Gasp: Some New York Muslims Not so Hot on Hotbutton Mosque
I really enjoyed this revealing little article at the New York Times. What a concept -- wander out in the street and ask a few local Muslims what they think about the controversy.
Malik Nadeem Abid [...] said he was “not a big fan” of the decision by the Cordoba Initiative, a Muslim group that promotes interfaith cooperation, to build the center near ground zero. “It was not a politically smart move, from my perspective,” said Mr. Abid, 45. “No one wants a center in downtown Manhattan that stands as a permanent fixture of this terrible tension.” Yet the decision has been made, he said, “and we can’t let the loudest voices dictate what happens.” Still, he added, if the center were built 5 or 10 blocks away, as some people have proposed, “I don’t think it would matter very much.” That kind of ambivalence over the downtown project, some said, was partly the point: Muslims in America embody the same diversity as everyone else.
No evidence that the Times interviewer seized Mr. Abid by the lapels and screamed "Why are you capitulating to bigots?!?!"
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Comments :
Aug '10
Re: Gasp: Some New York Muslims Not so Hot on Hotbutton Mosque
I think the point, which the NYT seems willfully blind to, is that the continued insistence on building the mosque even after it's become obvious that most non-Muslims find it offensive proves that the group isn't the least bit interested in "interfaith cooperation".
Jul '10
Re: Gasp: Some New York Muslims Not so Hot on Hotbutton Mosque
I was just encouraged to see the media acknowledging that there are actual New Yorkers who are opposed to this, and aren't racist wingnuts. It feels as if nationally this is playing out as Obama and Bloomberg against Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, as if that covers every viewpoint. It doesn't. 8 million of us live here, and since we're going to be the first responders when this social experiment goes horribly wrong...it'd be really nice if the media started exploring the fact that city-wide...the number of those opposed is likely even higher than in the national polls. Which I think are up to 70%?