The Hefty Price of "Psychological Terrorism"

A story that has been gaining a lot of public attention lately is Vincent Forras' lawsuit against the developers of the Ground Zero Mosque. Forras, a firefighter who was injured while responding to the 9/11 attacks, claims that the possibility of a ground zero mosque has caused him "psychological terrorism." In order to compensate for his high levels of mental stress, Forras is suing the developers for $350 million. Yes, 350 million dollars. In response, the developers of the Ground Zero Mosque are counter suing Vincent Forras for $50,000. Imam Rauf has referred to Forras' lawsuit as "Blind Bigotry" and is working to dismiss his case against him and the rest of the developers.

Something doesn't seem right here. This guy responded to attacks on 9/11, a time when a nation had no idea what to expect and what was to come. He braved everything to help victims, and he was injured as a result. I respect his willingness to help in such troubled and fearful times. Why didn't he sue for the physical and psychological terrorism he sustained during his response to these attacks? I understand that people can be traumatized psychologically, and Forras' suing of the mosque developers is such an insult to everyone else affected by 9/11 and to those who really want to strengthen our relationship with Muslims and Muslim Americans. Whether or not people agree with the development of the mosque is not the issue, claiming that the proposal of this center as "psychological terrorism" and suing for this much money is unjustified. True "psychological terrorism" cannot be cured with a multi-million dollar paycheck.

I googled "Vincent Forras," and the first listing was http://www.vincentforras.com. When I visited the site, I was directed to a site that was under maintenance and was supposed to be done on September 17 of this year. The site was sure to list a number that people could call for "media and bookings information," and was sure to state that the purpose of the new site was for the Vincent Forras Legal Defense Fund. It sounds like Mr. Forras is trying to raise money for his legal fees and for support for his case while gaining media attention at the same time.

I suspected that Mr. Forras had a Facebook page since he seems to be asking for attention on his website. I found his page, and, on there, I learned some interesting things about Vincent. One thing I learned is that he is running for Senator of Connecticut. I'm sure that $350 million would come in handy here. The following is a status update he wrote:

 

Vincent Forras If I am considered a "blind bigot" by the Imam promoting the Ground Zero Mosque does that make me a "FAIR" bigot? Since JUSTICE is BLIND, then this guy is giving me a "left-handed" compliment? We the people will NOT be intimidated by name calling and resorting to petty personal attacks. Let discovery begin and lets follow the money!!!!

If that doesn't explain what Mr. Forras is after, I don't know what does. Blatantly saying "let's follow the money" doesn't seem to  help his case. Plus, this lawsuit is all about his "psychological terrorism." Why does he feel the need to involve the people? I'm sure it's because this is all a part of his political platform. 

Vincent also started the "Gear Up Foundation." Here is the banner on his website:

Notice how Vinny doesn't say where this money is going. When, I clicked the "Donate" box, I was directed to a PayPal account. It just seems like another way Vinny is trying to get money for his campaign. I can't see how people would want to donate without knowing where this money is going.

Vinny's story goes back to what I have said about  Andy Sullivan's story. Yes, they are working class individuals. I respect those who work hard to make a living, but Andy and Vinny seem to be out for their own interest and they exploit patriotism for their own personal gain. Isn't this "psychological terrorism" in itself? These people are exploiting one's love for this country to make money, and they're also defaming a religion and a cultural center as a result. If these people who donate to and support these campaigns find out that their money is for personal gain and not for the good of the country, aren't they "psychologically terrorized?".  It's funny that some see race and religion as a such a barricade between people, but psychological terrorism has no boundaries.

911 Hard Hat Pledge creator Andy Sullivan

$100,000,000 worth of Ground Zero mosque work could possibly be refused by members of the Hard Hat Pledge. With the economy in the shape that it is, do you think that the Hard Hat Pledge is a viable stand for working class people?

The Mosque Debate: The Numbers that Incite the Ignorance We See

I found a blog post online by Kay  Steiger called Young People Support Construction of 'Ground Zero' Mosque, and the article analyzed some studies conducted by Pew Research. As the title states, one study found that 62% of people ages 18-29 support the construction of the Ground Zero mosque. Sixty-three percent of those over age 65, however, oppose the construction of the Ground Zero mosque. Steiger also said,

"The poll reports that groups least supportive of the construction of the facility are Republicans, the older demographic, and the less educated."

