NEW YORK—The N.Y Daily News published an article Monday that questioned why so many New Yorkers (and others) are so upset about the possible construction of a mosque near Groud Zero but are not equally vexed about the proximity of porn shops, bars, liquor stores and—as the writer quaintly put it—“salons.”
In asking why the mosque angle is getting all the “press,” however, the Daily News seemed to momentarily forget that it is the press.
“Many come to the scene of the worst terrorist attack on American soil to pay tribute to pain and unspeakable tragedy. They're welcomed by solemn memorials and a visitor’s center amid the noise of reconstruction,” wrote Erin Einhorn for the daily. “If they're so inclined, they can also buy porn, play the ponies and take care of all manner of personal business within steps of the former World Trade Center.”
In what may be the understatement of the century, Rep. Pete King (R-L.I.) told the paper that opposing bars or porn shops is not the same thing as opposing a “13-story, $100 million structure,” which he added, “stands out as something that can be opposed.
"There are limits to what you can be opposing just as a practical matter," he added. "Tomorrow, if some guy were to build some eight-story strip club a block away, we would do what we'd have to do." One presumes he was referring to zoning laws, not cement shoes.
Of course, some people who oppose the mosque are not interested in equating everyday vice with the nefarious purposes they believe are being served by the attempt to expand the Islamic community center.
"I don't have an interest in policing every square inch of lower Manhattan to purify it," Debra Burlingame, a spokeswoman for some Sept. 11 victims' families and the sister of one of the pilots killed in the attacks, told Einhorn. "We're trying to prevent an imam from appropriating 9/11 to push [Islamic law] in America, an ideology at the heart of why our loved ones were ripped to pieces.”
Other people see porn as ripping society apart, but don’t expect them to join this fray any time soon.
