Please Help! Looking For PERFECT Smackdown Of Bigots Opposed To NYC Mosque

[ChoppinBroccoli]

I've had a lot of Facebook people peppering their pages with bigoted protestations of the proposed mosque in NYC. I wanted to come up with the PERFECT response to these fools. Ideally, it should be only a sentence or two (so it will fit as my Facebook status), and it should be so pointed and poignant that it thoroughly embarrasses the people posting this garbage.

Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly capable of crafting a response that destroys all their points. What I DON'T have is the ability to boil it down into a one- or two-sentence, easily-digestible morsel. Does anyone have anything, or has anyone seen anything like this? I want these people to feel foolish and small for posting messages of hate on their Facebook pages. I really want to stick it in and twist it.

I'd like it to include references to the fact that this country was FOUNDED on the idea of religious tolerance and/or freedom of religion. I'd also like it to include some thought-provoking rhetoric (for example, I saw some posts earlier with ideas like, "Should a Muslim be allowed to be on American Idol?" and "How far away from Ground Zero does it need to be to make you happy?" and "I want all Christian churches banned from Oklahoma City"). I liked those, because I think they really expose these people for what they are.

See, the thing about the people I'M seeing is that they're TRYING to come off as reasonable pragmatists by including statements like, "I believe in freedom of religion and all that, but why does it have to be at Ground Zero? Anywhere else in the city, and I'd say fine."

You have no idea how badly I want to smack these people down. Can anyone help? Again, I don't want a novel (I'm perfectly capable of writing a novel explaining in great detail every reason why they're wrong--they won't read it); I want a bumper sticker.

[steve2470]

1. tweak this to suit you

Here goes the reasoning:

1- 19 terrorists who were Islamic killed ~3000 people of many faiths and nationalities (generally accepted, with the caveats that they were not uber-devout Muslims and represented an extreme political anti-American viewpoint and an extreme Wahabbist sect)

2- Therefore, they represented all of Islam (News to me ! Broad brush much ?)

3- Islam killed Americans and attacked the USA (let's just ignore the dead Muslims and, no, 19 men who were Islamic did, not 2 billion Muslims)

4- Park51 (aka "Ground Zero Mosque") is a mosque (and a community center)

5- X amount of square feet/meters/miles surrounding the old WTC site is "hallowed ground" (despite the fact that NO ONE made a serious effort to buy up this land and the fact that several decidedly not-so-respectful businesses are in that mythical area)

6- Since Islam killed Americans and Park51 is a mosque, the nasty Muslims two blocks away from the old WTC site are a menace/insult to Americans and the families of the 9/11 dead (note my extreme :sarcasm:)

7- The feelings/unresolved grief of SOME of the 9/11 dead's families trumps the First Amendment rights of this religious minority (not legal but when did that matter to the opposition !)

8- Therefore: despite a) the incontrovertible fact that the property is theirs; b) they have the right to build a community center or mosque or both; c) they have complied completely with all the local zoning laws; and d) their Imam has cooperated with both the FBI and the Bush Administration.... the Muslim minority loses to the feelings of some of the 9/11 families and of the RW political manipulation

on edit: I scanned your post too fast. Bumper sticker: Muslims died on 9-11 too

[Hekate]

17. Amended bumper sticker: "American Muslims died on 9-11 too."

Just so no *hole sez "Duh, of course--19 Muslims died crashing the airplanes." There's about 1.5 million Muslims living in the US -- my guess is a lot of them are Americans, especially the children. The bigots keep trying to pretend that all Muslims are furriners and shouldn't be allowed to practice that furrin religion of their's.

Hekate

[steve2470]

21. yes you are totally right, thanks nt

[Electric Monk]

2. Not sure if this is perfect, but it's a really good one, imho

for those who understand nuance.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x8973431
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/opinion/17dalrymple.html?_r=3&src=me&ref=general

It's a Sufi Mosque, and Osama Bin Laden hates them too.

[steve2470]

5. great point ! nt

[Rosa Luxemburg]

3. a) It's not a Mosque, b) there are 2 Mosques next to WTC already

and c) The bigots are preaching hate against a religion which is not or should not be tolerated!

[aquart]

14. NOT A MOSQUE expects 2000 to prayer every Friday

According to WaPo. I agree. They must be lying. Why don't you do a fact check?

