There just never seems to be enough idiocy for us to fight over and distract us from actually dealing with important issues like….THE ECONOMY! From birth certificates to Elaine Kagan’s sexual preference, there seems to be a never ending supply of distractions and political talking points to keep us from solving important issues.

Unless you are either Amish or have been living under a rock for the past couple of weeks, you have heard about what is being called “The Ground Zero Mosque.” Now, let’s take a minute to go over what we’re really talking about. The proposed community center is not a mosque but it WILL have a mosque inside for prayer and worship. It will also have a swimming pool and an auditorium with other amenities. It is no more just a mosque than it is a YMCA. It is also NOT being built at Ground Zero but over TWO BLOCKS AWAY in an abandoned Burlington Coat factory that community has owned for over 20 years.

Many of the people who are all up in arms about this, are claiming that Ground Zero is “sacred and hollowed ground,” and for the most part it is. No one is disputing that. But, is the abandoned Burlington Coat factory down the street is hollowed ground too? Since the terrorists were radical Muslims, it appears that the paranoid opponants feel the ENTIRE Muslim community must be punished and not be allow to defile abandoned storefronts. These outspoken protesters are saying “We are at was with Islam and they sould not be allowed to build near this sacred place.” But folks, we are NOT at war with Islam or the entire Muslim community here in America or worldwide, we are at war with radical terrorists and specifically Al Queda. All Muslims are NOT members of Al Queda or other terrorist organizations and likewise, ALL Christians and not members of radical Christian Militia groups planning on wiping out the government with future violent attacks. Alj white males who live in the South are not racist nor do they belong to the KKK. All Atheists do NOT worship the devil (or believe in him) nor are they all immoral pawns of Satan trying to overthrow all that is good in America.

The site at Ground Zero is easily defined from the rest of Manhattan which is a working city with shops, beauty salons, restaurants and even the New York Dolls Gentlemen’s Club, nearby…..right on the next block. Wall Street is not too far away and I would think after the financial terrorism on America’s wallets, they would be asked to relocate first. Is the site at Ground Zero any less sacred because there is a strip club nearby? If the Muslim community decided to NOT allow prayer and just swimming would it be ok? Political hacks say “It is not about religion” but this clearly IS all about religion. If it was about morals Wall Street should be kicked off the island.

Right wing fanatics such as Sarah Palin, and Newt Gingrich, are using this issue as a political talking point and a way to rile up their base. Even some Democrats who would normally cry out for reason, have jumped on the “crazy train.” Whether these hacks all believe their retoric or whether they are just sucking up to potential voters, it is simply paranoia run amok, in my opinion. It doesn’t seem to matter that the community center/mosque has had a huge amount of support from the lower Manhattan area and even some of the families of 9/11 victims. One imam and his wife who belong to mosque several blocks away, have been working directly with groups and organizers in planning the 9/11 memorial and museum.

Mosque opponents have been using lies and misinformation to paint the imam behind the proposed center, Feisal Abdul Rauf, as a radical terrorist sympathizer. Liz Chaney, one of the Ground Zero Mosque Paranoia opponents, has been going on and on against Rauf. She was in the State Department when the Bush administration first started using Rauf as part of their outreach effort to the Muslim world. Now don’t get me wrong, I feel that there is a fine line between freedom of speech and hate speech and often the lines can get a little blurry. But I strongly believe that the line is dawn in the sand regarding any group, religious or otherwise, plotting against or planning to harm the United States. I don’t care if you are Muslim or Christian or the KKK, you do not have the right to brainwash children or anyone else into hating and plotting evil against America. If you do, you should be asked to leave. Somehow though, we have a tendency to focus only on mosques when every state in the union has backwoods compounds filled with ignorant, gun toting racists, raising their kids to be the new Children of the Corn. As I write this there is even one fringe Christian group planning to commemorate the 9/11 tragedy with a “Koran Burning ceremony.” Seriously?

