Daredevil Season 2 Review

So, at long last, we have Daredevil, season 2, reviewed on the blog. That only took ... five months.

This was a strange season, overall, and not because of the content so much as how it was handled. While season 1 had a great, brilliant buildup of the antagonist and the protagonist, ramping up to an inevitable collision of two men who really were mirror images of each other, season 2 was a little all over the place.

Hi, my name is Frank.
I'll be the sniper for this evening.

To start with, we have the introduction of Frank Castle, the Punisher. He's running around Hell's Kitchen, massacring the three gangs involved in a massive shootout that butchered his wife, his daughter, and his son, and left him for dead in a hospital. Daredevil, on the other hand, believes in law, order, and the possibility for redemption, and generally objects to this approach. In fact, you could say that the primary motivation for Daredevil going after the Punisher is purely philosophical, because it's bad enough that the NON-lethal vigilante is running around, doing the cop's job for them, but having a professional killer wiping them out en mass starts to sound like a recipe for mob rule, complete with torches and pitchforks. When the Punisher is caught, Frank Castle is represented by .... Murdock and Nelson.

On the other hand, there's the plotline with Elektra -- Matt Murdock's crazy ex-girlfriend, who's first going up against a corrupt corporation and ... spoilers ... sort of ... is going up against The Hand, magical Yakuza ninjas. (Yes, comic books, where "Magical Yakuza Ninjas" are a thing).

And by "crazy ex girlfriend," at the time, I even thought the line: "Oh Matt, don't stick it in the Crazy ... oh no. Too late." Yes, she's hot, but there are moments that she is crazier than a bag of cats. She doesn't mind killing, and dang, does she seem to enjoy her job.

This three-way plot sort of devolves after a while. The Elektra thread seems to have little to no connection to the Punisher thread, only insofar as the two plots interfere with each other and cause problems for our hero, pulling him in two different directions at once. Dealing with the Hand and Elektra drags Murdock away from the Punisher case, and dealing with the personal and professional fallout of defending the Punisher puts stress on Daredevil as he fights the hand. By the end of the season, the finale feels a little rushed. In fact, it's starting to feel like they knew they were going to have to have multiple stories spin out from this season.  But I'm rushing ahead.

Subtle

First of all, let me address some of the acting. Elodie Yung is marvelous as Elektra. She's insane, she's enjoying every minute of it, and I think her performance works, overall.

Scott Glenn returns as Stick, Murdock's schmuck of a mentor, who actually does care, he just has really lousy ways of expressing it, and his duties are such that he looks schizophrenic ... until he explains himself, and all of the secrets he's keeping. Seriously, Stick, if you actually explained yourself earlier, there might be fewer problems.

Foggy Nelson, this year, is a much firmer character. He has more confidence, he knows what he's doing, and in some cases, he mans up because he has no other choice. Hell, he manages to use his superpower to get out of some nasty situations. He avoids being killed by bikers, he defuses a gang war in an ER, he stands up to a vicious District Attorney who is more of an antagonist  than some of mad dog killers. He really stood out this season, and the actor gets some serious props from me for pulling it off.

Karen Page surprised me at how much she was a driving force this season. After Frank Castle is arrested, and we go into "The Punisher Case," Page comes to the fore of this story. Having had to shoot someone herself, she clearly sees parallels between her and Castle. And she dives into this case headlong, and she barely stops long enough to be shot at. Fatigue and exhaustion are her primary adversaries, and she doesn't seem to be really shaken too much by bullets anymore. She does most of the legwork and investigation this season. Ben Urich has rubbed off on her. This is what I call character growth.

Hell, half of Daredevil this season seems to be more like The Punisher season 1, costarring Karen Page as a sort-of sidekick. In fact, after the initial arrest, Daredevil and Punisher come face to mask only once, and Castle and Murdock come face to face perhaps twice.

And then, of course, there's Jon Bernthal, playing Frank Castle, the Punisher. I gotta tell you, I don't think the Punisher was ever handled this well. Ever. In fact, I would say that Frank Castle is more sympathetic here than in the comics. They finally got him -- he's a man whose family was butchered right in front of him, he was left for dead, and the only thing he has left is revenge, and killing people who have it coming. He's a killing machine, that's all that he is ... and he's not terribly happy about it. But he has to do it. He must. And I don't think I've ever seen a trigger pull break your heart quite like this before ... One Batch, Two batch.....

