re: #233 tradewind

Many people were, and are so marked by the trauma of that day that… regardless of measured distances or other statistics re the location… they cannot imagine this building as an acceptable part of what to them is an area to be revered.

That may be but there are two points in rebuttal:

1) Most of those people don’t live anywhere near the “area to be revered”. To whit, a majority of residents of Manhattan support the Park 51 project.

2) Our society should not be putting religious tolerance up to a popular vote. That’s not how this works. Emotional reactions should be trumped by reason, intellect and the rule of law otherwise we become little more than a pitchfork wielding mob turning on anyone we view as a scapegoat. That is the seeds of discontent that led to things like Kristallnacht.**

**Note: I am not equating opposition to Park 51 with Naziism. I am pointing out what happens when society builds it’s behavior around emotions and scapegoating religious or ethnic minorities.