American Weirdness du jour: More Americans imagine that Obama is Muslim

[karlhenning]

Oh, Jdp is just echoing one of Glen Beck's vile canards. (Isn't that scary?)

[Josquin des Prez]

I never once heard Glen Beck in my life. If it wasn't for the internet i wouldn't even know what he looked like. Keep yer facile characterizations to yerself.

[karlhenning]

I never once heard Glen Beck in my life. If it wasn't for the internet i wouldn't even know what he looked like. Keep yer facile characterizations to yerself.

No, it wasn't facile characterization.  It was the coincidence of your posting your foolish comment one day, and later the same day I read reference to a strikingly similar fool comment attributed to Beck.

You want to be distanced from his idiocy?  Distance your thought from it.

[Josquin des Prez]

Almost his entire cabinet is filled to the rafters with white men and women who are either xtian or jewish.

Yes, because anything short of filling his entire cabinet with African Americans does not in fact demonstrate a deep seated antipathy towards white America.

[Keemun]

In the spirit of the original post:  Poll: One out of Five Americans Do Not Believe Obama Exists

[Herman]

Yes, because anything short of filling his entire cabinet with African Americans does not in fact demonstrate a deep seated antipathy towards white America.

Interesting how you keep quoting Beck and claim never to have heard him.

I guess you get your quotes second hand  -  which may explain why you talk about Obama's "deep seated antipathy" while the original Beck quote is "deep-seated hatred".

[Brahmsian]

What, is there a rule that says the President of the USA has to be Christian? 

What's the big deal if Obama is Muslim?

I would hope that in the 'land of the free', religion would not be an issue for who runs for President, and whether he/she is Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, etc.

Wake up America, for Pete's sake, it's time you join the rest of the World and not discriminate against people based on their religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

[Todd]

Wake up America, for Pete's sake, it's time you join the rest of the World and not discriminate against people based on their religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

Hmm, how many Western European countries have elevated a Muslim to be head of state or government?  How many Jews have achieved the same?  How about openly gay politicians?  Let's move on to Asia and ask the two latter questions, and ask the first in any country that's not majority Muslim.  Now let's consider South America and ask the same questions.  Then consider Africa.  I'm not sure I'd characterize any African country as overly tolerant by "world" standards.  Where is the "rest of the world" you refer to?  Your comment ignores reality in pretty much the entire world.

[Philoctetes]

http://www.euronews.net/2010/08/27/un-condemns-france-s-roma-expulsions/

[secondwind]

Hmm, how many Western European countries have elevated a Muslim to be head of state or government?  How many Jews have achieved the same?  How about openly gay politicians?  Let's move on to Asia and ask the two latter questions, and ask the first in any country that's not majority Muslim.  Now let's consider South America and ask the same questions.  Then consider Africa.  I'm not sure I'd characterize any African country as overly tolerant by "world" standards.  Where is the "rest of the world" you refer to?  Your comment ignores reality in pretty much the entire world.

Okay, I'll play.  Re openly gay politicians as head of government, see Iceland:

Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir[1] (pronounced [jouːhanːa ˈsɪːɣʏrðartouʰtɪr]), (born 4 October 1942), is the current Prime Minister of Iceland. A long term politician, she was previously Iceland's Minister of Social Affairs and Social Security from 1987–1994 and 2007–2009. She has been a member of the Althing (Iceland's parliament) for Reykjavík constituencies since 1978, winning re-election on eight successive occasions. She became Iceland's first female Prime Minister on 1 February 2009, the world's first openly LGBT head of government of the modern era.

from the Wikipedia article on Iceland

I agree with Brahmsian that none of these things (religion, race, gender, sexual orientation) should matter when choosing a national leader, especially in the US.

[Herman]

I would not consider Iceland = the rest of the world.

In an ideal world it would perhaps not matter what religion the prez has, but the US is clearly not even close to an ideal world.

However the facts are simple. Obama is a practising Christian, and yet the RW nuts keep suggesting he is a muslim, just to foment fear and hatred.

[secondwind]

The answer to Todd's question, "How many western European countries have elevated an openly gay politician to head of state or government?" is one, Iceland. In this regard, at least, Iceland is ahead of the rest of the world, and certainly ahead of the US. 

The success of the "RW nuts" in spreading lies and fomenting hate and fear makes me ashamed for my country.  Maybe I can retire to Iceland.  I'll have to check on their immigration policies.

