KashifPasta.com

Oh please, just read this. My comments are at the end.

boringoldraphael:

ilovesongsaboutjesusforsomereaso:

Darren Day - Beautiful City (Godspell - 1993 Studio Recording) (download)

This is a song from the musical Godspell, a musical all about Jesus wearing rainbow suspenders and hanging out with a bunch of hippies (For those not in the know, that is not a joke, that is actually what Godspell is about). I have a LOT to say about Godspell, but it will have to wait for another time, because there are more pressing matters to discuss. One, today is my birthday. Two, OH MY GOD, MUSLIMS WANT TO BUILD A MOSQUE ON TOP OF GROUND ZERO AND THE MOSQUE WILL ALSO BE A TERRORIST TRAINING CENTER AND THE BUILDING WILL BE IN THE SHAPE OF A GIANT MUSLIM GIVING THE FINGER TO THE STATUE OF LIBERTY, HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THIS?

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, oh good Lord do I envy you. Salon has a coherent rundown of where all this craziness came from. Mayor Bloomberg’s speech on the subject was pretty spot-on and I urge you to read it while listening to the above song to get a nice cry-y feeling.

However, I have one problem with this speech and it’s a problem I also have with a lot of the liberals who comment on this issue, including Obama. It’s the stirring invocation of the first amendment. Am I wrong or is that kind of a red herring? Most of the conservatives I’ve heard argue about this (not all, but most) haven’t been arguing that the Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to build their cultural center; they’re arguing that they shouldn’t.

There’s a big difference between “should” and “should be allowed to.” For example, if Fred Phelps wanted to open a church of hate in Laramie across the street from where Matthew Shepard was killed, I would have a real problem with that, but not with his constitutional right to do so. Still, I would do everything I could to pressure everyone at every phase of development not to let the church be built.

I think most people who oppose Park51 would argue that this is an analogous situation, and that’s all well and good except it’s NOT analogous and the real conversation that needs to take place is explaining why not. Making this an argument about separation of church and state pushes back that real conversation, but eventually the conversation needs to be had, and the conversation is this:

YOU SOUND LIKE A CRAZY PERSON.

STOP IT.

STOP IT.

Muslim does not mean terrorist. They are not the same word. I have a thesaurus; I can settle this right now.

We were not attacked by regular Muslims, the kind who want to build a community center in Manhattan; we were attacked by insane zealots who also happened to be Muslim. This is the truth, and if you didn’t know that, I just told you and now you have no excuse for not knowing that.

9/11 is the product of Islam only in the same way the Son Of Sam killings were a product of dogs. If you oppose Park51, then you should also oppose Jodie Foster movies opening near the Ronald Reagan library, because that is a ridiculous thing to think and you are a ridiculous individual.

Building a Muslim community center near Ground Zero is kind of like building a Burger King near a Foot Locker. They’re two things that have absolutely nothing to do with each other, and if you think it’s offensive then I think you’re offensive. And I don’t mean that in an “I know you are but what am I?” sort of way, I mean it in a “What you’re saying is racist and hurtful and your grandchildren will be ashamed of you” sort of way.

This is not an issue of sensitivity. Saying Muslims should be sensitive to the victims of 9/11 is like saying Jews should be sensitive about the killing of Jesus Christ. It’s reductive, it’s ugly, it’s stupid, and, Anti-Defamation League, you of all leagues should know better. The fact that you’ve landed on the wrong side of this debate is, pardon my Yiddish, f**king revolting.

There is no room for logical discussion here. There are no two sides of this issue. You are wrong. It may not be your fault— you might have been misinformed (in fact you were probably misinformed)— but there is nothing I am more sure of at this moment than the fact that you are wrong.

THAT is the real conversation, but people don’t want to have this conversation because to have it is to accuse an overwhelming majority of Americans (Seventy percent currently oppose the Park51 plans. Yes, seven zero.) of being bat-ass nutty.

People are talking about the first amendment because the alternative is admitting that so many people are either misinformed or purposefully misinforming, woefully ignorant or offensively cynical. The heartbreaking truth is that for many people there is no difference between Muslim and terrorist and instead of correcting this misunderstanding, people with power and influence are exploiting it.

If Muslims make you nervous, that’s not your fault, but you need to realize that’s not the Muslims’ fault either; it’s the fire of your own prejudice stoked by politicians who want you to be scared— and THAT is what is really scary. You know when FDR said we have nothing to fear but fear itself? Well, he wasn’t just saying that.

My two cents? Let the Muslims do whatever they want as close as they want to Ground Zero; it’s the politicians that should stay away.

****

OK. So. I haven’t really said anything online about this whole Park51 Manhattan Mosque situation, mostly because I think it’s a ‘created’ issue rather than a ‘real’ one, and that even if it is a ‘real’ issue, it’s one that is local and specific to New York. But not enough people are being a voice of reason here, and I couldn’t not share one that’s so loud, clear, logical, and too the point. Oh, and funny.

The above article/post does a couple of things at once. First of all, it totally reaffirms my love of Raphael Bob-Waksberg as a person who makes things. As if his writing didn’t already say exactly what I want to but don’t know how when it comes to film and pop culture, he comes in and does the same with a real serious issue, too (not that Salt isn’t all-important or anything). Olde English Comedy sketches were a pre-YouTube goldmine that have yet to be matched, and now I can confidently say he’s my favourite writer/blogger around. 

The article also makes me feel safe and content: knowing that there are people out there who can see clearly and recognize the truth is good enough, but knowing that there are New Yorkers— the people who this whole situation actually matters to — who get it means that all hope isn’t lost in a world where over-sensationalistic media doesn’t give a second thought to it’s real-world actions and influence.

Being Muslim and growing up here in North America, things got tough in the 2000s. Luckily not in terms of physical assaults or government hassle here in Vancouver (although a lot of people moved here from the States because of that), but constant media assaults in every medium do wear you down. No matter how many sentences are started with “I’m not racist/intolerant/bigoted, BUT…”, true intent does come through, and it’s a poisonous emotion to be inserting into any country, creating an antagonistic ‘us vs. them’ mentality between people born in the same place, attending the same schools, and who’ll end up buried in the same cities for the rest of time.

I’m just glad that there are people out there who, even if just on their own blogs, are ready to speak up for what they see is right. And on their birthdays, too (HAPPY late BIRTHDAY RAPH)!

This song was stuck in my head all day today after listening to Radio Radio too much this weekend. Needless to say, I have a bunch of new music to blast out my car speakers when I get back to Surrey.

The Franglais flow in this is ridikillis.

oh, PS: I know that this, like The Black Eyed Peas, is the musical equivalent of junk food. That’s part of what makes me like it.