McCain supporter: "I can't trust Obama. I have read about him, and he's not, he's not, he's, uh, um, he's an Arab."
McCain: "No ma'am, no ma'am, he's a decent family man citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on, on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about."
We've all read about this exchange since it happened a couple weeks ago, but a conversation in the ARC yesterday made me reflect that I should post about it from the vantage point of Qatar.
I'm glad McCain confronted this ignorant woman and tried to set a respectful tone, even if his other actions (both before and since) give the lie to this supposed respect. But think about that exchange from the point of an Arab American, or an Arab here in the Middle East:
"He's an Arab."On what planet is "decent family man citizen" (let's pretend that really is a noun) an antonym for "Arab"? What does it tell us about McCain that he thinks that the statement "he's a decent man" is a cogent counterargument to the statement "he's an Arab"?
"No ma'am, no ma'am, he's a decent family man citizen."
I am saddened by the picture of the U.S. that emerges from this election. I'm sad that our students hear the ignorance of Americans claiming Obama's an Arab and/or a Muslim, but even more sad that they hear the fear those claims engender. I'm sad they hear the candidates denying the veracity of those claims without addressing the underlying fear. I'm embarrassed that my African coworker has to learn what the Bradley effect is, and has to read quotes from Pennsylvania voters calling Obama a nigger.
As Colin Powell just said, "Those kinds of images going out on al Jazeera are killing us around the world." It's not a metaphor. Since 9/11 the U.S. seems to be doing everything it possibly can to convince people around the world that we hate and fear those with different skin color and religious beliefs. It makes me ashamed of America. And it makes us not just less respected in the world, but less safe as well.
I'll close on a more positive note, with more of Colin Powell's words as he endorsed Obama:
I’m also troubled by what members of the party say, and is permitted to be said, such things as, 'Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well, the correct answer is, 'He is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian, he’s always been a Christian.'
But the really right answer is, 'What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?'
The answer’s 'No, that’s not America.'"
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Comments
i sort of wonder (from a vaguely devil's advocate standpoint) if having a muslim president would work out so well, just on the basis of the majority of americans not being able to identify with the associated culture, and from the other side, the president's potential lack of ability to understand the motives and values of the average middle class white protestant. like, i'm just trying to see this for a minute from the perspective of someone who does not want a muslim president, and see if i can make any sense of it other than the simple-minded desire to have one's leader hold (and further the cause of) one's own beliefs.
the u.s. certainly could afford a wider perspective and appreciation for other religions and cultures, and having a president who represents such things may or may not be an effective way to engender that. i dunno. (of course, by the time such a president could get elected, one might say we've already won.)
Edited at 2008-10-21 05:09 pm (UTC)
I think all the things you're saying are true; I also think they were all said about having a Catholic president back in the 60s, and now that's a bit of a yawn.
We are the USA: our dirty laundry isn't supposed to be hidden. We even invented the internet so the whole world could smell it the second it's exposed.
A couple of months ago I took a friend from Iran to see the historic ships in Baltimore Harbor. It turned out one of them was named after Supreme Court Justice Taney! I asked the guy at the front if it was him, and he confirmed that it was, but they don't like to advertise it since they don't like him.
When we went for coffee afterwards, I told my friend the story of the Dred Scott decision, and expressed my shock that a ship in the 1930s would be named for him. Then I asked him, "So in Iranian history, who were some of the guys you really don't like?"
"Boy," he said, "there were a lot of them." And he named a few.
I bet your African coworker knows a lot more about things LIKE the Bradley effect than you and I ever will. Did (s)he really judge America that harshly on hearing that some of us are racist? It's not exactly news. And I'm sad for your Arab friends, hearing how much "we" seem to fear them. While you're on the subject, you might point out that Israelis all live with the knowledge that some day, Arab armies may march in and kill them all. Yet Arabs also serve in the Israeli Knesset.
I have too many thoughts on this, too badly organized. Later.
Realistically? No. Israel's military is so strong that it can take on all its neighbors and win, and indeed has done so in the past. (Which is not to say there aren't people in the Arab world and elsewhere who mean it harm.)
Israel's military strength is very expensive: about 7% of GDP goes for defense, with conscription for both men and women (3 years for men). Most Israelis hate their military service. Their condition of not-really-peace discourages investment and immigration and has caused a lot of younger Israelis to leave. Now they even have to worry about Iranian nukes--one of the factors that could lead to their ultimate destruction.
It is a sad aspect of human nature that it is always so much easier to gain popular (and political) support, by being a rabble rouser, rather than supporting the moderates who want to work together. Moderates stay at home, simply living their lives, while extremists get "free media attention". Just look at all the effort Obama has to put in to refute the patently false nastiness coming out of McCain's campaign...
An Arab Family Man