[bwv 1080]

apparantly the numerous video clips of Obama sucking down a beer is not persuasive enough?

and a little Googling reveals that the man likes his pork ribs

[Todd]

The answer to Todd's question, "How many western European countries have elevated an openly gay politician to head of state or government?" is one, Iceland. In this regard, at least, Iceland is ahead of the rest of the world, and certainly ahead of the US. 

Yes, I am aware of Iceland, as are you, precisely because the situation is exceptional.  It is not common anywhere in the world.  I notice you did not answer the other questions.  (I would have expected you to mention Disraeli at least.)  Why is that?  I know why that is.  It's because European countries, and Asian countries, and African countries, and South American countries all have problems with racism, religious hatred/antagonism, and homophobia. 

When do you expect to see a black president of France or a Turkish PM of Germany or a Pakistani PM of the UK or gypsy president of Italy?  How about a Jewish head of government in any of those countries?  When will there be a Uyghur head of state in China?  How about any non-native Japanese woman heading up Japan?  You think any aboriginal person will be elected to lead Australia?  Perhaps an Untouchable in India?  It's rather easy to look at any country in the world and find both a history of prejudice and exclusion, and current examples of the same.

As to Iceland being ahead of the US, well, maybe, and only if you count the head of government.  There are over 200 openly gay politicians serving in the US, mostly at the state and local level.  Perhaps there will never be a gay president, perhaps there will, but they are hardly relegated to the sidelines.  I am curious, since I confess I don't know anything about local politics in other countries, how many openly gay politicians are there throughout Europe?  Just curious.  I'm interested in seeing if they are really making significant gains.  Then how about in Asia, Africa, and South America?  I'm very interested to see if there are big gains where the majority of humanity lives.

Let's look outside of politics, too.  It's pretty hard to say that religion is a barrier to success in business and the professions in the US.  Race and gender still are not handled in an exemplary fashion in the US, but the number of female CEOs and senior execs has been rising steadily over the past couple decades, and the same is starting to be true of minorities.  In the not too distant future people like Richard Parsons, Kenneth Chenault, Stan O'Neal (though he's probably not the best example in this day and age), and Roberto Goizueta will not be so exceptional in US companies.  Out of curiosity, how many large European companies are run by people who are from racial minorities?  I already know the answer for Japanese companies (one, Sony, which is run by a Brit, so it doesn't really even count). 

I'd like to see just how far behind the US really is in dealing with race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.  I need examples for that.

[Lethevich]

How about a Jewish head of government in any of those countries?

Be fair - the leader of the UK opposition a few years ago was of Jewish Romanian gypsy descent. The reason he was not elected were because his policies were stupid. I agree with your main point, but it's being overstated.

[Todd]

I agree with your main point, but it's being overstated.

Not really.  You came up with one additional example, on top of Disraeli, for the UK.  That hardly constitutes a huge number of potential Jewish heads of government in the UK.  Out of curiosity, when will there be a non-white, or Jewish, or Muslim head of state for the UK.  I think I know the answer.

Brahmsian did state earlier that "America, for Pete's sake, it's time you join the rest of the World and not discriminate against people based on their religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, etc," so I'm interested in learning just how non-discriminatory the "rest of the world" is.  I'd also like to know what "the rest of the world" is. 

[Lethevich]

I don't think Disraeli should count anyway, given that the argument was for "progressiveness" from a modern POV and he is from an entirely different time, but whatever - I have no intention of getting drawn into something so potentially time-consuming

[Florestan]

Obama is a practising Christian

What evidence is there for this assertion, other than typically self-serving  political hypocrisy? "Obama says he's a practising Christian so we'll take his words at face value".

Todd hit the nail of the matter on its head: the idea that US is somehow far behind the rest of the enlightened world regarding the interplay of religion, race and politics is preposterous. If anything, US is ahead the rest of the world in that Obama is half non-white.

[Novi]

You think any aboriginal person will be elected to lead Australia?

Not yet, but we do have a woman living in sin with a hairdresser!

[Brahmsian]

However the facts are simple. Obama is a practising Christian, and yet the RW nuts keep suggesting he is a muslim, just to foment fear and hatred.

The problem is not what the RW nuts say, the problem is that saying someone is Muslim would instill fear and hatred in the American people.

Would you welcome a Muslim family to move over next door to you and be your neighbour.  The answer is obviously yes, you would have no problem with that and wouldn't even give it a second thought.

If you answer no, then that is the problem, and you need to get over your prejudice of Muslim people, period.