Not to mention that Castle has some of the better moments in this season. There is a particularly heartrending moment in a diner, sitting across from Karen Page, as she complains about how Murdock is driving her insane, and hurting her every time he does something else stupid.

Castle's response is perfect.

People that can hurt you, the ones that can really hurt you, are the ones that are close enough to do it. People that get inside you and tear you apart, and make you feel like you're never gonna recover. Shit. I'd chop my arm off right here, in this restaurant, just to feel that one more time for my wife. My old lady, she didn't just break my heart. She'd rip it out, she'd tear it apart, she'd step on that shit, feed it to a dog. She was ruthless. She brought the pain. But she'll never hurt me again. You see, I'll never feel that. You sit here and you're all confused about this thing, but you have it. You have everything. So hold on to it. Use two hands and never let go. You got it? 

Which, of course, leads to something else. This season, they decide to follow up on Karen Page and Matt Murdock being an item, as they were in the comics. Which is BS. I'm sorry, but please go back through season 1, and watch Karen and Foggy as they're bar hopping in season 1. They had all sorts of strange chemistry, but dang it, it WORKED. This? Eh. Not so much.

And now, looking at Matt Murdock himself. Charlie Cox, is, as always, perfect for the role. Though the problem of these season is actually the problem with the character--and Daredevil has always had personal problems. In this case, Murdock is trying way, way too hard to be Superman.

Yes, Daredevil has always had the reputation of being one of the most stubborn men in the Marvel universe, but season 2 is where he really starts pushing his own limit. And the bigger problem also feeds into it. He doesn't talk to people, and he tries doing everything, failing spectacularly. Remember the priest that Matt spent every other episode with in season 1? He makes one appearance in the entire season. And while Matt spends his entire time talking to Elektra or Stick (or early on, with Castle), you watch him fall apart. Let's face it, these are not the people you want to spend all of your time with if you're going to stay sane ... or sane-ish.

This is particularly highlighted by an episode where Matt has to bring in multiple wounded victims to a hospital, at the same time Foggy is also wounded in a shooting. This leads to bringing back Claire Temple, the Night Nurse, played by Rosario Dawson, who insists on smacking Matt upside the head with common sense, while he's busy trying to play martyr ... which is a common comic book trope. If you don't believe me, just look at the history of Spider Man. It's part of the character's problem, and it really should boil down to "Dude, take a break for five minutes. Try getting Tony Stark on speed dial."  Murdock is in a mindset where he's thinking "I'm going to be Daredevil from now on!" Yeah, I know. But Tony Stark also had ideas like this at one time. Stark was drunk out of his mind at the time, but Murdock has never been the most stable Marvel hero.

And of course, in the latter third of the series, everything picks up again. Not because of the hand, but because of the one man that everyone has been waiting for the entire series.

Yup, the return of Wilson Fisk, played by the always entertaining Vincent D'Onofrio. He's back, and he's here to interfere with the plot. And, seriously, this man has more impact on the series just by showing up than almost anyone else who ran around, dumping exposition.

What's Fisk doing here? In part, he's here to show us exactly what he's been up to since he went to jail. What is he actually doing in the plot?

Well, let's just say that he ends up meeting Frank Castle. The result is that Castle ends up looking like this.

And when Murdock finally -- and I mean finally -- does some work in the Frank Castle plot, and puts together that Fisk has been up to shenanigans.

This of course, leads to an interesting confrontation that we never really got in season 1.

You can imagine how well this goes, especially since season 1 gave the credit for bringing down Fisk to the Murdock and Nelson law firm. So Fisk knows that the guy across from him has put him in there. And Fisk, as usual, has anger control issues.

Then Murdock threatens Fisk.

Hilarity ensues.

One highlight that I have to point out is episode 3.  Like in season 1 and their episode 2 ("Cut Man") in season 2, episode 3, "New York's Finest," they felt the need to have Daredevil talking throughout most of this, ending with an awesome fight sequence. you might remember "Cut Scene" ending with a simple tracking shot of a fight going back and forth down the hallway. In this case, they did the same thing with Daredevil walking down a flight of stairs.

