What, A Muslim Can’t Be President?
Posted by Mitch Mitchell on Oct 20, 2008
A few days ago, I wrote on Twitter and asked a question that has been bothering me for weeks. That question is, if Obama was a Muslim, why would that automatically disqualify him in the eyes of some people. I also added the second question, which is why people who are saying that don't see themselves as racist.
I've been fairly non political this year because the one thing that's a waste of time is getting into political discussions when people have already made up their minds. Sure, every once in awhile you can possibly tell a person something that may make them question some things, but rarely do they change their minds. I know who I'm voting for, and that's pretty much that. However, I also mentioned a couple of posts ago that I will point out something that bothers me during the campaign, and this is one of those issues.
So, you can't imagine how happy I was when Colin Powell was on Meet The Press on Sunday morning and said the same exact thing I did, and told the story of one young man whose father was killed in the 9/11 attacks in 2001, and how he waited until he was old enough so he could join the military and go to fight for America against terrorism.
Muslims get a bad rap in this day and time, and yes, there are a lot of acts committed by Muslims. However, basically it's the same Muslims over and over. This isn't endemic to the population; after all, Timothy McVeigh certainly wasn't a Muslim when he bombed the Federal Building, and all those hijackings of airplanes that occurred in the 70's weren't by Muslims. The IRA bombings in England also weren't carried out by Muslims. That, plus the estimate that there are close to 1.61 billion Muslims around the world, should pretty much show that the percentage of Muslims committing acts of violence are fairly low.
Of course, one can find almost anything on the web, so I was gratified to see a Republican supporter of McCain get his comeuppance by a large group of other McCain supporters, many of whom were also McCain supporters. What do you know; some Muslims are actually supporting McCain, even with all the inferences. Below is that encounter; enjoy.
I understand that the Muslims that cause all the problems in the world are a minority, what I don’t understand is why they are not condemned by the Muslim majority?
Sire´s last blog post..Commenting Etiquette Is Important
I actually understand this one, Sire. In America, black people are very hesitant as a whole to call out bad black behavior. Overall, we’d like to keep it internal, to project an image of solidarity. Because the same thing happens to blacks that happens to Muslims; the majority get lumped in with the few that cause problems, and then we’re left defending ourselves for someone else’s behavior.
But Muslims aren’t all blacks and not all blacks are Muslims. Also it’s not just in America, it’s all over the world. We had an incidence here awhile back where a girl was raped by a Muslim and some Muslim cleric defended the action saying that she brought it on herself or some other such crap. There was quite a commotion about it all but not amongst the Muslims.
Sire´s last blog post..Commenting Etiquette Is Important
No, I’m making a point by using a comparison. I’m saying that I can understand why Muslims might act like they do in keeping quiet because black people in America do the same thing. Internally, we’ll gripe like crazy; externally, sometimes we stay quiet. For some assistance on this particular topic, look up Bill Cosby speaking out on Google, and you’ll get an idea of what goes on here.
Sorry Mitch, once again I have misunderstood your point…banging head on wall….Hopefully I will get it right next time.
Sire´s last blog post..Commenting Etiquette Is Important
That’s okay, Sire. Sometimes the concepts are hard to understand if you’ve not been a part of them.
Thanks Mitch, it was good to see them call out that idiot.
You’ve raised a very good question. Even though I was 10 years old in 1960 I remember all the talk about Kennedy possibly not being elected because he was Roman Catholic and as a Catholic I wondered why? Amazing how far we’ve come as a nation. I prefer to focus on the good, even though there is a way to go.
Tom Volkar / Delightful Work´s last blog post..Leveraging Community
We definitely have come a long way, and it’s unfortunate that we still have so far to go. It was good finally seeing someone call one of these idiots on his bad behavior.
Hi there Mitch
We have a fair amount of intolerance to Muslims here in Melbourne, Australia too, unfortunately. Sigh. Good luck with the election.
Robin´s last blog post..Emotional Balance
Thanks Robin. The election will be what it will be; the Muslim issue will still be here a long time after the elections, I’m afraid. One day a true dialogue will open up; I hope I’m still around for it.