For awhile, over the weekend, it looked like we had our guy back. By ‘we’ I mean those who had supported the presidential candidacy of Barack Obama. 'Our guy' had come out strongly and passionately in defense of Cordoba House/Park 51, the proposed Islamic community center and place of worship erroneously vilified in the media as the 'Ground Zero Mosque'.
It was a reminder of what it was like, back in the waning days of the horror presidency of George Bush, to hear Barack Obama proudly articulate what would have once been considered core principles of American civil society and democracy... and sound like he meant it.
Alas, the moment was all too brief. Friday's stirring defense of tolerance and civility became Saturday's nuanced capitulation, as The President made it clear that all he had meant to defend was the constitutional rights of the Cordoba House organizers, not the initiative itself. Unlike his predecessor, our current president at least understands that he took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, our current president also differs from his predecessor in that there is apparently not a single principle upon which he is willing to take an uncompromised stand.
New York was America's first truly diverse city and continues to be perhaps the most culturally and ethnically diverse city in the country. There was a time when the erection of yet another mosque in New York would've been no more noteworthy than the addition of another synagogue or ashram, or the discovery of yet another coven of wiccans worshiping Gaea butt-naked in Central Park. But that was before it became politically expedient to slander one of the world's great religions and one of the world's great peoples iin the same jingoistic, reeking breath.
It doesn't matter that there are Caucus Mountain Region (i.e., “Caucasian”) practitioners of Islam as blue-eyed and redheaded as any inbred Alabama hillbilly, or that there are entire cultures of devoutly christian Arabs who have known Christ for centuries. It doesn't matter, because for some time now it has been a matter of U.S. public policy to conflate all Arabs and all Muslims-- and slander roughly a quarter of the world's population as "terrorists". That slander was necessary to sell the idea that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and supposed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden were somehow connected, just as 9/11 itself was necessary justification for the transformation of America into an imperialist police state.
Even in his initial defense of religious tolerance, Mr. Obama spoke of Ground Zero as "hallowed" ground, perpetuating the myth that a piece of real estate is somewhat sanctified by having been selected as the scene of political theater and mass murder, legitimizing the notion that the sacred myth of 9/11 trumps all, up to and including the Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile, as Obama equivocated in his defense of tolerance, the successors to George Bush’s intolerance and willful ignorance were absolutely unequivocal in their resolution to make political hay from the general populace’s worst and most base instincts--notable among them, Newt Gingrich (who ought to know better) and Sarah Palin (who apparently knows nothing at all). Even worse than Obama’s dithering: the outright capitulation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has outrightly come out against the Cordoba House Project. This may play well with his yokel constituents in those parts of Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits (who will likely vote for his crackpot tea party opponent anyway), but it does very little to reassure a wider plurality of Americans that their government is in the hands of people with either courage or a first-hand familiarity with the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, a number of New York State congressional representatives seem determined to follow his unfortunate example.
At the root of it all, the unhappy truth about the American people: despite the fact that the only thing that defines us as a “people” is the body of law derived from our founding documents, there has never been a particular shortage of Americans who believe their particular ethnicity or religion defines American authenticity. Ironically, this impulse is usually labeled “nativism”, even though those most inclined to it are equally prejudiced against Native Americans and the most recent immigrant arrivals, legal or otherwise. But that irony flies as far above the heads of most nativists as the jets that carry civilized people from one coast of this semi-civilized country to another. They regards themselves, and only themselves, as “real” Americans--equally indifferent to the one-time immigrant status of their forebears and the rights and dignity of those with whom they share this country.
Throughout American history, the nativist tendency has been the special province of the poorer and least educated among us, and time and again has been manipulated by the wealthy and powerful--”conservatives”, if you will-- to divide the general populace against one another, the better to rule them. The current bigotry against Arabs, Muslims, Hispanic immigrants, and anyone else who qualifies as “different” does not vary meaningfully from earlier orchestrated discrimination against Irish, Eastern Europeans, Africans, or Asians.
What does differ is the alarming extent to which institutionalized bigotry and ignorance has become an accepted norm of American society over the last ten years. As is the case with Global Warming, there is a tipping point--a point past which no amount of corrective effort can offset a destructive change that can only be permitted to run its course. And-- as is the case with Global Warming-- it is not clear whether or not that tipping point might already have been reached.
This is why Barack Obama’s dithering, Harry Reid’s cravenness, and the outright moral cowardice of virtually every elected official in New York State is so very crucial and so very inexcusable. Those who would call themselves leaders in a democratic society have an obligation to lead and to lead by example. All it takes to defeat a lie is to tell the truth. All it takes to tell the truth is to have the simple courage to do so. If we as a society cannot collectively find the courage to overcome the lies we’ve been repeatedly told over the last decade, I very much fear for the future...but I also very much fear we share deserve what becomes of us.
