More on Park51, the mosque and Islamic Center proposed to be built two blocks from Ground Zero: a CBS/New York Times poll says that a substantial majority of New Yorkers feel that the statement: “it should not be built because, while Muslims have the right to do it, they should find a less controversial location” comes closer to their views than the statement ”it should be built because moving it would compromise American values.”
The poll also finds that many New Yorkers (of the whopping 892 randomly asked) oppose (rather than favor) the construction of the mosque near Ground Zero.
Boy, do I hate polls. They carry the aura of science–black and white data–when in fact they are often reductive, self-fulfilling, and manipulable.
I’m not saying that the findings of the poll are inaccurate–I’m quite sure that many New Yorkers would just as soon (i) that the controversy would go away, and (ii) that if Muslims have to build a mosque, they budge it over a bit.
But one problem with the poll – despite the self-fullfilling terminology- is the fact that the questions had no control, no placebo, as it were–no context. (No one was asked, for example, if they were actually familiar with the topography of Ground Zero.)
Here are some other questions that were not asked:
Which of the statements below reflects your opinion about construction at Ground Zero?
1. Yes, Burger King has a right to have a franchise at the corner of the site, but they should move large outdoor pictures of Twilight’s vampires, such as Robert Pattinson, to a less morbid location.
2. Yes, shoppers have a right to get great discounts on designer goods at Ground Zero, but the huge “SALE” banners should be draped more decorously.
3. Yes, N.Y. Dolls can have a strip club two blocks away, but they should drape some banners (maybe from Century 21–oops, maybe not) over the outlines of naked women.
4. Yes, that guy with the big U.S. flag with all the stenciled names of victims can hang out, but he should not scam tourists on Sundays. Ditto the people with all the burning WTC postcards.
5. I don’t love Jeff Koons, but his balloon-flower sculpture looks like cherries. (Who can can argue with cherries?)
6. Okay, Silverstein has a right to some bucks, but should he really construct an office tower on a de facto burial ground?
7. Yes, Goldman Sachs can (even perhaps should) build its $2.1. billion headquarters just across West Street, but perhaps, after getting over $115 million in NYS and local tax breaks PLUS the use of $1.65 billiion in tax-exempt Liberty Bonds, it should not have been so active in the collapse of the U.S. financial system.
8. Yes, the 9/11 attackers were Muslims, but they do not represent all Islam.
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