Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

Conservative humorist/provocateur Greg Gutfeld has announced that he intends to build a gay bar next door to the planned Islamic center on Manhattan’s Park Place that’s become known as the Ground Zero mosque. “This is not a joke,” he says mockingly. “I’ve already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.” James Joyner calls it “an inspired idea” and Megan McArdle says:

I am hoping that at least one person will attempt to explain why we should support the mosque near Ground Zero, but not the gay bar next to the mosque near Ground Zero. I would find that very entertaining.

Well, it’s a big country. There’s bound to be someone who will give it a try. But I doubt there are going to be any serious takers, and I’m willing to bet that mosques and churches all over Manhattan have long since reconciled themselves to being within a stone’s throw of all sorts of establishments they consider less than savory. They’ll take this in stride.

At the same time, we’re grownups around here, right? We do understand the difference between something that genuinely isn’t meant as a provocation and something that is, don’t we? The law might not take that into account, but as ordinary human beings surely we can. The campaign against the Park Place mosque has been a demagogic nightmare from the start, and I think it’s safe to say that a few years from now the conservative movement is not going to look back at this as one of their finest hours. After all, we’re supposed to be fighting violent Islamic radicals like Osama bin Laden, not helping their cause.

UPDATE: From comments:

actor212: There’s already a bar next door. I think it’s called “Dakota North” or something like that. Anyway, my recollection is, it’s not exactly the, um, most hetero place in TriBeCa anyways. Hope Gutfeld’s got a marketing budget.

TrustNoOne: Dakota Roadhouse. Total dive. My co-workers love the place.

And from one of Andrew Sullivan’s readers:

You are aware that there is already a New York Dolls strip club on 55 Murray Street (which will be just around the corner from the Cordoba Institute)? So haven’t we already crossed the bridge of allowing Ground Zero ‘gentlemens’ entertainment? And if we’re OK with adult entertainment of the heterosexual variety we can’t then reject entertainment of the homosexual nature in the same area.

OK then. Glad we got that settled.

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate