NYC okays 9/11-themed bus ads against “Ground Zero Mosque”

Cordoba House concept art [source: Pensito Review | click for full size (250×324)]

It’s yet a new low in the increasingly hysterical, demagogic and bigoted outcry over the misleadingly labeled “Ground Zero Mosque”, in fact a peaceful Islamic cultural center named Cordoba House that’s to go up a few blocks north of the site where the Twin Towers once stood:

Ads opposing a planned mosque near Ground Zero should soon be seen on city buses after the MTA signed off on their controversial design today.

A lawyer for the New Hampshire group behind the campaign called the decision "a victory not just for free speech but against political correctness and Mayor Bloomberg's bullying."

Lawyer David Yerushalmi said the ads would be printed up and posted on city buses within the next 10 days.

The American Freedom Defense Initiative sued the MTA in Manhattan federal court last week to force it to accept the ads.

They feature an image of an airplane headed toward the burning World Trade Center, along with a high-rise that's labeled "WTC Mega Mosque" and the words "Why There?" [my my emphasis]

Here’s a pic I found that may be the final version of the ad-in-question, which I found on cheery website No Mosques At Ground Zero:

Anti-Cordoba House bus ad [source: No Mosques At Ground Zero | click for full size (800×168)]

I’ll keep this simple: I think the ad is, indeed, legally permissible, that the group behind it has every right to splash it across the city, and I would fight for their right to do so, myself, in the spirit of non-restricted free speech.

But, anyone who looks at those ads and honestly believes that they constitute an appropriate, proportionate and reasonable response to the proposed Cordoba House is a complete flaming, bigoted and demagogic asshole.

(via @BreakingNews)

Tags: Ground Zero Mosque • Cordoba House • Islam • bus ad • bus ads • demagogy • demagoguery