What can be said about Super Mario Brothers, that has not already been said. Shigeru Miyamoto could largely be considered a genius when he made this game, because his focus was for the player to complete a story, rather then just get a high score.
One of the more amazing facts about Mario is the design of the character. By now we all know about the blue overalls, white gloves, cap and mustache. What few know was that Mario’s Getup was deliberately designed to avoid having to draw poorly rendered 8 bit characters. The hat hid hair, the ‘stache hid the face, and the contrasting overalls and shirt were to give the character a less monotone body.
Mario at the same time developed what became the most basic instructions for all video games to come, at least until plot driven narrative and X Box Live took over. This was namely the two cardinal rules of Nintendo.
1) MOVE CORRECTLY!
2) DO NOT DIE!
Two rules that can be found in EVERY video game, sure you can fight back by jumping or shooting, or you can hide, but fundamentally every video game from Mario to Modern Warfare 2 has this base assertion behind its controller.
Mario was also one of the pioneers in the video game music genre. Coming in a 3 minutes and 45 seconds, the ever infamous “ground theme” can usually be identified in the first second or so of play. Koji Kondo was a genius for making such a melody, particularly given the technical limitations of chip tunes in the day. These days composers working on video games have whole orchestra’s to work with, and high tech mixing tools. And while Halo and Metal Gear can claim some kick ass soundtracks, there would not have been those greats without Kondo’s work.
In my adult life it strikes me how much people try to interpret from the Mario franchise. Druggies want to see Poppies, shrooms and cannabis in Marios Power-ups. Freudians see the relationship of Mario, Peach and Bowser as the Id, Ego and Super Ego, figure that one out for yourself. And there is also a strange relationship with cake in there.
All that said, Mario is arguably the best selling video game franchise ever, with hundreds of games across 200 platforms. He was the gateway to many adventures for children, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for opening a world from us?
Next time we will look at The Legend of Zelda
Friday, November 12, 2010
Trippy goo!
Why is it when you get an actual cook book you never use it, but when you get cooking software, suddenly the kitchen is your empire?
*WARNING GENERALIZATION AHEAD*
Why is it that when a woman finds her mans porn collection, she is shocked, appalled, and offended... yet when a man find his woman "I love me" drawer or chest he calls her and asks for a demonstration?
*Generalization ended*
So a Black guy, a woman from San Fransico, and a Mormon are in charge of a country. God Bless America.
Friends help you move, true friends help you move bodies
Beer is in fact beer, and beer is good.
what if the Illuminati and the military industrial complex is nothing more then a n apathetic 90 year old former communist named Bob who is snickering at the crazy ideas "free minded" people have about him.
Aslain is Jesus
I can create a well reasoned legal argument to get out of any crime by saying that I did not have any involvement in the movie "Batman and Robin"
Keep watching the 17 year old in the black trench coat, it will distract you from the big scary guy with the machete
*WARNING GENERALIZATION AHEAD*
Why is it that when a woman finds her mans porn collection, she is shocked, appalled, and offended... yet when a man find his woman "I love me" drawer or chest he calls her and asks for a demonstration?
*Generalization ended*
So a Black guy, a woman from San Fransico, and a Mormon are in charge of a country. God Bless America.
Friends help you move, true friends help you move bodies
Beer is in fact beer, and beer is good.
what if the Illuminati and the military industrial complex is nothing more then a n apathetic 90 year old former communist named Bob who is snickering at the crazy ideas "free minded" people have about him.
Aslain is Jesus
I can create a well reasoned legal argument to get out of any crime by saying that I did not have any involvement in the movie "Batman and Robin"
Keep watching the 17 year old in the black trench coat, it will distract you from the big scary guy with the machete
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Nintendo's SIlver year
Nintendo turned 25 this, year. Weird huh, especially considering I am 27. I still have vivid memories of playing Mario in Kindergarten, with classmates and realizing just how unskilled I was at certain games, and a god among men at others.
