From yesterday’s Jolt, since some folks loved it and some folks hated it:

Accusations of Religious Bigotry in 3 . . . 2 . . . 1 . . .
Hey, Muslim friends, we need to talk.
I know a bunch of you, both here and in Turkey. I know you’re not extremists. I know you’re the definition of decent folk. Your faith isn’t my cup of tea, but it doesn’t have to be; I know mine isn’t yours.
But this “Ground Zero Mosque” thing is going to cause all of us a lot of problems.
I’d like to think I would be a little wary of some sort of self-proclaimed “Ground Zero Church,” too. I don’t mean the existing houses of worship that were or may be rebuilt near that site; I mean if some flock said that they were going to move in, as close to the mass grave as possible, and build a new site, explicitly labeled as THE church of the site, to pray in the name of one faith that I may or may not share. . . . it just wouldn’t be appropriate. The meaning of 9/11 is too . . . simultaneously epic in scale and deeply, intensely personal in its impact to have part of it shoehorned into one religious institution, even for a faith as central to the events as Islam. It would feel like emotional merchandising, like some sort of Ground Zero Gift Shop.
Right now, a lot of my fellow Americans don’t see the decency in you that I do; you can ascribe that to Islamophobia or xenophobia or intolerance, but you and I know a bunch of yahoos, claiming to act in the name of your faith, keep giving them new justifications for their distrust and more reasons to dismiss all of you. The benefit of the doubt is shrinking, my friends. A lot of folk who never looked for a fight over religion wonder where the backlash is, wonder why they don’t see more Muslims speaking louder about the ridiculousness of threatening peoples’ lives over cartoons. And if you really can’t see why Americans might recoil from a mosque at a site where the wreckage of one of those planes fell, ask yourself how you would feel about Americans building churches and synagogues, in the name of cultural understanding, where our bombs have fallen in Afghanistan and Iraq. Allegedly this mosque is being built to promote understanding and tolerance and compassion. Well, the Cordoba folks ought to try understanding why it bothers people and tolerate the public’s touchiness about this and show a bit of compassion of finding a site a few blocks further away. It’s not Islam in principle that’s objectionable; Manhattan’s got a lot of mosques. Look elsewhere, guys; it’s still a buyer’s market in real estate.

You’re a xenophobe if you want a secure border. You’re a racist if you go to a Tea Party rally or want the Department of Justice to pursue charges against a member of the New Black Panther Party swinging a billy club outside a polling place. Put up a video that embarrasses the NAACP and a Department of Agriculture employee, and you must secretly desire a return to slavery. You oppose freedom of religion if you don’t want a mosque at Ground Zero.

Not long ago, I was on CNN with Roland Martin, who began a discussion of coverage of the DOJ’s decision in the Black Panther case by declaring, ”It all speaks to motive. Fox News clearly has a motive here in terms of how they are hyping this story . . . What Fox wants, they want everyone to do what we’re doing right now, which is talk about them.” Later that day, Kirsten Powers declared I was sexist because I referred to Abigail Thernstrom as a “nice lady.” Notice these folks don’t engage on the facts before them; they begin the discussion by accusing the other side of sinister motives, and attempt to put the burden of proof on the other side to provide evidence that they are not, essentially, evil. It’s like they got a memo from Spencer Ackerman or something.

Never mind having a healthy debate; you can’t debate anything with someone who operates like that. They’re not interested in persuading you; they’re interested in smearing you.