Talk Elections

http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/aug/10/after-long-fight-opening-day-for-tenn-mosque/ (http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/aug/10/after-long-fight-opening-day-for-tenn-mosque/)

Anything to piss off Pamela Geller.

That chick is the definition of a certain word that begins with a certain letter that can be found early on in the alphabet...

I don't think the "b word" is strong enough to describe how horrible she is, aside from the fact that I'm not sure I even like using that word...

Something tells me he was thinking of a word one letter down.

One letter up from b, actually ;) It's a word I never even think of, unless someone annoys me that much.

What a truly great reason to support the construction of this mosque. Much better than nonsense like *shudder* freedom of religion.

You're a good kid Sanchez!

Why thank you, kind sir.

For me that goes without saying.  I was just joking.

What was the controversy? I can't seem to get a grasp on that.

That it was being opened at all. Because, you know, Muslims.

That's what I thought. I can't believe it's even being called controversial by the press. Headlines should just read "Bigots finally forced to accept freedom of religion not just for Christians".

the South is a sick extension of a sick country

Cause there would never be a media circus "controversy" about a mosque opening in New York...

Yeah, there are disgusting bigots everywhere.

Would New Yorkers set the mosque on fire, though?

.....Yes.....

New York construction workers threatened to dynamite it.

Why do Muslims bother to live in a place like Tennessee anyways? Or for that matter anywhere in the US?

why apologize?

Yeah that's what I'm wondering. Why on earth would a Muslim want to go to Tennnessee, instead of a more diverse place?

Why do we need to ask questions like this? It's their right and they deserve to practice it without question.

-sincerely, a minority who lives in north Idaho.

Exactly this, yes.

Yes, the should have the right to live there. I'm not disputing that. I just think it's pretty ballsy.

Well, sure, you have every right to live wherever you want, but I'm just perplexed by the inclination to live in specific areas that are, well, less accommodating to minorities, to be polite. It's like a socially liberal Christian living in Saudi Arabia.

Yes. Suburban Nashville is exactly like Saudi Arabia. ::)

The South can't be more diverse until more diverse groups of people move in.

I think the answer for that question would be "toil".

Which is happening, just more slowly than other parts of the country. Hispanics are moving to various parts of Georgia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitfield_County,_Georgia#Demographics) and South Carolina (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaufort_County,_South_Carolina), for example, and are already the largest minority group in eastern Tennessee, western North Carolina, northeast Arkansas, and northern Alabama.

I thought Eastern TN was a pretty white and slightly black place when I lived there, haven't seen that many Hispanics. I lived near Knoxville btw, maybe there are more near Chattanooga?

Well, there aren't that many minorities in total, but hispanics outnumber blacks in eastern Tennessee outside of Knox and Hamilton Counties, plus a couple others.

I'm just digging myself into a deeper hole, aren't I? What I'm trying to say is that it's surprising and odd to me to think of a religious minority group living in Tennnessee, when there's places across the US that seem as if they'd be more welcoming.

I would guess "toil".

I honestly wouldn't be opposed to the South seceding.  For one thing, I don't buy the "common American identity" thing, when the most left-wing Southerner is probably still not very leftist.

Sometimes I wish that the South had won the war.

That this was even controversial just shows what a horrible and un-American place Tennessee is.

Why? We have several mosques here in Memphis. There's one a couple miles from me. Another one rents space in a church for their Friday services. It's not that big a deal. I'm Jewish and live in Tennessee. Never had a problem. New York City, on the other hand, seems to be ground zero for the ethnic wars.

I'm Hindu (sort of) and I live in Tennessee and haven't faced any problems. There is a large Hindu temple in Nashville too, or so I hear since I haven't taken the trouble to go there yet.

WTF?  It's not a high percentage, but there's plenty of people like me in Mississippi.

weren't you complaining for years about how there were no liberal* girls for you in Mississippi?

*white liberal

Presumably he's found one, since he seems to be engaged now.

I am sure there some pretty left-wing southerners.

Money, dear boy.

I'll ask my parents and every other Canadian/European or American I knew, and I'll get back to you.

Oh fine, I admit it; it is because of my stereotypical mental image of Tennessee as rednecks that it seemed odd that Muslims would live there, and I have been wrong to think about that stereotype as truth. Happy?

I'm married, and I never restricted myself to whites or liberals.

The problem is that you're not making a distinction between the country and city mice. I think that you won't find many Muslims or mosque in rural parts of Tennessee (or many other states, for that matter). Murfreesboro is something different all together. It's just another suburban interstate boomtown. Hardly all that different from those poping up in Texas, Florida, Arizona, and other SunBelt locales. Politically conservative, for sure, but much more multicultural that one might initially assume, and the anonoymity of the suburbs fosters a live an let live ethos. It can be somewhat of a novelty to discover that the kids have school friends from all sorts of backgrounds, but outright hostility is a very marginal position. Again, the ethnic wars is much more a way of life in a place like New York City, where the minorities have ceased to be a novel curiousity and instead produce turf wars.

In fairness to PP, isn't it safe to say that Nashville is a particularly cosmopolitan city (culturally at least) compared to most of Tennessee, or even the entire South?

But again, the Ground Zero Mosque experience shows that buttheads are everywhere.

I definately wouldn't call Nashville cosmopolitan, but it is an actual city, which puts it somewhat ahead of most of the South. It votes moderately Democratic only because it's the rare Upper South city with a decent sized black population. It's the headquarters for country music, the Southern Baptists, and the Tennessee state government, all bastions of liberalism :P You can imagine how the suburbs are there. If you're looking for a Southern city with a more metropolitan feel, I'd recommend Raleigh, Charlotte, or Atlanta. And FWIW, Downtown Chattanooga easily has the best "going out" scene in the state.

Meh, at least Brentwood tries to be cosmopolitan. There are some fusion Asian places in Brentwood that are actually pretty good. Of course Murfreesboro and the other suburban areas of Nashville like Hendersonville, Gallatin and the like are a different sort of place. I live in between Brentwood and the Nolensville Pike area, which looks a little run down, but is filled with immigrants from all over leading to many good food choices at decent prices. It's not bad at all.

Don't take it personally. People from Memphis love to talk trash on Nashville. And vice versa. And Williamson County is obviously the premier suburban area, just like Germantown and Collierville are here.

Re: country music...

I get the impression that the younger, more alt-country artists in Nashville (and elsewhere, for that matter) are a lot more left-wing than the corporate acts, in general. Also, isn't Nashville now home to a lot of musicians, of many different genres?

Yeah, it's not like everyone listens to country music there.....

You'd be surprised. My own natural tendency would be to assume that the overwhelming majority of people would be like me and live in large coastal urban areas, but it's not at all uncommon to run into someone from Alabama or Indiana or the like. My dad lived in Utah for a while.