Being retrospective about the old NES brought be to purchase a Nintendclone later in life, and I am working on getting all the Staples for it. It is often debated as to what are considered the “essential properties” that made the Nintendo Entertainment System a huge American phenomenon. Should they be only Nintendo produced titles, or do we allow third party developers? How do franchises come into play? Should they have appeared ONLY on the NES, and not other platforms, including arcades?
For me, I have a very liberal interpretation, and it is based on what was popular with the kids when I was growing up. For me, if I had to boil down my experiences with the NES into a selection of classic games they would be
1) Super Mario Brothers
2) The Legend of Zelda
3) Mega Man
4) Contra
5) Castlevania
6) Ninja Gaiden
7) Metroid
8) Kid Icarus
These where the games that, if one kid had all of them they were the coolest on the block. And off and on for a while I plan on sharing a little retrospective on each of them, so look back every so often between now and Christmas.
Being retrospective about the old NES brought be to purchase a Nintendclone later in life, and I am working on getting all the Staples for it. It is often debated as to what are considered the “essential properties” that made the Nintendo Entertainment System a huge American phenomenon. Should they be only Nintendo produced titles, or do we allow third party developers? How do franchises come into play? Should they have appeared ONLY on the NES, and not other platforms, including arcades?
For me, I have a very liberal interpretation, and it is based on what was popular with the kids when I was growing up. For me, if I had to boil down my experiences with the NES into a selection of classic games they would be
1) Super Mario Brothers
2) The Legend of Zelda
3) Mega Man
4) Contra
5) Castlevania
6) Ninja Gaiden
7) Metroid
8) Kid Icarus
These where the games that, if one kid had all of them they were the coolest on the block. And off and on for a while I plan on sharing a little retrospective on each of them, so look back every so often between now and Christmas.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
The Clarion Call
Let me make something perfectly clear. With a few recent exceptions, including sadly my upcoming pre-ordered purchase of Fallout New Vegas, I do not purchase games from GameStop. It just does not happen; I tended to favor Best Buy or Target until I found the joy of a more regional place called Vintage Stock. I chose not to buy from Gamestop because of a very specific incident that happened when I was trying to find a copy of Ace Combat 6.
I walked up to the counter and said “Hi, I noticed this game was not on the shelves, but it came out last week, do you have it?”
“Did you pre-order it?”
“No.”
“Well we don’t have it unless you pre-ordered it”
“Okay, I will check Target across the street.
“They don’t have it either.”
Ten minutes later I walked out of Target with my copy of Ace Combat 6 that they supposedly did not have. A year later I had a similar incident with Assassin’s Creed, in which I was told a best buy down the street did not have any copies of the game, and low and behold in the middle of an aisle was a CRATE full of Assassin’s Creed games. I still have the picture on my cell phone, and I showed it to the kid behind the counter who told me best buy did not have it.
So I made the conscious decision to get my game fix elsewhere, to exercise my power of the purse to reject GameStop business model, which fundamentally resembles a Pawn Shop more then a retailer.
This morning however I saw a video on one of my favorite gaming websites www.ScrewAttack.com my personal favorite feature there, The Game Overthinker posted a new video where he called upon gamers to do what I as a Gamer have chosen to do for years now and purchase games elsewhere. There really is no point in summing it up when I can just have you watch it here.
I want to take this call to action a step further though. I want to point out a few stories where I was suckered into a Gamestop Pre-Order that I really should not have been.
In the Case of Transformers War for Cybertron, I preordered From Gamestop, as opposed to Wal-Mart or Target for a specific Downloadable content character called Shockwave. Transformers Fans know what I speak of there. And I was happy and hunky dory, even though I felt dirty for giving GameStop money. Then what happens? DLC was made available to all that included the Shockwave character, as well as all the other Pre-Order Characters from other stores. I felt like the biggest jackass of all.
Another time I pre-ordered Halo Wars, and I got the phone call saying it was available Tuesday at midnight. I got the phone call Tuesday at 6 PM, so I thought “hmmm that was strange.” When I went to get my game I was told it would not be available for another six hours. When I brought up that was Wednesday at midnight and the message said Tuesday at midnight, all I got was “you must be the only one in the world that thinks that way.”
Obviously not, since that is how time works you jackass.
