Student Essay 3

student 3 1

Student essay 3

Kellie Fischer

English 101

Date goes here

Michael Moore on the Mosque in NY: WHY?

Will there be no end to the rudeness? Michael Moore wrote a blog on the controversy surrounding the proposed mosque building near ground zero. If That 'Mosque' ISN'T Built, This

Is No Longer America explores Moore's feelings about the situation regarding the construction, as well as the general attitude towards Muslim Americans recently. While Michael Moore makes many powerful arguments, they would hold more merit were it not for the multiple logical fallacies he uses, as well as the incorrect information that he provides, not to mention the information he does not provide at all.

Michael Moore's article begins with him declaring that “I am opposed to the building of the

'mosque' two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on Ground Zero”, after which he continues to explain why. Moore says it is because he believes in “an America that protects those who are victims of hate and prejudice”, as well as “an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, where you want to worship”. He also believes that if someone's religion is stolen from them, Americans as a whole have a 'responsibility' to help them get it back. Moore feels that, with all the “manufactured controversy” surrounding the issue, the truth has been lost.

To help regain said truth, Moore continues with his blog article by highlighting a few facts related to the prospect. Moore relays these facts while also providing his personal feelings on the subject. The main point that he wishes to stress is that it is not a mosque, but simply a student 3 2 community center that happens to have a prayer room. Also, the proposed site of the mosque is already a place at which Muslims gather to pray.

Moore believes that building the community center on ground zero instead of near would at least be better than the current state in which the developer has left it. In order to better alleviate some of the feelings towards the Muslim community of this country, Moore points out that the Jewish

Community Center of Manhattan has been helping organize the planning, and goes on to draw awareness towards the original attitude towards Jews in the area, and how it has changed over the years. His goal with that is to show the similarities in the situations, and hopefully help people realize that it should not be that way. He also stresses that there were also Muslim victims who died that day. Clearly, the “19 killers did not care what religion anyone belonged to” during the 9/11 attacks.

Despite the fact that there were also Muslim victims in the World Trade Center, attitudes towards Muslims around America has somewhat declined since then. Moore feels that entire religions should not be persecuted for the actions of a few members. A recent article featured in the New York Times was titled American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?, which Moore feels is a very sad situation. He feels that we as a people should be ashamed for the fact that

American Muslims no longer feel like they 'belong' in this country. He goes on to point out that

McDonald's has killed more people than terrorists. He also lists that religion has been used to slander people in the past. Lincoln's opponents said that he was Catholic, whereas Franklin

Roosevelt was called Jewsevelt by his enemies. Moore then goes on to list people he feels are

'whackos' from various religions, such as Bill O'Reilly, who is Catholic, or Glenn Beck, who is

Mormon. Michael Moore finishes his article by saying that “...we all have a responsibility NOW student 3 3 to make sure that Muslim community center gets built”, and asks for donations to help raise money.

As much as Moore would like to believe that his article has helped bring the truth back to the situation, he has not. Some of his facts were not even true at all, while others were not facts, but opinions. The most blatantly obvious one is the fact that McDonald's has not killed anyone.

If this fact was added as hyperbole or sarcasm, then all it has managed is confusion, as such traits are lost on the audience in writing, except by those who know the author well. Moore also cited

McVeigh being Catholic as a fact, when in reality McVeigh himself said he had many beliefs, and specifically said that he did not affiliate with the Catholic church. A simple reason for the situation where the American public has not persecuted a entire religion based on one believer's actions is that this is the first case many have even heard of where the religion of the perpetrator mattered. The terrorists were doing these acts of violence in the name of their religion, and in the name of their deity. Moore's list of whackos from various religions is also a blatant example of him assuming his opinion is shared by all and therefore must be truth. Each person on that list has not done anything illegal, much less anything that could be considered crazy. They simply hold views opposite of Moore's own. Another 'fact' he cited was that the 19 people responsible for the 9/11 attack did not care for the religion of the people working in the World Trade Center.

The killers themselves stated, in essence, that a Muslim who embraced life in America, or the

Great Satan, were not true Muslims, and, as their religion states, are to be considered infidels. If

Moore was really trying to recite a few facts, he would not have added his own opinions in there, nor would he have lied.

While his other statements may be factually correct, his use of frequent logical fallacies makes it very hard to discern the truth. Moore's personal views permeated every statement and student 3 4 twisted the meaning of the words in his favor. He used ad hominem attacks, calling people and/or their actions “lame and disgusting”, “whackos”, “bullies and thugs”, and “liars and bigotry”. The other main logical fallacy he seemed to use was biased language. He used words such as hate, lame and disgusting, stupid, and whackos. He used the phrases “stupid Friday night thing”, “religious nuts”, and “you or some nutty group”, to try and incite a stronger response from his audience. If logical fallacies and Moore's personal opinions were pared away from his list of 'facts', there would not be many facts left to read.

Moore tried to clear the confusion surrounding the topic of whether or not the community center should be built near ground zero, and failed. Not much merit can be found or relied upon in an article filled with 'facts' that are steeped in logical fallacy and wrapped in opinion. The truth of the situation can be found, but not here.

Works Cited needs work, so don’t copy it!

Moore, Michael; If That Mosque ISN'T Built, This Is No Longer America; OpenMike blog; 11

Sept. 2010; 30 Sept. 2010.