Lessons of Mistakes

Perhaps it is the internet with its tremendous capability of communicating information widely in an instance. I frequently received emails that purport to provide a huge number of facts about the background of President Obama. Almost all that I have seen have concerned Obama's roots in Islam, his ties to socialism, to radical political figures, to extreme religious views, to extreme everything. It is disgusting. I have never seen a public figure appear to raise such antagonistic fervor as Obama.

I received an email from a friend with a huge listing of supposed facts that show Obama to be all of the above. One fact even mentioned something about the anti-Christ. I currently live in the South and I start to wonder if what I am seeing is due to the racial bias that exists in the South. However, the friend who sent me the email is from the north and I have no idea where the email originated from.

I scanned the email and immediately became incensed with the language of the writer. It is apparent that the sentences were calculated to create a hostile reaction to Mr. Obama. It is also apparent that the so called "facts" were statements taken out of context, were statements made on supposition with no accredited references, and some were just obvious fabrications.

One statement told of Mrs. Obama's Senior Thesis at Princeton being restricted and not given out to the press. The way the sentence was written made one think there were things in the article that would support the idea that the Obama's are not what they present themselves to be. It turns out to be true, the thesis was restricted - by Princeton. The Obama campaign made a copy of the thesis available to the press. After that action Princeton opened up access. The few remarks I read from the thesis show a very smart, intellectually astute woman writing about how white institutions like Princeton alter the ideals of black students. No shit!

Any public official is open to vilification. They are sitting ducks. Take a course on Central American politics like I did you might become a radical subversive. Take a course on the great religions of the world and you might become sympathetic to Islam or Buddha. Go to a school that has a course on the Qur'an and you become a terrorist.

What President Obama appears to have done is responded to growing up like a kid. He appears to have thoughtfully studied many subjects to learn. His values are no more rooted in extremism than mine.

The people that write the trash I've seen come in my emails are stupid. They are narrow minded bigots who are intellectually dysfunctional. They lack the imagination of a slug. They are probably control freaks who are challenged by diversity and the open discussion that intelligence can create. The people who pass along this information as factual fall into the same category as the people I mentioned above. Imbeciles all!