The Hardest truth of all is that I am not the only one. If I was one voice crying out into the night, that one whiney little bitch who had no real complaint, I could accept that and brood. But the internet is littered with GameStop Haters, many of them former employees. That there are so many Gamers out there that do despise this conglomerate for what it has done to gaming as a hobby speaks volumes to the company’s character.
So I answer the Game Overthinkers Clarion Call, and I ask you to as well. Take that mightiest of weapons you have, your wallet, and when it comes time to purchase a new game, go somewhere else first.
I walked up to the counter and said “Hi, I noticed this game was not on the shelves, but it came out last week, do you have it?”
“Did you pre-order it?”
“No.”
“Well we don’t have it unless you pre-ordered it”
“Okay, I will check Target across the street.
“They don’t have it either.”
Ten minutes later I walked out of Target with my copy of Ace Combat 6 that they supposedly did not have. A year later I had a similar incident with Assassin’s Creed, in which I was told a best buy down the street did not have any copies of the game, and low and behold in the middle of an aisle was a CRATE full of Assassin’s Creed games. I still have the picture on my cell phone, and I showed it to the kid behind the counter who told me best buy did not have it.
So I made the conscious decision to get my game fix elsewhere, to exercise my power of the purse to reject GameStop business model, which fundamentally resembles a Pawn Shop more then a retailer.
This morning however I saw a video on one of my favorite gaming websites www.ScrewAttack.com my personal favorite feature there, The Game Overthinker posted a new video where he called upon gamers to do what I as a Gamer have chosen to do for years now and purchase games elsewhere. There really is no point in summing it up when I can just have you watch it here.
I want to take this call to action a step further though. I want to point out a few stories where I was suckered into a Gamestop Pre-Order that I really should not have been.
In the Case of Transformers War for Cybertron, I preordered From Gamestop, as opposed to Wal-Mart or Target for a specific Downloadable content character called Shockwave. Transformers Fans know what I speak of there. And I was happy and hunky dory, even though I felt dirty for giving GameStop money. Then what happens? DLC was made available to all that included the Shockwave character, as well as all the other Pre-Order Characters from other stores. I felt like the biggest jackass of all.
Another time I pre-ordered Halo Wars, and I got the phone call saying it was available Tuesday at midnight. I got the phone call Tuesday at 6 PM, so I thought “hmmm that was strange.” When I went to get my game I was told it would not be available for another six hours. When I brought up that was Wednesday at midnight and the message said Tuesday at midnight, all I got was “you must be the only one in the world that thinks that way.”
Obviously not, since that is how time works you jackass.
The Hardest truth of all is that I am not the only one. If I was one voice crying out into the night, that one whiney little bitch who had no real complaint, I could accept that and brood. But the internet is littered with GameStop Haters, many of them former employees. That there are so many Gamers out there that do despise this conglomerate for what it has done to gaming as a hobby speaks volumes to the company’s character.
So I answer the Game Overthinkers Clarion Call, and I ask you to as well. Take that mightiest of weapons you have, your wallet, and when it comes time to purchase a new game, go somewhere else first.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Banned Book Week
Happy Banned Book Week!
Yes for decades, nay nearly a century, there have been some books that have offended people so, that said people have gone out of their way not just to exercise their own power of the free market, but have forced their will upon the public by rallying for several works of fiction and non fiction to be banned at publicly owned libraries.
From Authors as celebrated as Mark Twain, to Recent Geniuses like J.K. Rowling, a minority in the United States, Nay, the entire world have sought to destroy or ban the exercise of intellectual freedom by subverting human expression in one of its most basic forms.
I choose however not to rally a call to prevent such censorship. Not because I believe that some books ought to be banned. Quite the contrary, I find all books to be as sacred as some find the Bible, or the Quran to be. It matters not if it is as whimsical as “The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby.” That Mein Kampf came from such an evil soul is irrelevant. It does not even matter if it is as bad as Twilight. The fact is that the written word is the gateway to a person’s soul, and we are allowed through books to view into the souls of others. Nothing can be more divine then that.
