You’ve surely heard quite a bit about the “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy, and maybe you’ve found the whole thing as disgusting as we have.

First of all, the “Ground Zero Mosque” is not a mosque, and it’s not at Ground Zero. It’s an Islamic community center (with a prayer room in it, a logical design for a religion requiring five prayer sessions a day), and it’s being built two New York City blocks away from the former site of the Twin Towers. It will be one establishment of many within that two block radius of Ground Zero, including churches, restaurants, banks, shoe stores and strip clubs. But “Ground Zero Mosque” is a much scarier name than “Islamic Community Center in Manhattan”.

None of this should matter, of course, as the United States is supposed to embrace freedom of religion. You should be able to build a church, mosque, synagogue, ashram, or shrine to the faith of your choice, wherever you have the land to do so. Some folks are saying that it is “insensitive” to build an Islamic community center near the site of a terrorist attack perpetrated by violent radical members of that religion. And you could have that discussion, if you like, but it wouldn’t explain why there are now protests against the building of mosques in multiple cities across the United States.

This anti-Muslim sentiment is just one component of campaign of fear and resentment that some political operatives and media pundits are using to whip up support for elections in November. We’ll get to further examples in a minute.

First, I’ll cut these fearful folks a tiny bit of slack. These are scary times for all Americans. People are afraid of losing their jobs. People are afraid of losing their homes. Even people in seemingly stable financial situations know that they could take a hit out of nowhere and have their lives turned upside down. And when people are scared, they often don’t think clearly, panic, or lash out at others. That makes it a little more understandable that some Americans are letting their darker instincts take control. But it’s still wrong, and we still have to oppose it.

In addition, most Americans are not Muslim (an estimated 1.5 million Americans are Muslim), and know almost nothing about the religion. Their few contacts with Islam are news accounts of Muslim extremists in other nations, not the Muslims of all ethnicities that live in cities across the United States, who are no more violent or radical than any other American.

There is, of course, an immense amount of prejudice and division in this country, not just this heightened anti-Muslim reaction. Racism, sexism, homophobia, religious strife, and political polarization have made fierce enemies between groups and individuals. So devious political operatives aren’t the cause of this wave of hate. But they are exploiting it, inflaming it, and sometimes giving people just the spark they need to act on their fear and anger.

One distorted lesson that conservative American politicians learned from the civil rights movement of the 1960s is that playing to people’s sense of victimhood sells. This is a highly twisted interpretation of what the movement was about, but it’s what some people decided they could use for their own ends. Right-wing politicians and media figures have been pushing a number of stories in the past year that will cater to an audience predominantly of older, conservative, white, Christians, and tell them that they are under attack. These stories, especially when repeated and told one after the other, will make these people, who are likely to support conservative candidates for office, feel that they are the real victims in this country. Media figures tell them over and over that they are the Real Americans, and that blacks, Mexicans, gays, Muslims, and liberals are going to destroy Real America if they don’t do something about it.

Examples? Sure.

• Back in July of 2009, Glenn Beck told his Fox News TV audience that Barack Obama is a “racist” with a “deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture”. He didn’t exactly explain why he felt this was true, but it spreads the message that “the black president is against you, white America.” Of course, add to this the conspiracy theories that Obama is not American, and a secret Muslim, and you can see how some people are working hard to say that Obama is “one of them”, not “one of us”.
• In the November 2008 election, two members of the New Black Panther Party were accused of intimidating voters at a polling place in Philadelphia. Right-wing media outlets have been jumping on this story ever since. When the Obama Justice Department did not press charges, these same media figures proclaimed that this was proof of Obama’s racism against white people, and his alliance with militant black nationalism.
• Proposition 8. The California ballot initiative that would deprive homosexuals of the right to marry was promoted with false claims that it would force schools to teach children about gay sex, the claim that somehow it was an attack on “traditional marriage,” and with the use of scary advertising campaigns like the “gathering storm”, which argued that gay rights would destroy the freedom.
• SB 1070. Ever since Arizona’s governor first passed this inflammatory, anti-immigrant bill, it has become more socially acceptable to demonize latinos, whether they are citizens, legal residents, or illegal immigrants. Shortly after this law, another was passed that would de-fund ethnic studies programs at schools, with the unsupported claim that they were teaching prejudice, and making minority students hate white people.
• Shirley Sherrod. Right-wing propagandist Andrew Breitbart doctored a video of a speech by African-American Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod and released it to the press. In her speech, Sherrod talked about an experience where she felt racist resentment towards a white family, yet overcame her own prejudice, and worked hard to help that family. The doctored video left out the conclusion, making it appear that Sherrod had abused her power to discriminate against white people, again, pushing the message that black people are using their vast power to oppress white people. Right-wing media jumped all over it, Sherrod was fired hours later, and only then did the truth begin to come out.
• “Ground Zero Mosque”. As described above, not a mosque, and not at ground zero. It was a fairly non-controversial community center, approved by city planners. The argument against the mosque, at best, says that many Americans are so scarred by the 9/11 terrorist attacks that they are angry at all Muslims. At worst, it says that Americans think that Islam and terrorism are the same thing, and that Muslims are not really Americans.
• Other anti-Muslim actions. A dozen or so other mosques have been protested, most of which are nowhere near sensitive sites like Ground Zero. Right-wing hate-mongers have been pushing the idea that Muslims build mosques not because they want a place to practice their faith, but as a sign of conquest over their enemies. These lies paint Muslims as evil, foreign villains by nature, and every mosque built in the nation is “letting the terrorists win.” It’s outrageous propaganda, that could easily burn everyone it touches.
• Speaking of burning, a Florida priest who clearly believes the lies above, has decided that it’s a good idea to burn copies of the Koran on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Again, a despicable set of beliefs that Islam itself is evil, and that those who practice it are the enemies of America. Not only is this an insult to peaceful Muslims everywhere, it also helps support the Osama bin Laden’s propaganda that America is at war with Islam.

I could go on. Fear, misunderstandings, ignorance and anger abound in any society, and some glory-seeking Americans are intentionally bringing these dark waters to a vicious boil. These horrible people do not care who they hurt. Increasing animosity towards African-Americans, Latinos, gays, Muslims and liberals not only hurts the victims of this anger, but it hurts the nation as a whole. These lies and hate will leave scars on this society, there is no doubt.

What do we do about this?

SPEAK UP!

When you hear people spreading this hateful filth, let them know that it is not okay. Silence becomes an ally of hatred. Stand with the people who are defending themselves against this ignorance and intolerance.

We’ll end with the famous quotation by Pastor Niemoller, that I hope is not a harbinger of things to come.

“They came first for the Communists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for me

and by that time no one was left to speak up.”