In terms of pointing out individual episodes, by the time we get to the finale, it's getting a little strange. How strange? Well, there's Elektra and Daredevil versus what looks like a hundred ninjas. When our "heroes" come up to face the ninjas ... there are maybe only two or three dozen. Yes, that's still a lot, but where did the rest of them go?

If you're wondering, "Shouldn't the Punisher be in this, somewhere?" You'd be right. I was expecting more of a Castle ex machina, but perhaps he was busy slaughtering the other five dozen ninjas somewhere offscreen.

Honestly? I think they should have had another episode, or add at least ten minutes to this one.

At the end of the season, there was an interesting monologue by Karen Page about heroes

"What is it, to be a hero? Look in the mirror and you'll know. Look into your own eyes and tell me you are not heroic, that you have not endured, or suffered... or lost the things you care about most. And yet, here you are... a survivor of Hell's Kitchen... the hottest place anyone's ever known. A place where cowards don't last long. So... you must be a hero. We all are. Some more than others, but none of us alone. Some bloody their fists trying to keep the Kitchen safe. Others bloody the streets in the hope they can stop the tide, the crime, the cruelty... the disregard for human life all around them. But this is Hell's Kitchen. Angel or devil, rich or poor, young or old, you live here. You didn't choose this town. It chose you. Because a hero isn't someone who lives above us, keeping us safe. A hero is not a god or an idea. A hero lives here... on the street, among us, with us. Always here but rarely recognized. Look in the mirror and see yourself for what you truly are. You're a New Yorker. You're a hero. This is your Hell's Kitchen. Welcome home."

All I can think is "Tell me that wasn't written by a New Yorker who lived through 9-11."

At the end of the day, this is a 4-star season, perhaps a 5-star season. Heck, I'd actually say the Hand plot was 4-star, and the Punisher was 5-star.  Hell, I think I would have liked a shorter season just to focus mostly on Punisher. Daredevil season two is a lot more of a mystery than season one. Imagine Steve Martini meets Larry Correia. You watch as they put together the mystery of who Castle is, then who slaughtered his family, and what's the big deal around this one man.

And then there's the hand. And yes, the Hand plot is needed to set them up as the Big Bad for The Defenders series, and Daredevil was a good place to do it. I just wish that it didn't make the season feel slightly disjointed.

By the end yes, I liked it.

As for what all this means for The Defenders?  Well, by the end of this season, Foggy might well end up at the law firm where Jessica Jones hangs out, so imagine the fun bits of that happening. And now that Punisher is getting a series, I expect him to be in Defenders.

Though, honestly, I'm trying to see any of the Defenders working with Jessica Jones. At all. eriously, imagine locking her and Punisher in the same room. Or with Matt Murdock. Hell, imagine her in the same room with Karen Page. I think I'd rather see her interact with Jones' friend the radio show host (Hellcat). Who am I kidding, I want a Hellcat series, not Jessica Jones season 2 -- one of them has charisma, and she's not the brunette.

As for season three, I suspect there will be at least one or two people figuring out who Daredevil is, so that'll go well.

Anyway, at the end of the day, I enjoyed season two. Have fun.

Speaking of fun ... insert a shameless plug for Honor at Stake. :D

The Anthologies are here

Item the first, I'm still going to be here as time allows, so I may not be on for a while. Though I'm going to try to upload guest posts should I get any. I've got one or two people who have offered posts. We'll see who follows through.

Item the second, all three books are out on Kindle. Pius Origins  and Pius Holidays, both on Kindle. Pius Tales should be out sometime within an hour or so of this post, on Kindle and paperback.

Pius Origins is out, only $.99

Yaaay.

The short stories here include:

One Way to Get out of Jail
Sometimes, a legal defense can be murder.
We Have a Pope!
Spinning a story can go both ways.
Mile High Murder
A killer is roaming an airplane. And no one can stop him. Should anyone try?
Swiss Family Mafia
Being a bill collector can be trying.
Tinker, Tailor, Goyim, Spy
The Bostonian Catholic walks into Mossad. What is this, a joke?

But wait! There's more! Including character interviews and essays on their creation.

Also, ...

