Hussein! Terrorist! Kill him! Off with his head!

I have been attempting to steer away from the political chaos that has ensued for the past three months or so. It has gone far beyond “normal” bickering, but has reached the level where some people are actually screaming “kill him!” in reference to their opponent. When a nation goes that far with their hatred, unbridled nationalism, and a total disdain for their opponent that they will shout things like “off with his head!”, it is not a stretch of the imagination that someone might actually attempt to do that. You will say, “Matthew Muhammad, it’s just talk. Don’t be so paranoid about these thing. This is the politics way. People get out of hand, say many unforgivable things, and when the storm clears we all remind each other that we didn’t really mean any of it, and then we meet for a dysfunctional Thanksgiving dinner where all of the supposed reconciliation melts away and the shouting goes on throughout the night while Uncle Dave is drunk and confiding in you that he never really loved his wife!“

I will condede to that challenge to a certain degree. The “politics way” is as you describe, however there comes a time where you have to stand up against something that is totally out of line, no matter if it is the “politics way” or not. Shouting “kill him!”, or “off with his head!” in referring to Barack Obama is indefensible. Calling for the death of your political opponents in public is the first step in building a culture of hate, violence, fear of dissent, and ultimately the curtailment of all human rights. I was glad that John McCain took the microphone away from that old woman when she said she didn’t trust Obama because he was an “arab.” But in his refutation he said, “No Ma’am. He’s a decent family man and citizen whom I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues”, which begs the question: Is it impossible to be an Arab and a decent family man and citizen? You know what, I’m going to give John McCain the benefit of doubt here. I will assume he was flustered and had to do something quick to put out the fire he caused in the first place, and it was the first thing that came out of his mouth. “No Ma’am. He’s a decent family man and citizen…”

You might wonder, “Matthew Muhammad, you sound like a biased democrat. Why are you spending so much time talking about McCain?” The truth is, I am not a democrat. I don’t belong to an existing political party. And I am still not sold on Barack Obama as per his policies. Like Joe Biden, he vows to be a strong supporter of Israel, which is required to even have a chance at being President of the U.S. While I don’t have an issue with the existence of Israel as a nation, because it is done and can not be reversed by “righting the wrongs”, I believe the willful ignorance of the suffering of the Palestinian people on the part of the candidates has made me cynical of the whole process. Sure, it would be cool to see the day of the first African-American to be sworn into office. Sure, that would produce a “change” into the psychology of many of the nation’s people. But if a person is not willing to even stand up and say “I have a problem with the refugee camps you placed these people in”, then is that really “change?”

That said, I have never heard anyone from Obama’s or Biden’s rallies shouting “kill him!”, “off with his head!”, and his middle-name (as if his middle-name has any inherent ‘evil’ quality about it) in reference to John McCain. Fun tid bit of information. The Jewish Rabbi’s name, who became a Muslim in the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad was Husayn, before he changed it to Abdullah. And since “antisemitism is gone” (yeah, right) in America, no one should have a problem with that name since it once belonged to a Jew. John McCain asks Barack Obama why he would not repudiate what some random guy said about John McCain being like George Wallace in the 1960’s, but he won’t repudiate the bigoted and prejudiced things that are said by his supporters at his and his vice-president candidate’s own rallies! So, Barack Obama has to repudiate the remark of some unaffiliated person who makes a slight against John McCain, but John McCain doesn’t have to do comply with the same gesture with people attending his (or his VPC’s) very own rallies…..That doesn’t make sense.

Governor Palin vs. Senator Biden

I just watched the debate between Governor Sarah Palin and Senator Joe Biden, and thought Sarah Palin was a good debator. Many people in the media had recently sunk their claws into her, insinuated she was stupid and dumb, but she could hold the debate well. I give her credit for that. I don’t think she is qualified to be vice President (or President), and I oppose much of her ideological worldviews. But I don’t think she is stupid, and I feel people should intellectualize beyond knee-jerk reactions and common insults when it comes to judging a politician. I agree with the idea of being a ‘maverick’, but I don’t think she or Senator John McCain can rightly claim that title (nor anyone for that matter.) I also tend to take these kinds of debates with a grain of salt, because both people accuse their opponent with such and such and the opponent responds ‘that’s not true, this is what really happened.’ Then they accuse their opponent who just accused them of something, of doing such and such and the same thing is said all over again (I.E. “that’s not true, this is what really happened.”)

That doesn’t mean I think ‘all ideas are equal’ or all political ideologies are equal. I just tend to try to not be completely partisan when it comes to politics. I might be considered a Democrat by some people, but my political ideas range from all over the place really. I agree with some tenets of communism, socialism, republicanism, parliamentarian democracy, free-market capitalism, etc. But I don’t follow just one school of thought down to the letter. I’m also not ‘officially’ a Muslim, although I identify with that tradition very much. I just don’t introduce myself as a Muslim to everyone I meet, mainly so I can have the freedom to decide what I really believe about things instead of feeling like I have to play some PR role and ‘defend’ my faith, and become an apologist instead of seeking the truth. I tend to go off subject and ramble a lot. It’s part of my ’style’, if being unorganized is called a ’style.’