Sadly, this campaign to rally scared Americans against the entire Muslim community has been working. All across the nation there have been protests against other mosques. Can this really be happening in a nation that was founded on the freedom of (and from) religion?

Not too long ago my daughter Natalie and I watched the movie “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas.” Briefly, it is a beautiful but tragic story about an 8 year old boy named Bruno who lives in Nazi Germany. His family is sent to the country where his dad will be the new commandant of a concentration camp. His mother who while knowing about the camp, is only aware of the party propaganda concerning it and does not know its true purpose.

One day, bored with nothing to do, Bruno sneaks away and makes his way through the forest to the camp where he befriends another 8 year old Jewish boy who is behind the barbed wire. Without spoiling the ending suffice to say it is dramatic and heart wrenching.

It is a story about friendship under extraordinary circumstances. A story of how children can over look the differances in each other and just focus on being friends and accepting each other. It is also a story of how slippery the slope can be when we allow ourselves to demonizing others. By taking their identity away by removing their humanity we make it easier to commit that outside these circumstances, we would never commit. It shows us the ugly face of denial and how sometimes we desparately want to believe something is not really happening when the evidence is staring us in the face.

In the early days of our country with the ideology of Manifest Destiny guiding our actions, we demonized, wiped out, and rounded up the Native American people who lived here. Now don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of things we did right as a nation. But we labeled all Native Americans dangerous to our families and country and by doing this, we were able to justify our actions. We broke every treaty we made and took them away from their homes and lands puttingt them into reservations.

Before the Civil War people took away the identity and humanity of the African people which made it easier to look the other way or actively participate in slavery. For years government officials and regular “God fearing folks” looked the other way or participated directly with the KKK committing acts of terrorism against people of color.

Step forward to World War II when our country rounded up Japanese American citizens, took away their rights and property, and imprisoned them in internment camps. We did this NOT because of anything they personally had done. We did it because we were afraid they MIGHT do something. We took away their identity as human beings and lumped them into one demonized category called Japs. And remember, this didn’t come from out of the blue, it was a gradual slide down a slippery slope. First they were demonized and accused as a group of being untrustworthy and a danger to the country. Then American citizens were made to feel afraid of them. Then, their rights were gradually whittled away until we rounded them up like cattle and put them behind barbed wire.

For years we looked the other way while members of the gay community were beaten but even now, many are denied many of their constitutional rights. Now, some are attempting to do this with Muslims and illegal immigrants, specifically Hispanics. I am well aware, after living in Arizona several years ago, of the strain illegal immigrants put on the economy but, I am also aware of the fact that there is more to this story than simply making the entire community scapegoats for our ills.

We lump ALL illegal immigrants into one faceless group of Illegals and call them ALL, criminals, freeloaders, and a danger to America. For years and years we not only allow them to cross our boarders we encouraged it. We needed cheap undocumented labor to work our farms and menial jobs and the government looked the other way. We ALL looked the other way for years while they were living in sub-standard conditions with their families trying to survive on the small wage we paid them. Now we are shocked because there are so many who stayed to raise their families, send them to college, and tried to live in the shadows because we did and do not have a reasonable path for them to become citizens. Whether they should or should NOT be here illegally is not the question because clearly we should have a more secure border to keep out the element we don’t want in our country. The question and reality is…….they are already here and have been a part of our society for years and years. Closing the barn door makes sense so that we can keep the country safe but it is simply NOT feasible, fair, or rational to think we are going to round up 11 million people, dump them over the border of Mexico (even if they did not come from there), and close that barn door.

