Park51 is its official name, and it's essentially a Muslim JCC. But since it's in Lower Manhattan, about four blocks away from where the World Trade center towers once stood, it quickly became known in media (and right-wing) shorthand as the "Ground Zero Mosque." (Insert loud gasp/scream of horror here.)
Considering how popular it was for alarmists to use Park51 as a bogeyman, it surely must have been utter chaos downtown when it finally opened yesterday, yes?
No: there were no protesters, and the center enjoyed a quiet event last night featuring an exhibition of photographs of children. Sharia!!!
The so-called Ground Zero mosque, where proponents of religious freedom clashed with conservative pols and the families of 9/11 victims for nearly two years, opened Wednesday without controversy.Instead of protesters, who tried to shut down the Park51 center several times, spectators milled about the center before entering to view a photographic exhibition.NYChildren, as the exhibit was titled, was as much a tribute to New York City's diversity as a display of mere photographs. It includes snapshots of city children representative of 160 ethnicities from around the world.
But surely they were evil Islamofascist photographers putting this up, yes?
The photographs were compiled by a 44-year-old Jewish shutterbug from Brooklyn, Danny Goldfield.
Oh.