So rather then wording my own call, I choose instead to invoke John Milton, from his speech to Parliament Areopagitica
“Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
Damn, dude that is heavy stuff.
To celebrate banned book week, go out and find these books, and read a couple of them.
Yes for decades, nay nearly a century, there have been some books that have offended people so, that said people have gone out of their way not just to exercise their own power of the free market, but have forced their will upon the public by rallying for several works of fiction and non fiction to be banned at publicly owned libraries.
From Authors as celebrated as Mark Twain, to Recent Geniuses like J.K. Rowling, a minority in the United States, Nay, the entire world have sought to destroy or ban the exercise of intellectual freedom by subverting human expression in one of its most basic forms.
I choose however not to rally a call to prevent such censorship. Not because I believe that some books ought to be banned. Quite the contrary, I find all books to be as sacred as some find the Bible, or the Quran to be. It matters not if it is as whimsical as “The Adventures of Super Diaper Baby.” That Mein Kampf came from such an evil soul is irrelevant. It does not even matter if it is as bad as Twilight. The fact is that the written word is the gateway to a person’s soul, and we are allowed through books to view into the souls of others. Nothing can be more divine then that.
So rather then wording my own call, I choose instead to invoke John Milton, from his speech to Parliament Areopagitica
“Books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon's teeth; and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man as kill a good book. Who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God's image; but he who destroys a good book, kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious life-blood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life.”
Damn, dude that is heavy stuff.
To celebrate banned book week, go out and find these books, and read a couple of them.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Not Republican Enough
In 2002 I signed up for the Young Republicans in order to get a free T Shirt. I was never bothered by them again. Well a few days ago I got a call on my cell phone being invited to a small event in Columbia so I could speak to a small Young Republicans Panel as a “Approaching 30” guy who apparently was a “long standing member” of the organization. Despite being confused, I graciously accepted.
When I asked about what Items I wanted to speak about I said that I wanted to talk about a return to fiscal conservatism. I also spoke about a serious opposition to gun control, something I am not passionate about, but do tend to fall on the Republican side of.
This got the caller really excited.
Then I said I also wanted to talk about things that Republicans need to change, social issues that are either unimportant, inevitably going to move a certain direction, or are not the venue of legislation to solve.
This got the caller nervous.
I spoke of the need to step back from LGBT marital rights for example, as time and history are on the side of that issue. I spoke about how Television, Film, and Electronic entertainment need to be continuously advocated for to ensure first amendment protection.
This agitated the caller
I then talked about how if Republicans want any credibility on Abortion rights; they need to surrender other sexual rights issues. Those issues, like access to birth control and sexual education need to be handled in a more comprehensive and scientific way then smacking kids upside the head and saying “don’t have sex.
The caller summarily dis invited me, stating that I have swayed to far away from Republican Party issues to be of any use to them.
They can fuck off.
When I asked about what Items I wanted to speak about I said that I wanted to talk about a return to fiscal conservatism. I also spoke about a serious opposition to gun control, something I am not passionate about, but do tend to fall on the Republican side of.
This got the caller really excited.
Then I said I also wanted to talk about things that Republicans need to change, social issues that are either unimportant, inevitably going to move a certain direction, or are not the venue of legislation to solve.
This got the caller nervous.
I spoke of the need to step back from LGBT marital rights for example, as time and history are on the side of that issue. I spoke about how Television, Film, and Electronic entertainment need to be continuously advocated for to ensure first amendment protection.
This agitated the caller
I then talked about how if Republicans want any credibility on Abortion rights; they need to surrender other sexual rights issues. Those issues, like access to birth control and sexual education need to be handled in a more comprehensive and scientific way then smacking kids upside the head and saying “don’t have sex.
The caller summarily dis invited me, stating that I have swayed to far away from Republican Party issues to be of any use to them.
They can fuck off.
Monday, August 16, 2010
Park 51 Part 1
You know there is a reason I do not talk about political issues on this blog too often. It is not that I fear pissing off people, hell I make a career out of that. No the reason why is that I am a firm believer that every political opinion that every different person on the planet possesses is wrong, my own included. I fully expect 10,000 years from now humanity will look back at the differences in opinion between George Bush and Barack Obama and condemn them both to the trash heap of stupid bullshit along with their forty-one predecessors.