Pius Holidays is here, only $.99

Includes some fun stories as

God Hates ... Superman?
Crowd control made easy.
Erin Go Boom
Priest vs. terrorists. Oops.
Boys of the Old Brigade
Beating IRA terrorists 140 characters at a time.
See Something
Say something ... or beat someone's head in.
Let Freedom Ring
Terrorists come to blow up Boston. Nobody can stop them! Thankfully, there's a nobody on call.
Coyote Christmas 
Come for the party, stay for the wild animals.
O Little Town of BethMayhem
Terrorists are going to blow up Bethlehem on Christmas Eve.
Deck the Maul
A mercenary works mall security on Black Friday. Insert your own joke.

And, finally, Pius Tales, for $2.99 in Kindle, and $7.99 in paperback ... link to be posted. Sorry about that, there was a delay. Should be up today. Period.

Includes .... everything from above, plus additional content, essays, commentary, additional stories, story extras -- over ten thousand words of additional content.

Be well, all.

Honor At Stake, 9-11, and New York fiction

As was mentioned, I've got two main characters for Honor At Stake.

As I've also mentioned, they are both New Yorkers ... well, the vampire has lived in my fair city for about 25 years, so that confers some sort of status of citizenship.

Which means that both of them were in town when 9-11 happened.

The human was about five or six, and got to watch it live, and in person, in the borough across the river, Brooklyn.  Yup.  My character watched the whole thing happen live.  Even remembers the snow on the ground that wasn't even snow. It was ash.

The vampire remembers 9-11 just as well, but couldn't go outside until the towers fell. The ash and dust blocked out the sun, and, well, a vampire didn't really need to breathe in all of that mess, so could go outside at that point.

But before that, the vampire could see the towers fall over and over again on tv, because cable made it possible to watch the second plane strike over, and over and over again, because this was before everyone having an iPhone, and we didn't see the first hit until later.

One character could only barely understand that an airplane had hit buildings, and that people were falling out of the windows -- couldn't hear the impact, but a young imagination is more than enough to fill in that particular blank.

The vampire understood what was happening perfectly well, and wondered how many thousands dead wouldn't be reported, because vampires went up in flame and fire and sunlight from broken windows.

One would grow up to become a monster. The other wished that vampires were bigger monsters -- and hungry for Islamofascists.

You see, I won't say that the world changed for me on 9-11. I had always known that Islamic terrorists needed to either stay home and kill each other, let the Israelis kill them, or be killed by us.  I always knew that blowing up some random stuff when they did something stupid was a bad idea -- they knew what we would do, where we would bomb, and suffered not at all for what we did with a few bombs. I had always known that Osama bin Laden would have been better off six feet under.

Before 9-11, I had figured that Islamofascism would die a slow death, along the line of Darwin,  Yes, as I stated before, I would have been happy to have offed Saddam in the 90s, or invade Sudan to stop the ongoing genocide, but I figured no one would do it for purely humanitarian reasons.

After 9-11, kill 'em all.

Will it follow me and all of my characters for all the days of my life? Maybe. I honestly don't know. It's possible. Codename: Winterborn would not have happened without it.  And I can honestly say that Honor at Stake wouldn't have happened without it.  Not only has it affected me, and the characters, but it shaped the story the first time out.

I have a space opera that I wrote back in the 90s that has undergone some serious revision as far as the bad guys are concerned. It's not entirely influenced by the evil of 9-11, but there are echoes and elements here and there.

Victor Davis Hansen, in his book Ripples of Battle, examined how small battles -- some that people never even heard of -- have lasting effects, touching all sorts of things. With 9-11, it might well have created the next generation of politicians out of vets from the sandbox. Maybe you have a few people who lost someone, and they become a President of the United States who nukes Mecca. No idea.

But I know that 9-11 has definitely shaped these books, and my characters, and large parts of the way I think and approach things.

And, right now, I also know that I will never forget. I don't think my brain will let me.

FAQ: Where do you get your ideas?

I've touched on this briefly during the series on how I created A Pius Man, but, apparently, the question many authors are besieged with is “How do you come up with your ideas?”

Short answer: formal viewpoint. Or a functional mentality.

For example, last year, I saw Forbes Magazine with cover article about how al-Qaeda was losing money, and it suggested that Osama "needed a new business model."

