In Carmel, Indiana, a northern suburb, a Muslim group has petitioned the zoning board to build an Islamic Center that will include a mosque. The center will be in a residential neighborhood that has been seeing development north and south of it. The people who live there do have some legitimate questions about what this new house of worship will mean to the neighborhood. Traffic and noise being the biggest issues. Also what it might mean if the center does drug treatment programs or a food pantry. Neighbors need to consider these things and the zoning board should as well. Houses of worship in general can be a net positive to a neighborhood. But for some any effort to create a commercial-like environment can be problematic. A large building with a public profile does change a lot about an area.
The mosque has tried to address some of the issues, for example, fear of a public call to prayer has been been spoken to by the fact that there will not be one to conform with local noise ordinances. So know that local government will have to balance the needs, rights, and concerns of the groups.
But the debate has brought out an ugly side of our culture. The responses to the story on local newscast social media pages has been down right racist. One person, who doesn't live in the city let alone the neighborhood, said that there is a mosque in Plainfield so why do they need another one. It is almost one-hour from the area that this community lives in. Others equated Islam with terror and suggested, without sarcasm, that this is the first step to Sharia being imposed in Carmel. It is mindnumbing. But this is where we are as a country. It isn't new, loud-mouthed hate has been part of culture since the dawn of culture. I have always found it interesting that in ancient Rome there was political graffiti that attacked leaders and others personally. But today it feels different. It feels like elected officials are helping to cultivate this hate.
High level leaders in the Republican party, including the President, have reached out to the most divisive and hateful members of the right wing noise machine. People like Alex Jones, a man who called the Sandy Hook massacre a false flag operation, has access to top government officials and the President has been on his conspiracy ridden radio program. White supremacists have been invited into the White House and we have seen members of that subculture flashing White Power signs while standing in the People's house. And of course, the President, when faced with questions about the racist gathering in Charlottesville called some of the them fine people.
Anonymity of the internet, cover run by our leaders and the daily deluge of slug from members of the inner circle in the current administration has created a fertile ground for hate to be acceptable to many. It takes good people to not do nothing. There are many times arguments can be made against whate I believe, from a mosque in Carmel, to DACA to a border wall to security measures. But if those arguments use bigoted, ignorant or racist ideas to prop up a failed position, we must challenge them. There are more of us than them. And some can still be shamed, regardless if the GOP leadership has lost that ability.
The mosque has tried to address some of the issues, for example, fear of a public call to prayer has been been spoken to by the fact that there will not be one to conform with local noise ordinances. So know that local government will have to balance the needs, rights, and concerns of the groups.
But the debate has brought out an ugly side of our culture. The responses to the story on local newscast social media pages has been down right racist. One person, who doesn't live in the city let alone the neighborhood, said that there is a mosque in Plainfield so why do they need another one. It is almost one-hour from the area that this community lives in. Others equated Islam with terror and suggested, without sarcasm, that this is the first step to Sharia being imposed in Carmel. It is mindnumbing. But this is where we are as a country. It isn't new, loud-mouthed hate has been part of culture since the dawn of culture. I have always found it interesting that in ancient Rome there was political graffiti that attacked leaders and others personally. But today it feels different. It feels like elected officials are helping to cultivate this hate.
High level leaders in the Republican party, including the President, have reached out to the most divisive and hateful members of the right wing noise machine. People like Alex Jones, a man who called the Sandy Hook massacre a false flag operation, has access to top government officials and the President has been on his conspiracy ridden radio program. White supremacists have been invited into the White House and we have seen members of that subculture flashing White Power signs while standing in the People's house. And of course, the President, when faced with questions about the racist gathering in Charlottesville called some of the them fine people.
Anonymity of the internet, cover run by our leaders and the daily deluge of slug from members of the inner circle in the current administration has created a fertile ground for hate to be acceptable to many. It takes good people to not do nothing. There are many times arguments can be made against whate I believe, from a mosque in Carmel, to DACA to a border wall to security measures. But if those arguments use bigoted, ignorant or racist ideas to prop up a failed position, we must challenge them. There are more of us than them. And some can still be shamed, regardless if the GOP leadership has lost that ability.
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