The Latest "Argument"

I was just forwarded this op-ed by Daniel Gordis which was published by the Jerusalem Post.


Here is my response:

This "argument" to me is not entirely clear, and seems to jump all over the place.

The author seems to use cliched, paranoid, right wing catch phrases without ever delivering a logical argument as to why the mosque should or should not be built.

I assume he's against it, but he relies on an anecdote about the Israeli army needing to work on the Jewish sabbath to support his claim. I'm sorry, but it's a bit ridiculous.

It's like he's trying to say that the people building the "Ground Zero Mosque" are the enemy, but he doesn't have the proof to make that claim (since its totally erroneous) so he uses confusing, heart tugging stories that make a certain audience feel a certain way, much like the FOX news pundits who invented this story in the first place.


Yes there is something to fear. Yes some of that which we should fear emanates from some form of Islam. What exactly do we have to fear from this particular "mosque" being built? Probably, nothing.

But Fox News ratings, and I imagine the Jerusalem Post's as well, go up when non-stories like these get distorted and propagated in the media.

In summary, the op-ed pretends like it is going to connect all these disparate dots, but it never does.


Also, there are 3 factual errors:

1. They are building a community center, not a mosque (although there will be a prayer hall)
2. It is not at Ground Zero, but several city blocks away
3. To my knowledge, President Obama never said he was pulling out all the troops from Afghanistan in July


I feel that this op-ed by Nicholas Kristof rings with much more truth.