Patriotism and the Anonymous E-Mail

Image Credit: Mark Halperin, The Page

Thomas Jefferson said "Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government." For as much hope that I place in our political system, sometimes, I wonder if we are sophisticated enough to operate it well.

Some time ago, my partner Rob received this e-mail through a member of his extended family:

Obama's Own Words

It’s Very, Very important that you are aware of the following. If you don’t believe it, buy Obama’s book or go to your local library and see if they have it to loan.

Subject: Obama's Own Words


This guy wants to be our President and control our government. Pay close attention to the last comment!! Below are a few lines from Obama's books ' his words:

From Dreams of My Father: 'I ceased to advertise my mother's race at the age of 12 or 13, when I began to suspect that by doing so I was ingratiating myself to whites.'

From Dreams of My Father: 'I found a solace in nursing a pervasive sense of grievance and animosity against my mothers race.'

From Dreams of My Father: 'There was something about him that made me wary, a little too sure of himself, maybe. And white.'

From Dreams of My Father: 'It remained necessary to prove which side you were on, to show your loyalty to the black masses, to strike out and name names.'

From Dreams of My Father: 'I never emulate white men and brown men whose fates didn't speak to my own. It was into my father's image, the black man, son of Africa , that I'd packed all the attributes I sought in myself, the attributes of Martin and Malcolm, DuBois and Mandela.'

From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.'

If you ever forwarded an e-mail, now is the time to do it again.

This e-mail and other similar canards disputing Obama's faith, patriotism, and even his birthplace have made their way around the Internet, and in some cases into my inbox as well. Incidentally, one of the above quotes was a fabrication, and the others are taken way out of context. For the Obama campaign's response, read here. As a result, there are persistent rumors afoot that Obama is a Muslim Manchurian candidate who refuses to wear a flag pin and say the pledge of allegiance, and who has a loud-mouthed (Christian) preacher. Don't think too hard about the contradiction of a Muslim with a preacher problem...humans have difficulty holding two contrasting ideas simultaneously!

Few things upset me more about American politics than the fact that we are, in general, very ignorant when it comes to politics and statecraft. As a result, our politicians pander, our political debates are watered-down affairs, we hone in on symbols at the expense of substance, and we fall victim to darker impulses - exploiting certain classes of people (gays and lesbians, immigrants, Muslims, the military) as wedge issues, voting our fears instead of our hopes and allowing dark prejudices to seep into our public discourse.

If you take all these sad conditions and package them into an anonymous e-mail, especially under the guise of patriotism and defense of the American Way, you are evil, and you are certainly no patriot. You play on the fears and naiveté of an ill-informed public.

If you read and accept these e-mails, even if they come from a trusted source, without scrutinizing or researching the information, then you are doing yourself a disservice and you need to pick up a civics text, or read some source material on the web. If you believe these anonymous e-mails wholeheartedly and pass them along, you may well be a concerned citizen, but you're certainly not a well-informed one.

This type of campaign is so pernicious because it undermines the founding principles of our republic: that factions can sit down in a forum and peacefully debate issues, balancing enlightened self interest with the greater good of the community. To attempt to win or lose an election on unverified challenges to one's patriotism, religion, or honor is a shame and a farce. Do we really want to be like Zimbabwe?

I know it's easier to capture peoples' attention with the meaningless twaddle that fills our inboxes, but, damn it, we have important issues to hash out, including energy, health care, jobs, civil liberties, executive branch powers, and our role in the world. John McCain and Barack Obama have statements and proposals on each of these issues, and we owe it to the candidates to assess them on their merits. I'm not voting for my favorite new hit single, a dinner companion, or the new color of M&M. I'm voting for the President of the United States. So are you. So maybe we should start to act like this thing matters, because it does. Talking about flag pins and resorting to our basest nature by challenging a candidate's religion (and turning Islam into an epithet in the process) is wretched, corrosive to our democracy, and frankly a waste of time. The candidates deserve better, and so do the voters.