The Mosque That Isn’t
Okay. So the President has endorsed the Ground Zero mosque. Fortunately, his endorsements tend to be a kiss of death.
And so the good news is that President Obama has as much say as nearly any other American on whether the Ground Zero mosque gets built. Why? Because it isn’t up to him. It is up to a bureaucracy of building commissioners, zoning folks, permit and applications red-tapers, and a host of other people (including trade unions) located in New York City. He has nothing to contribute to this process.
The bad news is…frankly, the Czar isn’t sure the President knows this. In all possibility, the President may think, as he does with so many other topics, that the decision really is his. That he makes decisions about city-specific issues outside the reach of the federal government. Eventually someone will have to tell the President that a voting hot dog vendor in New York has more to say on the issue than he does. We would hate to be that messenger, though.
We have not discussed much about the mosque here at the Big G, largely because there isn’t much more to say about it. Even if we assume or pretend that the people behind this idea are really, truly genuine in their pronouncements about tolerance and understanding and so forth—and thus far, this does not seem to be the case—there is no long-term goal here. Say they build the mosque in 2011, and that it winds up not being a cruel mockery of a monumental tragedy, but an honest-to-goodness effort to show that some Muslims treat Ground Zero as hallowed land—so what? Does this tune still sound on key in 2013? 2018?
What longer-term point, ultimately, is gained by the mosque? Look, either it is a middle finger to America—in which case, not even the best PR folks can save it—or it is a functioning house of worship—in which case, what symbolic value does it serve after the first year? Who would even want to attend there?
A few people have expressed the analogy that this mosque would be like building a Shinto altar at Pearl Harbor dedicated to the kamikaze. Maybe so: but seriously—thousands and thousands of people go to Pearl Harbor every year; how many would bother to swing by this Shinto shrine on their visit? The Czar bets, after two years, no one. The same for this mosque: build it, and no one will come.
Actually, the President is correct on a few points: in America (thank God), you have the right to build a house of worship on any private property anywhere. Yes, that includes a stretch of private property that touches Ground Zero. But why waste the time, effort, money, and resources for something that will be an ill-regarded provocation? What is to be gained by this location, as opposed to building a mosque at some other location better suited to meet the needs of its community?
The bottom line, of course, is that there is nothing to be gained. Because of this, any right-thinking person (including, probably, most Muslims) will conclude this mosque is intended to serve as an insulting political stunt, which negates it as a place of worship. No amount of sanctification will ever cleanse the stench that will forever lurk over any building never truly intended for God. For the President, Mayor Bloomberg, or any other politician to pretend otherwise will prove far more costly at election time. And once its elected supporters are long gone from office, that mosque would still remain—a mostly empty, cold, and unfriendly shell that serves no useful purpose to anyone.
Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.