But once in a while a gem comes alone, a diamond of opportunity where I get to step forth and do what I do best, and that is arbitrate the differences in opinion between two or three groups of people who are making complete jackasses of themselves over what will eventually become insignificant bullshit.
There is trouble brewing in New York City, I would say quietly brewing but that would be a fucking lie. This trouble surrounds a building at 45-51 Park Place in lower Manhattan. For those unfamiliar with the New York area, two of the largest commercial buildings in the United States of America stood not two blocks from that region, until they were brought down when 19 Saudis decided to take flying lesions in the middle of their transoceanic flights.
That’s right kids, it is time to talk about the so called “Ground Zero Mosque.” Now I don’t know what is more frightening, that in a recent poll 11% of Americans thought that the building of this mosque violated the 1st Amendment of the Constitution; or that Imam Abdul Rauf seems to be so callous towards the will of the public, the safety of the contractors that will build this center. And the people who will use it that he continues to press the entire thing forward.
So where does the Arbiter stand on this you wonder? Simply put EVERYONE IS WRONG! Opponents of the mosque are wrong, proponents are wrong, the media is wrong, and the politicians who speak out for or against it is wrong. This ENTIRE travesty is about as wrong as a man covered in paper cuts being in the middle of a circle jerk at an AIDS clinic. And sadly it is up to me to break this down for the rest of you folks so you can calm the fuck down!
For the people who oppose the building of this “Ground Zero Mosque,” I have nothing but sympathy for your base argument, I really do. This is hard for many because 19 nut-jobs killed 3000 people in the name of a faith that this new building caters too. It FEELS wrong. I emphasize FEELS wrong because while that feeling maybe there, and it maybe strong, there is not one thing illegal about it. I am thankful that the level headed folks are clinging solely to the fact that their emotional malfeasance towards the building of this Mosque is centered on that.
What makes me ashamed are the fuckwits who go around clinging to silly one liners from the Qur’an trying to prove that it is all part of a greater “muslim conspiracy” to plant some kind of victory flag over the world trade center and wave a big ass middle finger to the United States of America and its citizens. This whole incident has raised a massive wave of xenophobia where people are openly declaring Muslims born and raised in places like New York, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vega, Kansas City, and Orlando as not American Citizens. I wish I could say that this was unique in our history but it isn’t. one only need to look back seventy years ago to the long term imprisonment of American Citizens of Japanese descent after World War Two to show that when we suffer a major blow to morale, the American people will go after anyone who remotely LOOKS like the kind of people who did us harm, despite them having nothing to do with it. It kind of makes it hard to hold a moral authority over the holocaust when we did something pretty similar back home, and yet for some reason we still pull it off!
And then there are the people with thin ass legal challenges. First they were trying to make the original building a historic site, then there were zoning restrictions, and the list goes on. Concerned citizens trying to catch a group on technicalities of building stuff that any responsible and intelligent build would have cleared with the City of New York BEFORE even grabbing a drafting pen.
Here are the facts you nitwits, Islam as a religion is just about as united as Christianity is. If you think that is pretty tight knit, I should remind you that there are over 100 different denominations worldwide that claim to call themselves “Christian”, including Mormons, Rastafarians, and people who practice Voodoo. By trying to lump the American citizens who want to build this Mosque where it is going to be built up with the Al-Queada Terrorists is akin to me lumping Baptists with Catholics and saying “all ministers/priests/preachers are child molestors.”
So stop it, sit down and shut the hell up.
No as for Abdual Rauf and his ilk, and yes I address this to you specifically rather then the greater American Muslim community. I think that is reasonable since it is YOUR Islamic Cultural Center. I have one question for you. Are you Gods damned out of your minds? You have received enough negative press about this that were you running for political office your career would be over, and yet the project still persists, as is, no changes, not mediation, no attempts to reach out to the public that by and large, for whatever reason opposes this project.
