A friend forwarded an anti-Obama video to me today, wondering what we can do to combat such, well, crap. It is filled with news clips taken out of context, which make the president seem to be saying things which he was not. If you want to view it for yourself, you can do so by following this link.
What makes me the saddest is that some people are so threatened by a man who shows respect for another religion. They have no idea that the people involved in terrorism are an extreme arm of Islam, and don't represent the majority of Muslims. What I see are Christian fundamentalists - who believe all Christians are like them - saying that all Muslims are terrorists, when it is only the fundamentalist wing of Islam.
These are people who not only see the present in a narrow-minded way, but who also have no sense of history. They conveniently forget the Crusades when Christians were the terrorists against Islam, as well as all the other times Christians have been the aggressors, such as how we treated the Native Americans, or immigrant groups, or funded corrupt political groups in Central and South America or ... I could go on to create quite a long list.
Just this morning the Thought for the Day from the BBC was a Muslim woman saying that respect costs nothing. When I was listening, I thought "You're wrong. Show respect and people label you a wuss." Then I got the video. It seems respect will label you as un-American, and someone who condones terrorism.
What really bothers me is that people who want to get Mr. Obama out of office would resort to these scare tactics to frighten ordinary people into believing something untrue. And it frightens me how easy it is to lead ordinary people into this mob mentality by resorting to lies and fear. I know it's how the world is, but it shouldn't be! May we all remember to listen, and to explore the complexities of questions before coming down on the side that speaks to our prejudice. May we all learn respect for others who believe differently than we do.
There is so much to this. These people are surprisingly quiet on the terrorist in their midst who walked into a church and opened fire so he could kill a doctor who happens to perform abortions. Timothy McVeigh was not a Muslim. It is fundmentalism--born of fear--that is the problem here, no matter what form that fundamentalism takes. And I do not think you can discount the race factor here. These people are terrified because Obama does not look like them. Not to mention the fact that he has a wide range of knowledge and has had life experience that allow him to see beyond his personal bubble. There is a huge anti-intellectual feeling out there among people--witness the popularity of Sarah Palin among people like this. I am not sure the whole world is like this. You see some of this in Europe, especially in particular countries, but I think the secular nature of European society as a whole allows them to see things somehwat differently. Although I am certain there are fundamentalists there that may not have a religious foundation for their views, much like the screaming atheists here that sound to me exactly like religious fundamentalists. In any case, though I find the views of these people abhorrent and somewhat frightening, I also feel some compassion for them. They are clearly terrified. The world is changing and they can't stop it. They are hysterical. That said, I think we do have to stand up to this kind of thing because it only takes one terrified individual to do some serious damage, like a wounded animal backed into a corner. And when you add in the fact that they believe they would be doing it for God or country, it's even worse.
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