horse of george

The Imam behind the GZ mosque has finally come forward to address the controversy but his views actually lend credence to the opposition - he says if he'd known the mosque would cause such unease he'd never have chosen the contentious location [this seems unlikely cause how could one not have imagined there might be problems with this] but he can't back out of the project now because that would provoke outrage in the Middle East. Sorry, but doesn't that amount to an admission that the concerns motivating opposition to this mosque are based on a reality ie that there's a problem with Islam, at least as concerns the political, consitutional, civil and cultural norms of the West? Appease our sense of historical humiliation and the absolutist needs of our faith or we'll start burning things to the ground - that's not a winning argument. I mean I'm sure progressives might buy into it cause they're afraid of confronting any problem that refuses to conform to solutions amenable to their sympathies - but the average American ain't gonna look too kindly on an offer to submit or die.