I was visiting my elderly parents the other day when the caregiver who looks after them a couple of days a week tried to engage me in a political conversation.
This is a woman, born in France but now a U.S. citizen, who considers herself a conservative. "I sure hope that Barack Obama doesn't get elected," she said. Being an Obama supporter I asked why she felt that way. "Because he's a Muslim," she said.
Now I was in a real bind. The last thing in the world I wanted to do was get in an argument with my parents' caregiver, but as a citizen I didn't want to remain silent when a voter held an obviously erroneous belief, based on a rumor by disreputable people, about a presidential candidate.
So I simply said "He's not a Muslim, he's a Christian, but his opponents are trying to get people to believe this about him even though they know it's false."
She continued: "He was born in a Muslim country, his father was a Muslim and he went to a Muslim school."
I replied: "If he was born in another country he could not run for president. He was born in Hawaii, and yes his father may have at one time been a Muslim, though I believe he was really an atheist, and besides his father left the family when Barack was two years old. He was raised by his mother and maternal grandparents and he did go to a foreign school for a year or so when he lived out of the country, but it was not a religious school."
"Well, he's black and a lot of blacks are becoming Muslim, so he might become a Muslim, so I don't think he should be president."
At that point all logic had gone out the window, so I encouraged her to listen to some of his speeches from beginning to end and then see what she thought of him. She admitted she had not listened to any speeches.
I don't imagine she will take my advice. She's a busy woman who has to work to support herself and her family and she is caring for an ill son. She is, like so many Americans, so caught up just trying to survive that all she has time for, in terms of educating herself about the upcoming presidential election, is to watch a few minutes of FOX news or listen to a talk radio nut. These outlets make it easy for good people like this caregiver to be misinformed and to accept what they are told because it matches their own prejudices. This particular woman is probably already primed to be anti-Muslim because there are problems in France associated with the large numbers of Muslim immigrants, and because she still has fears related to 9/11.
Vicious emails have been circulating on the internet for months now, accusing Obama of being a "secret Muslim" and of having been educated in a Madrasa, neither of which is true. These have been sent out by both Republicans and Democrats. Yesterday, an Ohio radical wing nut radio host introduced John McCain by continually talking about his potential opponent, "Barack Hussein Obama." The repeated use of his middle name is obviously an attempt to cause people to make mental connections between Barack and the former dictator of Iraq and thus fuel the rumor that he is a Muslim and/or a terrorist. McCain disavowed the comments, but the damage was done. The clip of the radio host's rant has been shown on television over and over again, as has a picture that the Clinton campaign has been accused of circulating, of Obama trying on a tribal costume in Somalia (taken two years ago).
With no context provided, the picture becomes a visual confirmation of what many, including my parents' caregiver believes. Even someone who should be educated and should know the context of the picture, someone like Ohio Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones, can muddy the waters when she provides false information. On television yesterday, Clinton supporter Jones, trying to downplay the importance of the picture and the accusation that it was released by the Clinton campaign, said Obama should not be ashamed of the fact that he was wearing a costume from his "native Somalia."
Jones, an African American, should know full well that Barack's native land is the United States, not Somalia. As an elected Congresswoman she should know that had Obama been born in Somalia, he could not be running for president. She should also know that the only connection Obama has to Africa is that his biological father was born in Kenya, not Somalia.
How on earth do we have a legitimate election, with a fully informed electorate, when shills for politicians lie, distort, and fuel prejudice and misinformation just so their candidate can win?
