More than a little crazy

By A.J. DiCintio

For all their talk about being scientific and basing their thinking upon empirical facts, liberals most often respond to problems by invoking metaphysical concepts taken from leftist political ideology or by obfuscating the real issue with a fog whose "intellectuality" reeks of medieval mumbo jumbo.

Both sins against reason are evident in "The Meaning of the Koran," a vacuous NYT piece in which Robert Wright not only ignores the scourge of Islamist extremism, including its devotion to terrorist jihad, but also makes this statement:

Lately, it seems, things have been moving in the opposite direction; the circle [of disagreement between Christians and Muslims] has been getting vicious.

The "lately" means, of course, that Wright accepts the idea of rampant Islamophobia in the U.S., a patently irrational notion belied by statistics, yet one that has been bubbling in the minds and spewing from the lips of neurotic-guilt ridden liberals since opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero began rising to super-landslide proportions.

Moreover, Wright's assertion of equal "viciousness" on the part of Christians and Muslims viciously misrepresents empirical reality as it delivers an ugly, hurtful insult to all peoples (including India's billion, mostly Hindu souls and millions of Muslims, women especially).

Fortunately, many have written rationally and at length about the madness with which liberals are reacting to opponents of the "Ground Zero mosque."

To their efforts, I offer a brief argument, beginning with the following vastly incomplete list intended to prompt thoughts regarding the nature, scope, and purpose of terrorism whose perpetrators detest every value held dear by lovers of the Jeffersonian ideal:

Iran Hostage Crisis (1979)

Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut (1983)

Kidnapping and murder of U.S. Embassy official William Buckley in Beirut (1984)

Achille Lauro hijacking and murder of disabled American tourist Leon Klinghoffer (1985)

Pan Am 103 Lockerbie bombing (1988)

World Trade Center bombing (1993)

Bombing of USS Cole (2000)

Terrorist attacks of 9/11 (2001)

Kidnapping and murder of Daniel pearl (2002)

Thousands of terrorist atrocities committed against Israelis, beginning the day modern Israel was founded in 1948

Attack and hijacking at the Rome Airport (1973)

Bali bombings (2002)

Madrid train bombings (2004)

London subway bombings (2005)

Next, I simply ask the following two questions:

If you were aware of those evil acts and thousands more committed by murderous Islamists in the name of their God, would your first thought about where to build a hugely important Islamic center in America run to a location just blocks away from Ground Zero?

Or would you choose a thoroughly uncontroversial place to build a house of worship that you proudly define as a symbol, both for a religion of peace and worshippers who embrace the ideas and ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?

For me, a respect for truth and the realities of human nature argue for a "yes" to the second question, a response that comports with the belief of an enormous number of Americans, 71% of whom, according to a late August CBS poll, hold that building a mosque near Ground Zero is inappropriate.

But what of the motivation of the 22% — including Imam Feisal Rauf and President Barack Obama — who answer "yes" to the first question?

(Note that the 22% number almost perfectly mirrors decades of polling that finds liberals comprising 19-21% of the population.)

Well, it's impossible to read their minds.

However, it is fair to say that the project's most vociferous supporters are not just liberals but well educated, well informed members of Scott Rasmussen's "Political Class."

It is also fair to say that big shots of the liberal Political Class, whether a president or an imam, are most often driven not by the neurotic Pollyannishness that clouds the reason of some liberals but by a love of power that flows from the mental disorder called megalomania.

(Regarding Barack Obama, his coronomination in Denver replete with fake Classical Age columns, his savior of the world Berlin speech, his elitist lecture about citizens who "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them," and his obsessive, far-off staring at a place ostensibly beyond the comprehension of ordinary mortals represent just a few manifestations of the psychopathological condition.)

Now, with respect to the consequences certain to be suffered by a culture headed by leaders who believe that upon their birth "The front of Heaven was full of fiery shapes. . . [that] have mark'd [them] extraordinary," we need to know only this fact from American literature:

Ultimately, Herman Melville didn't write Moby Dick to warn humanity of the astonishing disaster sure to be visited upon a whaleship captained by a megalomaniacal sicko.

Finally, it is essential to repeat that numerous, valuable articles have asked many other legitimate questions that Americans want answered about the proposed mosque, including questions about its funding and the associations of its promoters.

But the two offered here, I maintain, sufficiently support the notion that those who believe placing a new, special mosque near Ground Zero is a good thing are more than a little crazy.

© A.J. DiCintio