In more Crazy White People news, a friend passes along that a Dallas friend of hers is saying that we palefaces ought to put Obama signs in our yards for our own safety. If Obama loses, the thinking goes, the blacks are gonna riot. And if Obama wins, and anything bad happens to him, the blacks are gonna riot.
The paranoid white woman, I'm told, is serious.
This election cannot end soon enough for me.
UPDATE: Steve has even more depressing news on the Obama-as-Muslim front from Kentucky.
UPDATE.2: Sorry, Steve, but that poll is only for Kentucky Republicans. Our poll takes in all Texans. Ha ha! We pwn those Kentucky elitists!
Add to Del.icio.us
Add to Technorati
Add to Digg
Add to Newsvine
Add to Facebook
Add to StumbleUpon
Subscribe
I'll one-up Franklin's 12:30 PM reply to trp: Many Muslims believe that all people are born Muslim. The pious (though, I think, non-Koranic) view is that when a child is born, two angels whisper the shahada (the Islamic profession of faith) into the child's ears. It is only as the child is raised that he or she becomes non-Muslim. For this reason, many Muslims refer to the embrace of Islam by a non-Muslim as reversion, rather than conversion; the idea being that the person does not embrace a new faith, but returns to his original faith.
Thus, by this logic, Obama was born a Muslim; but so were McCain, Biden, Palin, Rod, trp, Franklin, all other posters here, and the entire American electorate. See how fun it is to play the "now we're all apostates" game?
I would point out two other things: Bugg is in error regarding Obama's half-sister. Maya Soetoro-Ng, though born in Indonesia and half-Indonesian ethnically does not now live there--she lives in Hawaii and is an American citizen. Not only is she not a Muslim, she is in fact Buddist. If you don't believe me, have a look here.
Second: As Colin Powell said, what if Obama were a Muslim? Surely being a Muslim per se shouldn't disqualify one from the Presidency, right? Yes, there are Muslims that are sympathetic to or involved with fringe, terrorist, or other unsavory groups; but ditto Christians, Jews, and members of many other religions, too.
Yes Mark, the bigotry of low expectations is of course a dire issue. Those Low Expectation Klansman lynching people who they thought could never make decisions on their own really chills the blood. And of course Hitler and his Final Solution for the Low Expectation Problem.
Come on...I understand the term, but equating this with the bigotry that says "For God's sake, don't put a black man, or a Muslim, in charge of our government." is just silly.
One is borne out of unawareness and a muddle-headed concept of compassion...the other is borne out of hatred and rage and venom. Let's kick racism, religious sectarianism, sexism, etc. the hell out of our country...then I'll be glad to jump on the band wagon to eliminate the bigotry of low expectations.
I understand the two can go hand in hand...that doesn't make them the same.
Rod, I do not think it is unreasonable to fear rioting in case Sen. Obama wins or loses. Inner cities have been plagued with civil strife before (e.g. LA Riots, Watts Riots). The same occurred even during joyous occasions, such as when the Chicago Bulls won the 1992 World Championship. A common thread during these civil disturbances was the race of the vast majority of the rioters: they were black. This observation isn't racist but merely observable fact. Sure, rioting most likely will not occur, but the "paranoid white woman" has a reasonable basis for her concern; your dismissal of her fear is in and of itself unreasonable.
bty5050 said:
"Is it possible that there are a number of individuals who have heard what Obama has said about his beliefs and they simply don't believe it?"
Possible, but unlikely. I seriously doubt that most of the people who think Obama is a Muslim know anything at all about Islam. Certainly, they are not likely know enough to determine that Obama's belief system is closer to Islam than Christianity. I just don't believe that most people have an adequately sophisticated understanding of world religions to be able to make that determination. I've worked reasonably hard at understanding at least some aspects of Islam, and I still consider myself quite ignorant about it.
I also don't think most of the people who complain about Obama being a socialist, communist, or Marxist understand what those terms really mean. How many have read Marx, or even know that socialism and communism are distinct concepts? Now I'm sure that many readers of this blog do know these things, but I'm also sure that they are not typical in this regard.
JPL,
Thanks for the sarcasm. It really is an effective dialogue-ender.
Post a Comment
By submitting these comments, I agree to the beliefnet.com terms of service, rules of conduct and privacy policy (the "agreements"). I understand and agree that any content I post is licensed to beliefnet.com and may be used by beliefnet.com in accordance with the agreements.