Colin Powell’s endorsement of Obama was important, but perhaps not as significant as his defense of American Muslims.
This is where I break with the more dogmatic of my atheist sistren and brethren. While I believe that institutional religion is a net negative in its impact on society, religious labels shouldn’t be used as slurs and epithets. Doing so demonstrates a lack of nuanced understanding or at least a willful ignorance of the spectrum of religious belief and reinforces the worst stereotypes. “Muslim” should be no less a curse word than “Baptist” or “atheist.” I’m glad that some people are standing up to the small-mindedness encouraged in the current political climate, as in this video of a confrontation between a man selling bumper stickers (that imply that Obama is a Muslim and a Communist) and some Muslim McCain supporters. [Update: I got rid of the embedded video because it kept playing automatically when the page loaded.]
4 responses so far ↓
1 Isaac // Oct 22, 2008 at 7:58 am
Here, here.
2 Craig // Oct 22, 2008 at 10:07 am
I agree completely. The senseless hatred in this country of Muslims really makes me sad.
3 xJane // Oct 22, 2008 at 10:24 am
Wow, that’s pretty stunning. I’m impressed that he was run out by McCain supporters—maybe they don’t hate America (like they keep saying about Obama supporters). I’m also intrigued by the inability to answer questions about “proof” or what their intent was. The woman visibly wracked her brain for an answer before saying that she didn’t want to talk to “the media” because of how they distort things.
4 Lessie // Oct 22, 2008 at 6:12 pm
The opinions page editor at the paper put Powell’s quote in the biggest spot on the page. I’m not a huge fan of religion myself, but when people would use “he’s a Muslim” as if it were any worse than their Christianity, it always galled me. It was so refreshing to see someone at the top say out loud that such a thing shouldn’t matter in America.
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