# The "Ground Zero Mosque" Can be built, but should it?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ground-zero-mosque-can-be-built-but-should-it/561496>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [November 22, 2010, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ground-zero-mosque-can-be-built-but-should-it/561496 "2010-11-22T00:52:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 7

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**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ground-zero-mosque-can-be-built-but-should-it/561496/121 "2010-12-08T17:44:37Z")

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> [@Marley23](#):
>
> That’s alright - the arguments against your point of view have already been made enough times. … After a while it’s valid to conclude that some people just aren’t interested in the facts…

Well said. It’s not about the “facts” anyway, and it never was. It’s about stirring the pot, keeping people riled up, and getting elected. In short, it’s “the same old same old”.

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**Author:** ![shy\_guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a6a055/32.png) [@shy\_guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_guy)\
**Post date:** [December 8, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-ground-zero-mosque-can-be-built-but-should-it/561496/122 "2010-12-08T18:30:22Z")

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My favorite part about all this nonsense is that even leaving aside how few of the anti-Park51 actually live or ever go to lower Manhattan, fewer still seem to have any clue how insanely difficult it is to do _anything_ real-estate related in New York City.

The narrative seems to be that Sneaky Anti-American Muslims have pulled one over on the people of New York by building a shrine to the subjugation of the West by Sharia law where the World Trade Center once stood\*, and it’s up to these Brave, Truth-Seeking Americans to shed light on the nefarious scheme, since nobody has noticed up to this point.

That narrative seems to rely on said Sneaky Muslims basically squatting in the property in question and renovating secretly in the dead of night or something. Who knew it was so easy to just do whatever one wants with a piece of real estate in the middle of the financial hub of Manhattan? If only New York City had regulations of some sort on who can build what, and where, then they might have caught wind of this most nefarious of plots.

\*Also, anyone who calls the location of this place “Ground Zero” has no clue how the geography of New York City works.

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