This is a continuation of forced ignorance on behalf of Muslim community leadership in the United States. It is not just in new york either, but nation wide, where a lot of people seem to believe that the United States of American and it’s citizens has either forgotten about the September 11th attacks, or has forgiven Islam as a whole for its role as a motivating factor therein. While I am not saying it is just, by and large Americans have not, and that includes some Muslims. I have a Muslin coworker who is pissed of at you guys and used the term Fitna to describe what is happening. I had to look it up, and it means “organized mischief making.”
Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, while noting that blaming all Muslims for 9/11 was "ridiculous", said:
"I don't think the Muslim leadership has fully appreciated the impact of 9/11 on America. They assume Americans have forgotten 9/11 and even, in a profound way, forgiven 9/11, and that has not happened. The wounds remain largely open [...] and when wounds are raw, an episode like constructing a house of worship—even one protected by the Constitution, protected by law—becomes like salt in the wounds". He goes on to say that, in his opinion, if the center is constructed as well as a mosque it should contain a memorial and an ecumenical house of worship.
I do not disregard the legal right for this Islamic Cultural Center to be constructed, I really don’t. You guys have the money, the legal paperwork, the constitutional protection. But that does not change the fact that this is as wise as opening a Planned Parenthood office across the street, and out of the jurisdiction of a Catholic church.
Have you considered in light of the negative flak you have received, working in partnership with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the United Jewish Federation of New York to create a TRUE interfaith cultural center. In the Park 51 website it is described that the center will contain "a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park 51 but open to and accessible to all members, visitors and our New York community." If a house of worship is a secondary concern to providing a place to workout, provide childcare, etc, then perhaps an interfaith partnership would be the best way to go on this.
The continued progress towards the building of this Islamic Cultural Center is going to be inflammatory, and the persistent hiding behind the law and disengagement from the greater New York community, and fellow Muslim dissenters does nothing to help your cause. The power to perform an action does not mean you SHOULD do that same action.
So that is my take on the people directly involved, next time I am gonna look at those who are not involved, but are not helping the issue. Until then party on.
Christ I would love to know what Marisa thinks of my opinion.
But once in a while a gem comes alone, a diamond of opportunity where I get to step forth and do what I do best, and that is arbitrate the differences in opinion between two or three groups of people who are making complete jackasses of themselves over what will eventually become insignificant bullshit.
There is trouble brewing in New York City, I would say quietly brewing but that would be a fucking lie. This trouble surrounds a building at 45-51 Park Place in lower Manhattan. For those unfamiliar with the New York area, two of the largest commercial buildings in the United States of America stood not two blocks from that region, until they were brought down when 19 Saudis decided to take flying lesions in the middle of their transoceanic flights.
That’s right kids, it is time to talk about the so called “Ground Zero Mosque.” Now I don’t know what is more frightening, that in a recent poll 11% of Americans thought that the building of this mosque violated the 1st Amendment of the Constitution; or that Imam Abdul Rauf seems to be so callous towards the will of the public, the safety of the contractors that will build this center. And the people who will use it that he continues to press the entire thing forward.
So where does the Arbiter stand on this you wonder? Simply put EVERYONE IS WRONG! Opponents of the mosque are wrong, proponents are wrong, the media is wrong, and the politicians who speak out for or against it is wrong. This ENTIRE travesty is about as wrong as a man covered in paper cuts being in the middle of a circle jerk at an AIDS clinic. And sadly it is up to me to break this down for the rest of you folks so you can calm the fuck down!
For the people who oppose the building of this “Ground Zero Mosque,” I have nothing but sympathy for your base argument, I really do. This is hard for many because 19 nut-jobs killed 3000 people in the name of a faith that this new building caters too. It FEELS wrong. I emphasize FEELS wrong because while that feeling maybe there, and it maybe strong, there is not one thing illegal about it. I am thankful that the level headed folks are clinging solely to the fact that their emotional malfeasance towards the building of this Mosque is centered on that.
