On Surrendering to Hate

Zandar scared me for a minute with this:

Sometimes, the right answer is to do the wrong thing for the right reasons, and the reasons Hughes gives are compelling. It is far easier for Imam Rauf to move his proposed community center and place of worship then it is to battle millions of Americans who do not find his actions respectful. It is an opportunity to try to end the controversy through being an adult rather than digging in and being stubborn and child-like. Life is about compromise in any national society. It is a move designed to show respect towards and shame those who choose not to respect you. Sometimes indeed the right answer is to surrender for the greater good.

But then he restores my faith in Muscular Liberalism:

This is not one of those times.

SNIP

Capitulating on Park51 is the easy thing to do. Nothing worthwhile in life is ever easy. We are already seeing the results of what will happen no matter what Park51 does or where it is placed: it will not stop those who are the bigots, those who want Islam and their adherents erased from the American landscape, those who see no difference between the people who attacked us on 9/11 and the people who are building Park51 or any mosque in America or any Muslim in America period.

Moving the Park51 project will not slake their anger. Period.

Sometimes, the correct choice is the difficult one: to stand for what is right and just and lawful especially when it is unpopular. It is at this point when standing for the difficult but right position is the most necessary.

Build it. Show those who say that America is full of hate that hate can be conquered through real freedom.

Read the whole inspiring thing.