Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Putting your money where your mouth is

Jianshui Bus Station, Yunnan

This may be as good a time as any to post a couple of links I've been thinking about lately. First up is the story of the proposed mosque being built within three blocks of Ground Zero in New York City. One advantage of being an expat is that raging controversies in the news back home get filtered in to minor curiosities heard over the internet here, so while I can imagine the rants and counter rants about the subject on the scream-and-polarize talk show circuit, I'm largely spared the grief.

But still. A "stab into the heart of America"? Puuh-leeze! What many people don't realize is that the World Trade Center wasn't destroyed by Islam - it was destroyed by fanaticism. So what did the Anti-Defamation League do when it supported the Mosque's removal? Why, cave in to fanatics, of course! (Dang, I do feel like going off on a rant here...)

That's why I'm impressed with Fareed Zakaria. I don't know how much coverage this got at home, but he returned an award (which included $10,000 cash) that he recieved from the ADL. You can read his (calm, well-reasoned, unfanatical) comments here.

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