What makes me ashamed are the fuckwits who go around clinging to silly one liners from the Qur’an trying to prove that it is all part of a greater “muslim conspiracy” to plant some kind of victory flag over the world trade center and wave a big ass middle finger to the United States of America and its citizens. This whole incident has raised a massive wave of xenophobia where people are openly declaring Muslims born and raised in places like New York, Detroit, Denver, Los Angeles, Las Vega, Kansas City, and Orlando as not American Citizens. I wish I could say that this was unique in our history but it isn’t. one only need to look back seventy years ago to the long term imprisonment of American Citizens of Japanese descent after World War Two to show that when we suffer a major blow to morale, the American people will go after anyone who remotely LOOKS like the kind of people who did us harm, despite them having nothing to do with it. It kind of makes it hard to hold a moral authority over the holocaust when we did something pretty similar back home, and yet for some reason we still pull it off!
And then there are the people with thin ass legal challenges. First they were trying to make the original building a historic site, then there were zoning restrictions, and the list goes on. Concerned citizens trying to catch a group on technicalities of building stuff that any responsible and intelligent build would have cleared with the City of New York BEFORE even grabbing a drafting pen.
Here are the facts you nitwits, Islam as a religion is just about as united as Christianity is. If you think that is pretty tight knit, I should remind you that there are over 100 different denominations worldwide that claim to call themselves “Christian”, including Mormons, Rastafarians, and people who practice Voodoo. By trying to lump the American citizens who want to build this Mosque where it is going to be built up with the Al-Queada Terrorists is akin to me lumping Baptists with Catholics and saying “all ministers/priests/preachers are child molestors.”
So stop it, sit down and shut the hell up.
No as for Abdual Rauf and his ilk, and yes I address this to you specifically rather then the greater American Muslim community. I think that is reasonable since it is YOUR Islamic Cultural Center. I have one question for you. Are you Gods damned out of your minds? You have received enough negative press about this that were you running for political office your career would be over, and yet the project still persists, as is, no changes, not mediation, no attempts to reach out to the public that by and large, for whatever reason opposes this project.
This is a continuation of forced ignorance on behalf of Muslim community leadership in the United States. It is not just in new york either, but nation wide, where a lot of people seem to believe that the United States of American and it’s citizens has either forgotten about the September 11th attacks, or has forgiven Islam as a whole for its role as a motivating factor therein. While I am not saying it is just, by and large Americans have not, and that includes some Muslims. I have a Muslin coworker who is pissed of at you guys and used the term Fitna to describe what is happening. I had to look it up, and it means “organized mischief making.”
Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, while noting that blaming all Muslims for 9/11 was "ridiculous", said:
"I don't think the Muslim leadership has fully appreciated the impact of 9/11 on America. They assume Americans have forgotten 9/11 and even, in a profound way, forgiven 9/11, and that has not happened. The wounds remain largely open [...] and when wounds are raw, an episode like constructing a house of worship—even one protected by the Constitution, protected by law—becomes like salt in the wounds". He goes on to say that, in his opinion, if the center is constructed as well as a mosque it should contain a memorial and an ecumenical house of worship.
I do not disregard the legal right for this Islamic Cultural Center to be constructed, I really don’t. You guys have the money, the legal paperwork, the constitutional protection. But that does not change the fact that this is as wise as opening a Planned Parenthood office across the street, and out of the jurisdiction of a Catholic church.
Have you considered in light of the negative flak you have received, working in partnership with Cardinal Timothy Dolan and the United Jewish Federation of New York to create a TRUE interfaith cultural center. In the Park 51 website it is described that the center will contain "a mosque, intended to be run separately from Park 51 but open to and accessible to all members, visitors and our New York community." If a house of worship is a secondary concern to providing a place to workout, provide childcare, etc, then perhaps an interfaith partnership would be the best way to go on this.
The continued progress towards the building of this Islamic Cultural Center is going to be inflammatory, and the persistent hiding behind the law and disengagement from the greater New York community, and fellow Muslim dissenters does nothing to help your cause. The power to perform an action does not mean you SHOULD do that same action.
So that is my take on the people directly involved, next time I am gonna look at those who are not involved, but are not helping the issue. Until then party on.
Christ I would love to know what Marisa thinks of my opinion.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
