NYC Buses To Run Anti-Ground Zero Mosque Ads

I wonder how this is going to go over with actual New Yorkers. The American Freedom Defense Initiative, a group based in New Hampshire, has successfully sued the MTA (New York City’s Metro Transit Authority) to allow it to run anti-Ground Zero mosque ads on the sides of NYC buses.

Meaning the ad, which reportedly features “an airplane headed toward the burning World Trade Center, along with a high-rise that’s labeled “WTC Mega Mosque” and the words ‘Why There?'” will be forced upon unsuspecting residents of Manhattan, many of whom lived through the actual event.

From the New York Post:

An MTA spokesman said: “While the MTA does not endorse the views expressed in this or other ads that appear on the transit system, the advertisement…was accepted today after its review under MTA’s advertising guidelines and governing legal standards.”

A spokesman for the mayor — who last week said mosque opponents “ought to be ashamed of themselves” — declined to comment.

Whether that is a view shared by bus riders is something that remains to be seen — the ads are set to go up in the next 10 days. Poll numbers released earlier this week concluded that a majority of New York State residents opposed the mosque, though it also noted the opposition was greatest among upstate New Yorkers. The exact number of city dwellers who have a problem with the mosque is unclear (less than everywhere else appears to be the conclusion). However, one has to wonder whether co-opting and confronting residents of the city with such an enormously disturbing and emotional image won’t have exactly the opposite effect that is intended by this New Hampshire group.

[h/t Gawker]