I'm not surprised one bit that these groups are the least supportive of a Ground Zero mosque, but I wonder what factors influence the way they feel the most. Most devout Christians tend to vote with the Republican party, as the party has a dominant pro-life view on abortion. Some Christians also tend to to think that every other religion out there is full of falsities about God. I remember going to church functions with some of my friends as a teenager, and I was always told how their religion is the only religion that has it right. Why would they support something that goes against what they've always been told?  They've never gone beyond what's familiar to them to even try to learn.

The older demographic I'm sure remembers the Civil Rights Movement, and maybe even Jewish anti-semitism. While we have made great strides in combating these problems, some people never shed their racist ways of thinking. These problems exist today, and racist ways of thinking can always be shifted to other groups of people. Is Islamophobia the new form of racism? Even though Victor Ghalib Begg's Article, The Only Acceptable Racism Today: Islamophobia, is nearly three years old, Begg does a great job at describing Islamophobia and drawing similarities from past forms of racism. His article is especially relevant in light of the mosque debate. He states,

"Islamophobes are similar to anti-Semites and racists – their resentment is deliberate, designed to create fear, capitalizing on ‘ignorance of the other’."

The keyword here is ignorance. As people tend to fear what they do not know, they fear a religion based on what they saw on September 11. Little do they know that this religion itself was not behind these attacks, but extremist views were. Those who spread Islamophobia, I think, are fearful themselves, and they, too, are undereducated. If they took the time to learn about this religion or interact with Muslim Americans, they would realize that Islam is a peaceful religion at its core, and that Muslim Americans are indeed Americans. They like the same things we like, they go to the same places we go, and they feel the same things we feel. Were they too affected by the events on September 11? Absolutely. I understand how not being educated leads to a racist way of thinking, but it is no excuse anymore.

Take my 18 year old cousin, for instance. Even though she's in college now, she has a friend from high school who is a Muslim American. When I asked her if her friend's religion affected their friendship at all, she replied,

"Did these factors ever cross my mind when we were friends? Not at all. The fact was that we got along, and that was enough for me."

My cousin has it right. If we never look past the things we don't fully understand, how can we ever learn and grow as people? Isn't getting along with somebody enough for friendship when it comes down to it? It doesn't matter what we don't know initially; it's the common ground we establish based on similar interests. It's something so simple, but it's amazing how "simple" can become so cloudy with racist sentiments and ignorance. 

Hard Hat, Hard Heart?

There are a lot of mosque protesters on the internet, but I found one campaign that really made me think more about this debate: The 9/11 Hard Hat Pledge.
The campaign, started by Andy Sullivan, a lifelong New Yorker and a "hard hat" himself, urges construction workers in the NYC area to refuse to work on the construction of the Ground Zero mosque.

What struck me about this group is that they acknowledge that Muslims have the right to build a mosque. Some groups in opposition don't even recognize that there is a constitutional right to build a mosque here. What the campaign does believe is that building a mosque at Ground Zero is insensitive since Ground Zero is a "cemetery" to those Americans who lost their lives on 9/11. Here is an excerpt from the website:

"As Americans, we acknowledge Imam Feisal Rauf's 'right' to build a mosque. That is not the issue. But for most Americans, it is wholly contradictory of the Ground Zero Mosque developers to claim that it will be a center of “inter-faith” relations... when implicit in the term 'inter-faith' is the fundamental notion of respect and sensitivity to those of other faiths and to those who view the Ground Zero area as a cemetery."

To me, this argument is flawed. Yes, "inter-faith" does imply respect, sensitivity, and tolerance to other religions, but 9/11 was driven by extremism, not a religion. Islam did not cause 9/11, a radial way of thinking did. Many Americans lost their lives on  9/11, and included in that group is Muslim Americans. I think acknowledging that Muslim Americans ARE Americans too and that they experienced loss and tragedy just like the rest of us did is truly what having respect and sensitivity to other faiths is all about. And what better way to acknowledge this respect by building an interfaith community center with a mosque included?

The website also gives anyone with a passion for this campaign the option to be a part of it. When users "Act Now," people can send postcards that state the cause of The Hard Hat Pledge to President Obama, NY Legislatures, and NY media figures, a total of 20 people. They also had the option to send post cards to lawmakers in their hometowns. The post cards cost $1.65 a piece, and there were discounts to those who bought more than 10.

What I don't understand is if you believe in this cause so badly, how can you make money of it? To me, this is wrong. It's one thing to ask for donations, and it's one thing if this is a nonprofit cause. But there's no way the production of the card and the postage itself amount to $1.65 per card. Talk about insensitivity.