If it's okay to build a mosque there, and legally it is, why so virulently insistent that it is NOT A MOSQUE?

Continue with your brilliant, irrefutable arguments.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

18. it is not designated an actual Mosque

[doc03]

4. Someone posted a picture of a Muslim grave marker from

Arlington Cemetery a couple days ago. Ask if they think a Muslim should be buried in Arlington Cemetery next to the Christian soldiers that died in Iraq.

[flvegan]

6. Look no further than DUer Atticus' OP earlier.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=8971616&mesg_id=8971616

You can probably craft a number of "bumper stickers" from it.

[Warpy]

7. Subtlety is lost on wingers

all I do is point out the will of the majority is not absolute. It's tempered by protections afforded the minority so that democracy doesn't degenerate into mob rule. The majority can't vote to take these rights away. We all have them in equal measure.

I also point out that Catholics, Jews, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses were all persecuted to exactly this degree and all those persecutions failed because of our absolute protection of the right to worship as we choose.

I then point out the superiority of this country has always been in how we protect newcomers we might not like as well as the majority we do.

Then I tell them to go to hell. That, at least, they understand.

[shimmergal]

8. OH--so we can bring back

some of the victims of 9/11 by keeping any mosque from being built nearby?

Sorry if this seems crass--but it's the only justification I can imagine for being so much against it.

[Electric Monk]

9. Jon Stewart nailed it tonight too, quoting Charleton Heston re: NRA

convention in Denver (near Columbine) shortly after that mass school shooting there.

[blogslut]

10. Hmm, try this:

Islam has Bin Laden

Christianity has Hitler

Do we condemn an entire religion because a few followers are psychotic monsters?

[dkf]

11. "70% of Americans are hateful bigots."

[Luminous Animal]

16. Yes they are. And attacks against mosques have increasingly escalated since 9/11.

This is not about "ground zero." This is about bigotry and fear.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

12. I Snapped And Posted Way Too Much

I just got started and couldn't stop. I posted references to wanting all Christian churches banned from Oklahoma City. Then I made a reference to the fact that since the IRA is a terrorist organization that is comprised of Catholics, I wanted all Catholic churches banned too. And since in "painting with a broad brush world," all Catholics are also child molestors, I thought we should ban Catholic churches from being built near schools or public parks. And for good measure, I wrote a really long sentence about how building a community center in that neighborhood would be an insult to all the mosques that are already there, not to mention all the strip clubs honoring those who died on the "hallowed ground." And I wrapped it up with a statement to the effect that I wanted the decade-old hurt feelings of a few people to supersede the freedoms guaranteed to all Americans by the U.S. Constitution.

That's the problem I have. I just get way too zealous and I snap and end up writing a dissertation that no right-winger would ever read (since we all know they're not capable of reading anything longer than a bumper sticker).

[pinboy3niner]

13. Who would Jesus say shouldn't pray there?

[Hissyspit]

15. Here is something:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4508987&mesg_id=4509104

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=4508987&mesg_id=4509155

Also, ask them why they want to side with the mosque burners? Like Savannah, GA in 2003...

[Erose999]

20. Well they're already siding with Neo-Nazis like dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders. So mosque

burners is probably not too much of a stretch. They are already having a "burn the Quran rally" too.

[JoePhilly]

19. News Corp, parent of Fox News, is part owned by a Saudi ...

They should be boycotting Fox ... and they should also be demanding that we stop purchasing any oil from Muslim countries.

[KillCapitalism]

22. Simply show them the Bill of Rights.

Remind them that we have this thing called freedom of religion here.

If it were any other faith, no one would have a problem with a synagogue, church, or temple being placed in that location and if a group were to object, people would claim they are violating freedom of religion. Nowadays freedom of religion just doesn't apply to Islam in most people's small minds.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. "I think it's in bad taste for a brother's penis to be placed in his sister's vagina."

"But you don't see me giving your parents any shit about it."

[distantearlywarning]

24. Try the first amendment.

There's nothing much to say about this other than that.

[Sheepshank]

25. here's mine

Why do you hate and disregard the Constitution and the Bill of Rights so vehemently that you think it should only apply to some citizens? Who are you to decide which legal residents get to enjoy the protection of the US Constitution and BoR?


Certainly not bumpersticker length, but certainly 2 sentences.