I can not make this stuff up.

The point is, people look at things from a “formal viewpoint.” I would look at a large pile of money and think of where a character would hide it. An accountant would probably count it all. A pyromaniac would look at it as stuff to burn.


In my case... to use an example, in 1998, my family went to London and stopped off to see the Crown Jewels. Everyone else stared at the jewels. I went and looked at the security. I didn't take notes, since I didn't want to be thrown out of the Tower of London by the fastest possible route [the jewels were a few floors up]. The British Museum got the same treatment from me -- The Elgin Marbles from the Greek Parthenon had their own wing.... so, if the Greeks really wanted them back, they could steal them with a few construction helicopters and just airlift the whole wing—the Israelis did that with an Egyptian radar tower once to great effect.

Basically, it's a matter of looking at things from a certain viewpoint. I suspect that if I go see the Mona Lisa, the majority of my time will be pondering how someone could disable the security guards, the electronic surveillance, and walk away with a few paintings from the Louvre. Though the answer would probably be to steal something from the basement storage area—less security, without the individual alarms on every piece.... hmm, now that's an idea....can someone scan for Semtex at the entrypoint to the Louvre? Hrm...

The sad thing is that the above was really thought up as I wrote it.
[More below the break]

Looking back on 9/11, ten years later.

[A more clinical and objective view can be found here.]

When I first walked into English class at St. John's University, it was a little before 9am. The professor was one Dr. Robert Forman.  He was always entertaining, and there's something about him that tells you he cares that you learn something in his class.

The first person I saw was my classmate Tony.  I said hello, and he asked, "Did you hear something about a plane running into the World Trade Center?"

And I laughed.  All I could think is what idiot could have missed noticing that there were two rather large buttersticks in the sky right in front of him?

I explained that to Tony.  He agreed, and I gave it no thought at all for the rest of the 90-minute class.

I went from one class to another -- Christian Spirituality and Mysticism, 10:40am, taught by a priest whose name I can't recall right this moment.  He was not only pleasant, but happy.  He was also very Italian, and joked about it often.

When I arrived, the professor wasn't there, and someone came into class saying that classes were canceled.

Huh.  That's odd.

I went to the nearest inter-university phone and called my father -- who was an Assistant Dean at SJU.  I called, told him my class was cancelled, and how are you doing?

"Come to the office."

Ok .... click.

Walking from one building to the other required that I cross from Marillac Hall, past Council and Newman Halls -- a narrow corridor outside that was as well directed as any sidewalk intersection without a traffic stop.

Ironically, it was afforded the best view of the Manhattan skyline that the University had to offer, without going into the university library --- SJU is, for the record, the highest point in Queens.

But, I didn't stop for a second. My pace was quick and even, mainly because there were so few people in my way -- for once.

Though there was one odd bit of business going on at the time, something I found odd even before I made it to my father's office: there were clusters of people with their cell phones out.  After the third such group, I felt like I was in a scene from Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.

I walked into my father's office at the other side of the library, and before I could even open my mouth, my father said, "Planes have crashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.  The twin towers are gone, and the Pentagon is burning."

And I remember this quite clearly, because I had a little red notebook with me at the time ... my first thought was "Didn't Tom Clancy already write this novel?"

My father suggested I go to the library, and observe the skyline.  by the time I got there, the library was locked.  So I walked back to the terrace I had just gone over.

Instead of a skyline, there were ground based storm clouds running from south to north.  I stood there for an unknown length of time, completely focused on it.  I didn't even notice my acquaintance Andy walk up next to me.

"I can't wrap my mind around it," he said.  "I can't believe they're gone."

 If I replied to him, I don't remember.

Week in Review:7-1-2011

This week was sort of busy for me. I'm not entirely certain what happened to encourage all sorts of strange things to happen at the same time, but it did mess with my schedule a little.

Monday

Monday was especially busy. So busy that I ended up missing the daily music blog. Something I hope w

My day started with a three-part examiner.com series on being mugged: how to survive a standard mugging, what to do if you need to defend yourself and the attacker has a gun, or if he has a knife.

And, just because I could, I mentioned the top ten points to pummel someone into a new and better incarnation.

I was having fun.  Which may explain a lot of how I got the job.

