Being identified as Muslim should not be a smear
Which is why, really, I was so disappointed to see that on the Obama campaign’s new website, Fight the Smears, he includes this “smear” and his defense against it:
(insidious “The Smear” image on the side)Barack Obama is a Muslim
LIE: Barack Obama is a Muslim
LIE: Barack Obama attended a radical madrassa
LIE: Senator Obama was sworn into the US Senate using the Koran(blue glowy Obama-esque “The Truth” image) Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian
While I agree that it’s a vicious tactic that conservatives (and many ignorant liberals/Democrats) are using when they use “Muslim” as a smear, a threat of un-Americanness, I think it’s perhaps even more disappointing that the Democratic candidate feels the need to “prove” he’s not a Muslim, that he himself lists being Muslim as a “smear.” What the heck? Whatever happened to true progressives not propagating Islamophobia, but fighting it? I’ve supported Obama for a while now, but this is really disappointing. Eric at Grave Error sums up the situation pretty well:
He should have said, “No, I am not a Muslim, but even if I were, this is the United States of America where it is not illegal to be a Muslim, just as it is not illegal to be Jewish, Christian, Hindu, or atheist. We cannot afford to lose our most precious values lest we risk reducing ourselves into an intolerant totalitarian nation.”
Honestly, how can we be so politically correct and politically careful all the time about every other class of people and on every issue, yet such raging Islamophobia gets a free pass?
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The criticisms of my students would serve as a good warning to visitors of Seeworthy: she talks too fast, she's too hard on us, she assigns too much work, and you have to be a dyke to get a good grade.
In other words, I'm a big, fat, queer, feminist meanie, and I am totally out to get you. Graaagh!
I don’t know what’s worse: the assumption by Republicans that Americans are but mere sheep who will react in terror at the slightest bit of terrorist fear-mongering, or the fact that so many of them do.
Sheana,
Thanks for linking to my post on the matter. I had just returned from meeting my girlfriend’s family in Morocco. Obama served as an easy ice-breaker and conversational center piece. They are really excited about Obama, not because he may be a closet Muslim or because his middle name is Hussein, but because they are hoping that with Obama the U.S. will lose some of its perceived arrogance. When asked what were some of the arguments used against Obama, was I supposed to explain that the U.S. hates Muslims and some people are trying to turn him into one?
How can I ask them to open their world to me and accept me, if mine is so blatantly hateful towards theirs?
I do not see why a positive affirmation is required on the part of Obama. He clearly stated who is and that should be enough. When someone calls you something that you are not regardless of the label it is a smear campaign.