The Mosque is slipping

With everyone weighting in on this issue(the mosque near ground zero), its made me sick enough that I have to get this rant out.  This is a situation that just leaves me wanting to shout "WHY!?"  like a mad man at both sides of the argument until I loose my voice.  My opinion on the matter; Muslims should be able to build a mosque where ever they want, period, even if its really stupid idea.  But my opinion on where they can build doesn't matter.  NO ONE'S DOES!  The country was found on several naive ideals, but primary among them was religious freedom.  Along with a bunch of other freedom of blargs. (blarg: definition: a word that can be used as a substitute for any other word). When they lied to us in Kindergarten, didn't they tell us that the pilgrims came here for religious freedom, to escape persecution for their beliefs? We are big on Freedom in america, just ask out country singers, but too often we think that its only freedom that we agree with or like, freedom that doesn't harm our vulnerable sensibilities.  I'm Not going to beat the dead horse of the, freedom is an all or nothing enterprise, if the fact that they have the right to worship where and how they please is not evident to you, well then you are not a very good american or a very good person.

What really concerns me is the hypocrisy on both sides of the issue, but the hypocrisy is way worse on the anti-mosque side.  Most of the time terrorists will claim the reasons for attacks like 9/11 to be be retaliation for government or military installations being build on sites they consider to be religiously holy.  Now the reasons behind most terrorists attacks are far more complicated than that but lets just take this as a truth because at the very least its the used excuse.  Well now Muslims want to build a religious installation near a site we consider secularly holy.  And look how we behave.  We get angry, we point fingers at an entire people instead of just those responsible for what has offended us, we act just as the stereotype of and angry religious zealot would act.  Ive heard news reports of increased anti-Muslim protests throughout the nation.  One reporter even claimed that right now the amount of anti-Muslim sentiment is higher than its ever been.  This anger is understandable, but by the same token doesn't that mean the terrorists anger is understandable?  justifiable no, but i think those that would take the time to honestly consider their feelings on the issue should at least find some empathy. How close is "too close"?  Do we want to restrict peoples freedom because it offends us? or do we want to hold true to our american values and behave as if we are actually greater than all the nations we claim to be greater than?

Thats not to say that the people who want to build the Mosque aren't hypocrites .  They are the ones i would really like to ask "why?"  I'm sure there intentions are pure, they want to create a place of peace and worship,  they hope to use it as a place to spread good will.  But how stupid do they have to be to believe they can do it there?  Surely someone in the planing of this building had to realize that there would be opposition, angry opposition.  How can you expect to spread peace from a place you are not wanted? ( a question one might ask of the american military).  Why would you even want to be in a place you are not wanted?  Granted, yes you have the right to be there, but if you can accomplish the same amount of good elsewhere without causing so much division, why wouldn't you?  I dont' want to be accusatory but its almost like someone wanted this debate.  I can only hope that Americans are smart enough to keep their anger to words, because of acts of violence or vandalism are directed at this mosque, if its ever built, one can only imagine the backlash.  

At the end of the day, all a mosque near ground zero can do is offend someones view of what is sacred or what should be allowed, or what is decent.  If you can't deal with the actions of others offending your values, well then you don't love freedom.

(i mean no offense to the victims of  the 9/11 tragedy or their families nor to Muslims or Islam.  But if i have offended you, repeat the last sentence of the blog till it sinks in.)

Why the odd name. '

Anybody else ever notice that many vending machines have braille on the buttons?  How long did it take for that to strike you as odd?  I mean, sure a blind person could certainly know what numbers or letters they were pushing, they would have not idea what B4 is in the machine.  Now first off I guess i should make some sort of disclaimer.  I mean no offense to the seeing impaired, in fact if some one can explain to me why the braille is on those buttons id be happy to listen.  That being said if you are that easily offended just send me an angry email now and never read anything i have to say again.  I pull no punches with my opinions and expect the same of everyone else.
Back to the subject at hand, why "braille on vending machine buttons"?  Well as I see it its a loose metaphor for the world and what sort of rantings this blog is likely to contain.  There's braille on the vending machine buttons, but i think few people ever pay attention to such a thing, let alone question it.  I observe and question odd things all the time.  Are my observations insightful? My questions valid?  My answers worthwhile? I can't be the judge of such things.  But lets explore this observation.  So You're blind and you want a candy bar, well aint that life?  Well luckily you know where a vending machine is, and luckier it has braille on the buttons! But although you know how to tell it what you want you have no idea of the code that will get you what you want.   So you find someone you trust to tell you the code for the candy you desire.  lets say three musketeers.  Lets also assume your friend doesn't lie, aint that life?  So now you know the code of one thing in the vending machine, lets hope you dont want chips or gum.  Granted you could have someone tell you every thing in the machine and you could try to memorise it... So now you know that Three musketeers are B4, and whenever you want a treat you just have to go the vending machine and press B4.  But then the evil vending machine stocking guy does some rearranging cause the machine is getting new items, aint that life? Three musketeers is now B6, but you cant possibly know this the next time you visit this machine.   You press B4, and a Snickers drops.  Lets hope you aren't blind and allergic to peanuts.

There you have it.  Odd, usually cynical musings on all manner of matters, more to come.