Anyway.

When it came time to work on the blog, I had the self defense discussion up and ready to post. I think I had been building it for the entire month. 

And then people started to do something stupid.

For one, New York decided to allow gay marriage.  I don't think that was stupid, though I think it may be ill-advised, because I suspect that there will be lawyers. No, not "there will be blood." There will be lawyers. Which are far, far worse. I hope I'm wrong.

The blog was so good, I got a shoutout on Axes and Allies, and compliments from resident artist/atheist, Matt. 

And, of course, Image comics decided to go all tinfoil hat brigade with "The Big Lie."  Conspiracy theories, meet comic books.  Now, this was seriously stupid.

Tuesday

My fighting and writing blog. Basically, why I use Krav Maga in my fight scenes.  What is it, and where did it come from? Other various and sundry details.

Oh, by the way, if you live in and about Eastern Queens or Brooklyn, you might want to seriously look into trying out Protection Fitness Self Defense.

Trust me on this.

The music blog was E Nomine and Doctor Who ... mainly because they were both sort of awesome.

Wednesday

This was almost a last minute save. I had tripped over the music of the aborted Babylon 5 video game .... and, going by the music, if it had been made, would have been awesome ... and I tripped over it quite by accident.

And I discussed a bit more of Krav Maga, mostly where to find it in New York.

Thursday

Just the music blog.  A bit of a B5 video game, and a bit of Tom Smith.

I will most likely be taking this Fourth of July off. Enjoy everyone.

Image Comics & The Big Lie

The first time I had ever heard of Image Comics, it was in a column by Peter David called But I Digress.  It was all mostly a matter of the strange and wonderously stupid things done in the comic book industry, as well as writing, and structure of stories, and why doesn't anyone ever stay dead already?

What I recalled of Image Comics was that it was art-focused. Essentially, all of the artists decided that they didn't need anything stupid like, oh, writers, for example. Because, after all, writers are just those people who fill in the word bubbles after the artist is done with the pictures, right?

Tell it to Joss Whedon, or JM Straczynski, or Peter David.

Now I digress ....

Anyway, with this background, I read about Image Comics trying to do a Twilight Zone episode.

Okay, goody.  I always like it when people try to imitate better writers. It's worked for some people better than others.

The Twilight Zone episode they wanted to mimic was one of their few hour long episodes, No Time Like the Past. A time traveler named Paul Driscoll tries to stop major events in history from going wrong.

Driscoll tries to evacuate Hiroshima.  The Japanese take one look at this anglo, and throw him in jail.

Driscoll tries to shoot Hitler. He is stopped because an annoying cleaning lady just won't leave him alone, and then becomes suspicious and calls the men in black trench coats on him.

He even tries to stop the Lusitania from being sunk.

At the end of the day, Paul Driscoll says to heck with it all, goes back in time to the old west. He knows a tragedy is about to happen, and tries to stop it ... but by screwing around with events, he is actually the cause of the tragedy.

Okay, great. If a comic book is going to mimic this, then great.  This looks like an interesting idea.  So, what does image comics do?

September 11th, 2001

The "Ground Zero" Mosque. Or: Why I hate Politics.

Thriller writers seem to be dragged into a lot of politics. Vince Flynn, because his protagonist is a government counter terrorist agent; Lee Child, because his protagonist is a former Military Policeman, and deals with a lot of army politics.

I personally hate politics, but, since I've already started by having a discussion on the Church, the Pope, and handling priests, I figured I'm due for another round....

Some may not know, and fewer may care, but there is talk of a mosque going up in downtown Manhattan, on what is currently a vacant lot, or a giant hole in the ground, depending on your point of view. Yes, someone wants to put a mosque at Ground Zero, the site of the New York City 9-11 attack.

There are multiple points of view on the matter, but I would like to address the one that no one else seems to be considering: The Muslim point of view.

Yes, I know I'm Catholic, but I'm turning on my empathy for five minutes. And it's not too hard. For example, we can break down the Islamic world into three camps: those who want to kill us, those who don't care, and those who rather like America and who have either already moved here (or want to).

