Muslim in this case is not about religion. It is about him being black. It is about him somehow being different. He can not be one of us. There has to be an explanation . So he is a Muslim since most people don’t even know what it means or looks like. But it is exotic and different and even dangerous . Muslim is code for black.
I think in many cases this is true, and can’t help but to shake my head when people say things like there’s “something” about him they don’t trust, but can’t put their finger on. The interviews I’d hear on NPR during the primaries were just A+ when you’d listen to people all out say they like him and his platform but “something” <ominous ghost noises> about Obama bothered them. I wanted to be all “Ooh! Ooh! I know!” raising my hand, shaking it vigorously, “I know what it is! Teacher, please call on me!”
But anyway, yeah, almost all of the “Obama is a secret Muslim Kenyan” is pure racist claptrap.
Now THAT would be cool.
A little shrine to Ahura-Mazda in the Oval Office? Righteous. Secret Service made up of Zoroaster Priests in saffron robes with ceremonial scimitars? Awesome.
~~
I actually knew a Zoroastrian in college.
And now I have an actual East German Communist living on my street. And a former Hitler Youth next door. And a Rotarian across our back yard.
He’s the weirdest…
Despite this post, I think you are smart enough to understand:
1/ the difference between something being “fine” and something being grudgingly accepted
2/ that what I meant was that the horror lay in a powerful world leader implementing policy on the basis of his imaginary friend. The horror did not lie in a powerful world leader saying he had an imaginary friend. Sadly the latter is too common to warrant horror.
Nope. Most presidents from Washington through Kennedy, and to a lesser extent from LBJ through Clinton, gave varying degrees of deference (from sincere devotion to lip service) to a counterfeit American Judaeo-Christian ethic that was actually cobbled together from Christianity, Roman and Germanic traditional ethics, and the Enlightenment, that included things like:
[ul]
[li]Have some self-respect. Stand up foryourself.[/li][li]Stick up for the underdog against the bully.[/li][li]People should be generally free to live their lives, as long as they conform outwardly to some expected social norms.[/li][li]Be neighborly – when your neighbor really needs help, give it to him, with both hands, even if his pride won’t let him accept it.[/li][li]Do unto others as you’d have them do unto you – but in moderation.[/li][li]Deal out justice firmly, but be prepared to have mercy from time to time.[/li][li]Don’t let the bastards grind you down. This too will pass.[/li][li]Mind your own business.[/li][/ul]
This was what the popular conception of God expected of people. Notice how different it is from Tea Party standards.
No, but they have a pet St. Bernard with a scotch barrel attached to his collar. You know, for rescues.
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I always had the impression Reagan wasn’t very religious. He did a great job pandering to the religious, but that’s not the same thing.
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I do not recall Bush being assailed for praying, not by anyone around here, anyway. Maybe Der Trihs, but he’s a bit hysterical on the subject.
In this case, though, I have to admit gonzomax cuts to the heart of the matter; “Obama is a secret Muslim” is a code for “I hate niggers.”
This post made me realize that I should admit to myself that sometimes I have had similar kinds of thoughts, but from “the other side”. That is, if someone claims something ridiculous and negative* about a “NASCAR-white-trailer-trash-redneck”, I probably tend to filter it through my “discomfort” with those kinds of people, and so be more likely to believe the assertion without thinking it through or checking up on the facts.
I’m so used to hanging out with the multi-hued “academic elite”, I sometimes forget that a lot of people, apparently, feel “discomfort” towards me and people like me.
(*I am NOT implying “Muslim” is anything negative. It would have to be a different sort of assertion, something I disapprove of, to work as an example of what I’m suggesting here.
Exactly. The fact that Obama is not a Muslim does not mean that anything you can possibly think of to support that is true. Typical DtC, though. We usually have a Pit thread about this every few months.
I can kinda sorta see where someone who doesn’t pay attention to the news, or who is exposed to those right wing hate e-mails might think Obama is a Muslim. It’s not that unusual for Blacks to embrace their African heritage and become Muslim even if they were raised Christian. And Obama has more immediate African/Muslim heritage than most African Americans.
However, that is a profoundly ignorant view. As is the rejection of evolution-- a stance embraced my more Americans that think Obama is a Muslim.
Islam doesn’t really have any more to do with “African heritage” than Christianity. Even the Nation of Islam doesn’t try to sell that idea.
Tell that to the African Americans who think Islam is part of their African Heritage.
Um… if I meet any, I will be sure to do so. Happy?
Only if you promise to PM me every time you do! 
It’s a deal. Better clear your inbox. 
I’m not sure that’s the right comparison. It’s, what, 39% of Americans who believe in evolution, with a split between those who believe it’s false (25%) and those who don’t know or don’t care, right? And it’s 34% who believe Obama is a Christian, with a split between those who believe he’s a Muslim (18%) and those who don’t know? So, yeah, more Americans reject evolution than think he’s a Muslim, but more Americans are in the “Either he’s a Muslim or I don’t know” majority than are in the “Either evolution is false or I don’t know” majority.
The take away from all of that is that Americans are morons.
Except you, though, right?
Yes, except for me. And your point is…?
I’m at least a higher functioning moron.