Radicalized Muslims committed an unthinkable act against us on 9/11 but it was NOT all Muslims. Radical Muslims are not the only demographic to commit acts of terror, remember Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, Christian Militias and other lone nut-jobs? Islam is different from the typical western belief system and in being different, we are automatically afraid. We believe that ALL Muslims share the same beliefs and violent goals and refuse to take the time to learn about them as a culture and as individuals. We fail to realize that there are as many different sects in Islam as there are Christian sects here. These sects have different views, beliefs, and interpretations of the Quran and the teachings of Mohammad and even different views on women’s rights. Some are moderate and peace loving and some, like the Taliban, are completely restrictive and violent. In Afghanistan there is little to no other educational opportunities for children which makes them easy prey for those radicals who would brain wash them into their way of thinking. Education and not war is the answer to the problems in the Middle East…..along with finding an alternative source of energy (a topic for a different time.)

We think to ourselves: “We are educated and civilized, we would NEVER round up people and put them behind barbed wire. We would NEVER allow a Holocaust type event to happen here in America, we’re the good guys. We are on the side of right and everyone else is wrong.” I am sure the German people never thought they would get to the point where they would do some of the things they did either.

But, please don’t get too comfortable and think we are not sliding down this slippery slope because right now, in August 2010, there ARE some politicians who are proposing a trip down the hill as we speak.

In the Huffington Post 8/15/2010 by Nick Wing, there is an article about a Tea Party Candidate names Marg Baker who said and I quote from that article:

Tea Party-backed candidate Marg Baker was given the chance to explain what she meant when she said “she wanted to put them in internment camps” and it turns out she meant pretty much what it sounded like.
“We can ship them out to the middle of the country and put up high walls and leave them there,” Baker, who seeks the Republican nomination in a Florida statehouse race, told Salon Thursday. More from Salon:

Asked if what she had in mind was more like the Japanese internment camps of the World War II era, Baker said, “something like that. But unfortunately in the Japanese camps they detained American citizens. The only ones I want to detain are the ones who are illegal.” She added, “You’ve gotta have places for them to eat and sleep and breathe fresh air. It can be a tent city … You don’t want to make them too comfortable or they’ll want to come back”

In the Washington Post today 8/15/10 there is an article about the newest GOP fringe paranoia called “TERROR BABIES?…..REALLY?” and I quote:

“Everyone has been talking a lot about terror babies. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) appeared on Anderson Cooper and shouted about them for several minutes, which means that they are clearly a rising topic of national concern. The FBI has hastened to assure the public that the concept of terror babies is ludicrous. What’s wrong with the idea of mothers sneaking into the country, giving birth, and sneaking back elsewhere to lovingly rear their children into U.S.-hating mini-Osamas? Besides the fact that there’s no evidence of such a phenomenon?”And on CNN Politics Jeff Simon wrote:

“Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano said Friday that Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert “is so off the mark” in his assertion that terrorists are plotting to conceive babies in the United States so they can grow up to kill Americans.”

For the record, I for one have a hard time believing ANY parent, even if they are a terror loving infiltrator, could be assured their “terror baby” would follow the path they chose for them and actually become a terrorist……..what if they want to go to Chucky Cheese instead? Or the mall? Or, work at Starbucks? I can’t get my 15 years old to clean her room or stop texting her friends so I sure as hell couldn’t get her to blow her self up at the nearest WalMart.

I actually saw the interview of Louie Gohmert on CNN and seriously, if I lived in Texas, I would be embarrassed. The man not only would not and could not offer any proof he was completely, unhinged, irrational, and seemed to be in need of professional mental health treatment.

Now we have a community center/mosque building proposal that is making the far right foam at the mouth. Not only are their many of these “freedom loving patriots” demanding that the Muslim community not build in that location but this has sparked protests around the country with some demanding that NO MORE mosques be built in the “land of the free.”

I listen to the media and especially the right wing fringe groups demonizing Muslims, illegal immigrants, Hispanics, and others and wonder if and when we will repeat our sordid past as a nation. I wonder if my grandchildren someday be looking through barbed wire at children they would have been friends with if the adults would have let them?

It is a very slippery slope we are going down and I hope we put the breaks on soon before we reach the bottom.