From the “kill them all” camp (terrorists, supporters, sympathizers, Ron Kuby), I can only imagine a mosque over the scene of the biggest, most successful terrorist attack on American soil would be like planting a flag over captured enemy territory. From their point of view, a mosque would be a great idea, the bigger the better. Party time..

From the “I don't care” camp, I could only imagine a reaction of “What the....?” This mosque is going to be fourteen stories tall in the middle of downtown Manhattan— bigger than St. Patrick's Cathedral. Nearby areas consist of Greenwich Village, Chinatown, Wall Street, and a very Little Italy. Now, unless the Village has undergone a drastic demographic shift, or the official religion of China has become Islam, I can't imagine too many people going to this great big mosque. There's a heavy Muslim population in New York... in Brooklyn, on Atlantic Avenue. I would imagine that someone, somewhere out there, is wondering “Whose bright idea was this? And why couldn't we get them to build this near a major Muslim population center?”

The “moderate Islam” we hear so much about, who like America, hate terrorists, and came to this country to FLEE customs in the homeland, I can imagine being disturbed. I know that if my coreligionists had launched a terrorist attack on my country of residence, I would want as much distance between my faith and the attack site as possible. I could imagine this side of the Islamic spectrum viewing the mosque like the terrorist viewpoint, as a flag of victory, and consider that a very bad, disturbing thing.

Someone is going to try to put any of the above statements into my mouth and proclaim them mine. So I'll make my viewpoint clear...

In the biggest attack on American soil, Pearl Harbor, we have a war memorial. One of the ships that was irrevocable lost is still there, hull partially out of the water, one drop of oil coming up every minute or so. We did not put a Shinto shrine. With another slaughter, Gettysburg, it's also a war memorial, of sorts. We did not put up a Christian church; I believe there are smaller, individual crosses for the deaths of people who all happened to be one variety of Christian or another, but no massive Cathedral (I couldn't find one, feel free to check).

It isn't possible to make a war memorial in lower Manhattan on the scope of either of the above mentioned, since the real estate rates are somewhere in high orbit. If you built another World Trade Center with a war memorial in the lobby, and antiaircraft batteries on the roof, and make the rest of the building dedicated to standard business practices, I think that would cover all bases. The original lobby was huge, and all the things you need for a memorial are already constructed: I recall that we have a Vietnam-style wall with the names of those lost, we have a cross made out of I-beams that was put up by the construction workers (I would put it there less for religious reasons and more for the fact that it was created from pieces of the Twin Towers), and believe we have a statue of the iconic image of the three firemen raising the flag at Ground Zero. You get a memorial to the dead, patriotism, and a physical piece of what was lost.

As for the mosque itself, I'm more curious about other things...

(1) Are there really so many Muslims in lower Manhattan that we need something the size of a small skyscraper? If you take the terrorist attack out of the equation, building the Mosque anywhere in lower Manhattan isn't the brightest move. When the biggest groups are the Chinese, Wall Street, and the people of the Village, it's a bloody stupid idea.

(2) If there aren't “so many Musilms”, whose bright idea what this? I can tell you people who support it, but I can't tell you who's funding it. It's possible it's funded by someone who doesn't know New York City demographics, or someone with cross-cultural public relations problems, or someone who really does want to plant a flag on Ground Zero.

(3) Do American Muslims really want to put a mosque that close to an area of mass slaughter? I would think that would be up there with putting a temple on top of a graveyard.

(4) Before everyone plans for the war memorial, the mosque, or anything else, I would like the politicians to do one thing: BUILD US ANOTHER WTC.... I don't care if it's the 1776-foot tall “Freedom Tower”, or if they just build the originals again.

My position is simple: it's been nine years and three Governors since we lost the World Trade Center, and construction should have been started at least five years ago (count four years of red tape). Someone, get to work....

Oh, and no matter what designs are picked, I want the battery of Surface-to-Air-Missiles... and a giant sign that says “TRY AGAIN. PLEASE.”

Please feel free to comment; I put in as much data as I could find, and everything I can think of without going into a rant. If I have any Muslim fans of the book, I want to hear from you in case I missed something; like I said, I turned my empathy on for five minutes, so the above analysis of opinion is, essentially, a guess.

UPDATE [1-31- 2011]

And, maybe, just maybe, someone should tell this Imam how close he is to the village before he starts talking like this.