{"id":1165,"date":"2010-10-04T14:16:51","date_gmt":"2010-10-04T21:16:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/?p=1165"},"modified":"2012-02-16T14:37:11","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T22:37:11","slug":"fear-and-loathing-at-%e2%80%9cground-zero%e2%80%9d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/1165\/campus-life\/fear-and-loathing-at-%e2%80%9cground-zero%e2%80%9d\/","title":{"rendered":"Fear and loathing at \u201cGround Zero\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Jim Kenney
\nContributing writer<\/strong><\/p>\n

For days, headlines have been dominated by the disturbing story of a Florida church\u2019s proposed burning of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. And this story doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum\u2014it has sprung up in the wake of a frenzy of reports about protests centering on the proposed Islamic cultural center near the site of Ground Zero. Yes, if you follow the news at all, you\u2019re aware of the virulent opposition to this project, and of growing \u201cIslamophobia\u201d in general. And like many Americans, you may well be concerned about what seems to be a widespread intolerance that defies one of our nation\u2019s founding principles: religious freedom.<\/p>\n

To be sure, thoughtful Americans can find themselves on either side of the controversy\u2014after all, such is our right. But it does lead many to wonder: What does the whole dispute mean in terms of society at large? Isn\u2019t the rise of angry intolerance a sign of cultural retrogression? Doesn\u2019t the apparent rise of \u201cIslamophobia\u201d in America signal a return to religious and cultural intolerance, or even to a sort of racialism?
\nNot at all.<\/p>\n

The \u201cGround Zero\u201d ferment offers, on one hand, a clear demonstration of progressive values-shift. On the other hand, it\u2019s a classic example of the creation and intensification of an anti-evolutionary eddy.
\nThriving in the Crosscurrent explains that we\u2019re living through a time of dramatic cultural evolution\u2014a sea change. The old values of patriarchy, racism, war mongering, and exploitation of nature really are giving way to new values of gender equality, human rights, nonviolence, and ecological awareness.<\/p>\n

So why all the turmoil? And why does it seem that, in the mosque example but also in many others, Americans are more divided than ever? Any time mainstream thinking about important issues begins to change, some of us find our core identities threatened. This produces eddies\u2014cultural \u201cwhirlpools\u201d of stubborn and even angry resistance to progressive values-shifts.<\/p>\n

When individuals haven\u2019t had the opportunity or the occasion to reflect on such matters, they often feel that their own identities are being attacked. Their reactions range from discomfort to disorientation and from resentment to anger and even violence.<\/p>\n

In other words, the backlash itself stands as proof of the culture shift. The controversy over the Islamic cultural center is one such eddy\u2014intense, but not fated to last.<\/p>\n

While Islamophobia is clearly on the rise in some regions of the country, interfaith respect and mutuality have been growing all over the land for the past 40 or more years. Informed respect continues to trump ignorance and intolerance. Eddies of resistance can slow but never stem the incoming tide. And that, I believe, will prove to be the case with the \u201cGround Zero\u201d swirl.<\/p>\n

Actually, \u201cmosque\u201d is a bit of a misnomer. (And it isn\u2019t really at Ground Zero.) Originally entitled \u201cCordoba House\u201d (in celebration of the coexistence of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in Cordoba, Spain, from the 8th through the 11th centuries), the project envisions a community center with performance space, sports facilities, a restaurant, a bookstore, etc. While the center would include a Muslim prayer area, the presence of the wide range of community services, organizers maintain, precludes it from being a mosque. It has been likened more accurately to a Jewish community center.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, its location near the site of the WTC attack, Park 51, is not at Ground Zero. Still, that has not prevented the spread of the viral term, \u201cGround Zero Mosque.\u201d<\/p>\n

As you may recall, the proposal to build an Islamic cultural center some two-and-a-half blocks away from the site of the World Trade Center was at first hailed by many progressives and conservatives alike as a gesture of healing and an expression of American cultural resilience. But not for long. Recently, a war of words has broken out, polarizing families of victims of the 9\/11 attack and the broader American populace alike.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jim Kenney Contributing writer For days, headlines have been dominated by the disturbing story of a Florida church\u2019s proposed burning of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. And this story doesn\u2019t exist in a vacuum\u2014it has sprung up in the wake of a frenzy of reports about protests centering on…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"staff_name":[570],"class_list":["post-1165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus-life","staff_name-contributor"],"yoast_head":"\nFear and loathing at \u201cGround Zero\u201d - City College Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sjcctimes.com\/es\/1165\/campus-life\/fear-and-loathing-at-\u201cground-zero\u201d\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_ES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fear and loathing at \u201cGround Zero\u201d - City College Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Jim Kenney Contributing writer For days, headlines have been dominated by the disturbing story of a Florida church\u2019s proposed burning of the Koran on the ninth anniversary of the 9\/11 attacks. 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