It was a reminder of what it was like, back in the waning days of the horror presidency of George Bush, to hear Barack Obama proudly articulate what would have once been considered core principles of American civil society and democracy... and sound like he meant it.
Alas, the moment was all too brief. Friday's stirring defense of tolerance and civility became Saturday's nuanced capitulation, as The President made it clear that all he had meant to defend was the constitutional rights of the Cordoba House organizers, not the initiative itself. Unlike his predecessor, our current president at least understands that he took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, our current president also differs from his predecessor in that there is apparently not a single principle upon which he is willing to take an uncompromised stand.
New York was America's first truly diverse city and continues to be perhaps the most culturally and ethnically diverse city in the country. There was a time when the erection of yet another mosque in New York would've been no more noteworthy than the addition of another synagogue or ashram, or the discovery of yet another coven of wiccans worshiping Gaea butt-naked in Central Park. But that was before it became politically expedient to slander one of the world's great religions and one of the world's great peoples iin the same jingoistic, reeking breath.
It doesn't matter that there are Caucus Mountain Region (i.e., “Caucasian”) practitioners of Islam as blue-eyed and redheaded as any inbred Alabama hillbilly, or that there are entire cultures of devoutly christian Arabs who have known Christ for centuries. It doesn't matter, because for some time now it has been a matter of U.S. public policy to conflate all Arabs and all Muslims-- and slander roughly a quarter of the world's population as "terrorists". That slander was necessary to sell the idea that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and supposed 9/11 mastermind Osama bin Laden were somehow connected, just as 9/11 itself was necessary justification for the transformation of America into an imperialist police state.
Even in his initial defense of religious tolerance, Mr. Obama spoke of Ground Zero as "hallowed" ground, perpetuating the myth that a piece of real estate is somewhat sanctified by having been selected as the scene of political theater and mass murder, legitimizing the notion that the sacred myth of 9/11 trumps all, up to and including the Bill of Rights.
Meanwhile, as Obama equivocated in his defense of tolerance, the successors to George Bush’s intolerance and willful ignorance were absolutely unequivocal in their resolution to make political hay from the general populace’s worst and most base instincts--notable among them, Newt Gingrich (who ought to know better) and Sarah Palin (who apparently knows nothing at all). Even worse than Obama’s dithering: the outright capitulation of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has outrightly come out against the Cordoba House Project. This may play well with his yokel constituents in those parts of Nevada outside the Las Vegas city limits (who will likely vote for his crackpot tea party opponent anyway), but it does very little to reassure a wider plurality of Americans that their government is in the hands of people with either courage or a first-hand familiarity with the U.S. Constitution. Unfortunately, a number of New York State congressional representatives seem determined to follow his unfortunate example.
At the root of it all, the unhappy truth about the American people: despite the fact that the only thing that defines us as a “people” is the body of law derived from our founding documents, there has never been a particular shortage of Americans who believe their particular ethnicity or religion defines American authenticity. Ironically, this impulse is usually labeled “nativism”, even though those most inclined to it are equally prejudiced against Native Americans and the most recent immigrant arrivals, legal or otherwise. But that irony flies as far above the heads of most nativists as the jets that carry civilized people from one coast of this semi-civilized country to another. They regards themselves, and only themselves, as “real” Americans--equally indifferent to the one-time immigrant status of their forebears and the rights and dignity of those with whom they share this country.
Throughout American history, the nativist tendency has been the special province of the poorer and least educated among us, and time and again has been manipulated by the wealthy and powerful--”conservatives”, if you will-- to divide the general populace against one another, the better to rule them. The current bigotry against Arabs, Muslims, Hispanic immigrants, and anyone else who qualifies as “different” does not vary meaningfully from earlier orchestrated discrimination against Irish, Eastern Europeans, Africans, or Asians.
What does differ is the alarming extent to which institutionalized bigotry and ignorance has become an accepted norm of American society over the last ten years. As is the case with Global Warming, there is a tipping point--a point past which no amount of corrective effort can offset a destructive change that can only be permitted to run its course. And-- as is the case with Global Warming-- it is not clear whether or not that tipping point might already have been reached.
This is why Barack Obama’s dithering, Harry Reid’s cravenness, and the outright moral cowardice of virtually every elected official in New York State is so very crucial and so very inexcusable. Those who would call themselves leaders in a democratic society have an obligation to lead and to lead by example. All it takes to defeat a lie is to tell the truth. All it takes to tell the truth is to have the simple courage to do so. If we as a society cannot collectively find the courage to overcome the lies we’ve been repeatedly told over the last decade, I very much fear for the future...but I also very much fear we share deserve what becomes of us.
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Lyn LeJeune
Tristan MacAvery
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the Zen Haitian
Rob Kall
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Salon.com
Comments
If the appache helicopter vid or documented extrajudicial killings of innocents, as well as "SUSPECTS", does not make you feel uneasy, when you hold onto that most prized of citizen documents, your US passport, then perhaps it's time for a hard look in the mirror.::R