Re: [RC] ADL opposes mosque at Ground Zero

[David R. Block]

Title: If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed

Hi Ernie, I'm not convinced by Journolister Nate Silver's argument. Nor am I convinced that two blocks are sufficient buffer space in lower Manhattan. Bear in mind that there is a large Jewish population in NYC, and I'm sure that they are rather uncomfortable with this turn of events. Hence the ADL coming out against it. No one should be surprised by that at all. David If you don't read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.--Mark Twain    On 8/2/2010 1:58 PM, Dr. Ernie Prabhakar wrote: Hi Billy, On Aug 2, 2010, at 11:50 AM, bil...@aol.com wrote: "Ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right," the ADL said in a statement. "In our judgment, building an Islamic center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain - unnecessarily - and that is not right." It is a complex issue, and the ADL seems to have a measured response.  But the language used to describe the geography varies from blatantly false to (as in this case) aggressively suggestive. A Street-Level View of the "Ground Zero Mosque" http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2010/07/polls-reporting-on-ground-zero-mosque.html There's pretty much no way that you're going to be able to see a 12-story building located two blocks behind a 16-story building that occupies the entire block, with another ~14-story building wedged in between. I also walked the entire northern permiter of the WTC site -- there's nowhere that you'd get even a passing glimpse of the mosque. And I walked the stretch of Park Place where Cordoba House would be located -- it's a fairly incoherent and downtrodden block that you'd have no particular reason to visit, unless you were going there specifically to see Cordoba House, nor is it one that you'd happen upon unintentionally.  Is there a case against building a mosque anywhere near the World Trade Center? Absolutely. But I want to see that case made based on the bare facts, not misleading scare tactics.   To me, being a radical centrist means taking pains to be extremely accurate in all our facts, not glossing over those that make us look worse or our our opponents look better. -- Ernie P. -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <RadicalCentrism@googlegroups.com> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org