to the actions of a small minority. A few extremists attack the World Trade Center, and the next thing you know, everyone thinks that all Muslims are evil terrorists bent on America's destruction. And another thing, I was taught thst America was founded on religious tolerence and freedom form religious persecution. I've been taught also that one of our First Amendment rights includes freedom of religion. If that is the case, then why the hell can't a few Muslims built their community center? Because it is close to Ground Zero? That is such a rediculous reason. The Muslims who want to build their Islamic community center have every right to build it, just as I have every right to criticize the President, or is freedom of speech also censored, because nowadays it seems like it is. And the community center wont even be that close; it will be about four or five blocks away, and it will be obscured by the many empty and unused buildings surrounding Ground Zero. Another thing, weren't they going to build a large tower called the Freedom Tower as a monument to the 9/11 attacks? Last time I checked, they said it would be completed by 2013. It's 2011 and they haven't even started. Here's an idea: instead of protesting over the building of an Islamic community center, how about starting on that Freedom Tower that's supposed to be completed in the next two years? It's better than protesting the building of a community center, which the Muslims have a right to build in the first place.
As for the agument/rant Keith Olbermann made, I think it hammered the point home. He made it clear that all the people in opposition to the building of this community center do not have good enough information to back up their claims against building the community center. He provided plenty of information, and he conveyed the facts well. However, he may have been a bit to passionate while making his argument, which may or may not help his argument. All in all, I think the arguement was well made and I completely and utterly support the building of this Islamic community center. They have just as much a right to build their community center just as much as anyone else.
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