After seeing this website, I wanted to see the Hard Hat Pledge Facebook page. The information on the page is very similar to the information on the website. At the time of this posting, the page had 2,163 fans. A lot of these fans didn't appear to be in the construction industry I was curious as to what made people who were not involved in the construction industry join this pledge. I interviewed a fan named Kathy Crawley. Kathy is not a construction worker, but her husband and son are union workers. Kathy was a pleasure to interview, but even she as a fan of this page, she wasn't entirely sure about who was involved in the Hard Hat Pledge and what construction industries were involved in the campaign. What did strike me though was her passion. When I asked her what made her take an interest in helping the Hard Hat Pledge's message, her response was,

"[W]hat made me join is that my husband and son are both union and refuse to work on the 'The Cordoba Initiative.' We all feel very strongly about it, having lost friends at the WTC. Our neighborhood is blue collar and with many fire fighter and police officers as neighbors, I feel that their pain and loss."

Kathy and I may not see eye to eye on the Ground Zero Mosque debate, but her response has made me more sensitive to those who oppose the location because of their past pain. Kathy knows firsthand what it feels like to lose somebody she cares about in such a tragic, and my heart goes out to her. What worries me is that campaigns like The Hard Hat Pledge play on these emotions.We will always remember those lives lost on 9/11, and we will always feel saddened by the events of that day.

I understand why people join a campaign like The Hard Hat Pledge, but sending a bunch of postcards to lawmakers isn't going to erase the pain. And where are the profits going? I hope they are helping those who are still struggling with this tragedy in some way. Having a community center and mosque two blocks away will never change the sadness we feel, but it will strengthen our ability as Americans to honor all those lives lost during 9/11 whether there were Jewish, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or Muslim Americans.

DN! Imam Rauf Moving Islamic Center Will Strengthen Radicals

Imam Rauf also explains in this interview that he thinks Islamophobia is on the rise in America. Do you agree with him? How do you think we can start changing the way people see Muslim Americans?

Two Sides of The Debate, One Flawed Mentality

It's no secret that there has been a lot of people in favor of moving the mosque site further than two blocks from Ground Zero, but the idea of  putting a mosque on Ground Zero is starting to gain some momentum too. This idea really gained publicity by Michael Moore, who is a strong proponent of a mosque on Ground Zero. Michael Moore says in an interview with Wolf Blitzer, "The America I believe in is an America that is generous in spirit and not one that wants to attack people because of their religious faith." He also says that building a mosque on Ground Zero will help Muslims "restore the good name of their faith," a faith that was "hijacked" on September 11. In a post on MichaelMoore.com, Michael is quoted as asking people to donate to the current location's building fund, and he also says that he will match those donations with $10,000 of his own money.

Steven Prothero, a religion scholar at Boston University, shares Moore's view by also supporting a mosque on Ground Zero. In his blog post on CNN.com, Prothero says,

 "I believe a small mosque ought to be integrated into the redesign of the World Trade Center site itself — a reminder in steel and stone that the United States is not at war either with Islam or with our core values."

He also says, "... New York City is a place where people are free to be their own idiosyncratic selves, to do their own idiosyncratic things and to hallow whatever they find holy, even in a space as public as a Fifth Avenue Sidewalk."

As much as I agree with Moore and Prothero, I think supporters of the mosque are missing the point a bit. Yes, muslims have a right to practice their religion freely. Yes, they should have a place of worship in the new Word Trade Center site. Yes, they have a right to reclaim the good name their religion once had. But it's not just about their religion and their rights. It's about all of our rights as citizens of this country. I know my blog is titled, "Investigating the Ground Zero Mosque Debate," and maybe I am being hypocritical for including "Ground Zero Mosque" in the title because the site of the proposed mosque, is much  more than just a proposed mosque, it's a proposed community center. It's a community center with plans to welcome those from other religions with open arms. It's a place for recreation, worship, meeting, and learning from people who are different from ourselves. I think that we as citizens have a right to integrate all religions, races, and cultural values together. That's what makes us grow as people, and America grow in cultural wealth.

While Moore and Prothero make great points about Muslims having the right to practice their religion freely and wherevery they choose, I think the flawed "us verus them" mentality is prevalent amongst supporters and opponents of the mosque site. Many Islamic supporters of the mosque are Muslim Americans. Essentially, It is our right as Americans to practice the religion we choose, it is not their right to practice what they choose. The people behind Park 51 got it right- to make a place for all citizens to come together no matter what they believe. I think that's what truly makes a place hallowed ground because, sadly, it's a rareity in this country anymore.

President Clinton on plans for mosque near Ground Zero

Bill Clinton says that the Ground Zero mosque would spark much less of a debate if those who build it dedicate the building to the Muslims who lost their lives on 9/11. What do you think?