Wednesday, November 18, 2009

No, Jim, Obama is not a Muslim Terrorist

An open letter to my cousin...

Dear Jim,

I'm sorry, but I have to ask you to take me off of your mailing list. While I respect family, and enjoy a lively discussion, your recent emails are too much.

I put up with any number of times when you called my beliefs "unAmerican" or "unpatriotic." But this latest disrespectful video propaganda, which accuses the duly elected President of the United States of being a Muslim and traitor, goes beyond civilized discussion. It's hate speech, it's unpatriotic and disrespectful to both the President himself and the office of President, and it shows a remarkable ignorance of the plain facts.

It's sad that American conservatives have stooped to this low form of dialog. Rather than discussing policy, conservatives use character assassination. Rather than bipartisanship, conservatives have become obstructionists, even at the cost of hurting the American people. At every turn, conservatives are blocking progress, shouting "The sky is falling!", and throwing mud on everyone in sight.

Never forget, Jim, that every single problem that Obama is trying to fix was created by a Republican President. Two unfunded wars that will force huge increases in taxes, attacking Iraq while ignoring the nuclear programs in North Korea, Iran and Pakistan, letting the Talilban slip away from Afghanistan because Bush's oil friends needed Iraq ... the list goes on and on.

And since it was the "He's a Muslim" video that finally prompted me to write this letter, let's talk about that.

First, what if Obama is Muslim? All of those things he says in the video excerpts about the accomplishments of Islam and Muslims are true. Maybe you didn't read your history, but I did. The Muslims did, in fact, preserve much of civilization's knowledge through the Middle Ages, when the Christians were trying to snuff it out. The Dark Ages were a Christian creation. Algebra was invented by Muslims. Astronomy, philosophy, medicine ... Islamic scholars were way ahead of Christians during the Middle Ages. And all those other compliments Obama paid to Muslim history, they're actually true.

Why is that so hard for you to accept?

Second, where do you get the idea that the President can only be a Christian? Every American has the right to be part of our government, it's right there in the Constitution. If you were in the United States Navy, didn't you swear to defend that very same Constitution? Didn't you ever learn what's in the Constitution?

Third, I find it very ironic that while some conservatives accuse Obama of being Muslim, others accuse him of being an Atheist. Which is it? He can't be both, but I guess to a evangelical Christian, Muslims and Atheists are about the same. Still, it would be nice if you guys could coordinate your fabricated stories.

And finally, Obama is, in fact, a Christian. If you'd taken the time to watch the original videos of Obama's speeches, as I did, you'd see that he never once claimed to be Muslim. That hack piece of video propaganda you sent cut him off in mid-sentence many times, a stupid propaganda trick that any fool can see through. It's just plain dishonest.

I know you're sincere in your love for America, and I want you to know that I am too. But I consider your emails to be unAmerican. To be a true American, you have to accept that this is the land of freedom, the land where we respect one another's beliefs, and the land where our President is everyone's President. I didn't like George W. Bush, but I never once accused him of being unpatriotic, nor did I ever disrespect the office of the President. Obama was elected in an honest and fair election. Your side lost. Have some respect for your fellow Americans and take the loss gracefully.

When you sent that video, you wrote, "If you do not like this, don't let me know because it will cause me to question your patriotism to the United States of America and as a US Navy Veteran, that offends me more than you will ever know." Well, too bad, Jim. It goes both ways. Your right-wing unAmerican propaganda offends me more than you will ever understand. Family harmony has kept me silent, but no more.

I enjoyed some of the stuff you sent, especially good, fun jokes and stories. But I just can't ignore your intolerance and hate mail any more. So I hope you'll remove me from your mailing list. Thanks.

Your cousin,
Craig

P.S. By the way, you were wrong about this picture, too. You called our President a "PIECE OF ANIMAL EXCREMENT" because he was being disrespectful to the veterans by not saluting. In fact, the President is not supposed to salute. He's a civilian, and only those in the armed forces are supposed to salute. The man with his hand over his heart was the one making the mistake, that gesture is for the Pledge. In fact, Obama is showing his respect correctly, by standing and bowing his head, as all civilians should. The President may be the Commander in Chief, but he is not in the military. That's one of the most unique things about our country, that our armed forces are headed by a civilian. So please don't call your President "ANIMAL EXCREMENT" when you haven't even checked the facts. Something smells like excrement here, but it's not the President.

6 comments:

  1. rarely comment on blogs, but in this case the depth of your cousin's deliberate ignorance, blind hatred, and decision to disseminate pieced-together, silly propaganda is absolutiely inspirational!

    Equating all Muslims with Terrorists who happen to be Muslims is like equating all Christians with the members of the Ku Klux Klan! I am relatively certain that a piece of garbage comparable to this ridiculous, contrived video could be manufactured to depict Ku Klux Klan members as being representative of the Christian community, when nothing could be further from the truth.

    Additionally, calling President Obama a Muslim is NOT an insult, but it's just factually incorrect.

    Your cousin is mooning the world with this video and thinking that in so doing he is offering his audience a gift....when what he is really doing is showing his own bare ass in an offensive, albeit somewhat laughable, attempt to garner approval.

    Thank you for exposing his ignorance.

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  2. Anon, thanks for your comments. I like the analogy to a Christian/KKK link, which would be equally offensive.

    Just to be clear, my cousin did not make this video, he just forwarded the link to me.

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  3. I believe that Obama was just arriving on stage and the other people were saluting his arrival. http://bit.ly/6xucWK

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  4. Aside from the fact that I agree with most of what you say ... I disagree with Obama when he praises medieval Muslims.

    Have you ever heard someone referring to Newton as "that great christian scientist"?

    Or how Archimedes was a great pagan or whatever?

    How the confucians invented paper and paper money?

    I find it funny how he gets away with giving faint praise to "Muslims". Frankly I can convert to islam tomorrow, and can start feeling proud of "my" Islamic heritage.

    PS that was me commenting "clock". that was the captcha :P

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  5. vrix – An interesting point, but I'm not sure I agree. The reason we say "Islamic scholars" and not "Christian scholars" (or scientists, astronomers, etc.) is because ours has been a Christian-dominated society for a very long time, and it was understood that virtually everyone was Christian (or at least pretended to be), so we didn't need to say it. One would presume that in Islamic society, the reverse would be true.

    And, unlike you, I do give Islam (at least the Islam of the Middle Ages) credit for fostering intellectual discoveries. Islam and Judaism both had a strong cultural memeplex that fostered and encouraged research and discovery, at a time when the Christian world was doing just the opposite.

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