I was thinking about this recently, and I followed some of the same steps you did, but reached a different (though not, I think, contradictory) tentative conclusion.
I absolutely agree that they have the legal right to build an Islamic community center there (assuming things like legally obtaining property rights and zoning and all the stuff you need to have the legal right to build anything in downtown Manhattan, which I've heard nothing about but stipulate to be so).
I also think that doing so is going to be provocative. It's going to lead some people to bad feelings, and some small fraction of those people may act on those feelings with violence. That is unquestionably bad - but it is probably also true. If it were me, that would lead me to decide to build my community center a little further away, because I think I would want to have a safe community center more than I would want to demonstrate my fearlessness or share my culture with others or whatever else they may be trying to do.
But I'm not them, and I don't know what is important to them, so I don't presume to make that decision or even advise them. All I say is, if they build a community center there, it's probably going to provoke some attempted violence, and they ought to be prepared for that. But if they understand this, and choose to accept that risk and go ahead and build there anyway? Sure. The NYPD should protect that center just as they would protect any other institution that might be threatened with violence, and if it happens the perpetrators should be arrested and punished just as any other violent protestors would be. And I would hope that enough good things come from that decision to outweigh any bad things that also happen.
Like I said, that's my tentative conclusion. I could be persuaded in another direction, if you feel I've gotten something wrong.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2010-08-19 10:11 pm (UTC)I absolutely agree that they have the legal right to build an Islamic community center there (assuming things like legally obtaining property rights and zoning and all the stuff you need to have the legal right to build anything in downtown Manhattan, which I've heard nothing about but stipulate to be so).
I also think that doing so is going to be provocative. It's going to lead some people to bad feelings, and some small fraction of those people may act on those feelings with violence. That is unquestionably bad - but it is probably also true. If it were me, that would lead me to decide to build my community center a little further away, because I think I would want to have a safe community center more than I would want to demonstrate my fearlessness or share my culture with others or whatever else they may be trying to do.
But I'm not them, and I don't know what is important to them, so I don't presume to make that decision or even advise them. All I say is, if they build a community center there, it's probably going to provoke some attempted violence, and they ought to be prepared for that. But if they understand this, and choose to accept that risk and go ahead and build there anyway? Sure. The NYPD should protect that center just as they would protect any other institution that might be threatened with violence, and if it happens the perpetrators should be arrested and punished just as any other violent protestors would be. And I would hope that enough good things come from that decision to outweigh any bad things that also happen.
Like I said, that's my tentative conclusion. I could be persuaded in another direction, if you feel I've gotten something wrong.