What's wrong in America?

Something unhealthy is happening in the United States presidential election campaign. Smears and lies are being circulated, which is not new, but these latest ones are arrogant and display a new level of bigotry.

The Kerry campaign had the “Swift Boat” smears to contend with, dirty, but still considered fair play by most of the mainstream media. United States politics have a long history of mud slinging.

The Internet is a medium, which gives psychologically a sense of anonymity. Child pornography is an example where perverts feel they are in a private sphere, no other human is involved, just them and their computer in a “virtual” fantasy world. To a certain degree, this applies to the latest spreading of rumours. The traditional media are careful of overstepping the line into libel, as they are anchored in the real world, with real lawyers and real courts demanding real money for libellous statements.

E-mailing and blogging tend to give many individuals the sense that anything goes and there is no accountability, and therefore no constraint. The original source of the e-mails smears is most likely lost in a smoke-screen cloud of electrons zooming around the Web. As the e-mail dirt fans out the next level is reached where the feeling of safety in numbers cancels out any restraint.

This is even influencing the mainstream media, who now report these turdballs with the caveat that this is from e-mails circulating on the Internet. These “newsmen” like Rush Limbaugh abuse their position. On the linked site there is a classic case of the “newsman” manipulating the talk to insinuate what he does not clearly state; skating on libel’s thin ice. Even mainstream media like the Washington Post bring the subject up.

This out of control smear campaign has reached a new low. Saying that Michelle Obama uttered the word “whitey” once in 2004 is both pathetic and hypocritical. Is it unreasonable to suspect that many of those who gleefully spread this untrue “whitey” rumour use the “N-word” themselves? But lower than that is the concept of a Muslim being evil. That is the implication of saying Barack Obama was a Muslim.

The United States likes to be bigger and better in everything. That should be a laudable desire, however now it seems the “biggest and best” of the United States is bigotry.
NOTE: Apologies for that generalisation to the millions of rational sane and sensitive citizens of the once great United States.

Barack Obama is pressed by this bigotry to be between a rock and a hard place while being stoned.

He made a statement on the 3^rd of June which may finally lift the United States to a level where it can once again be respected by the world: “What you won't hear from this campaign or this party is the kind of politics that uses religion as a wedge, and patriotism as a bludgeon - that sees our opponents not as competitors to challenge, but enemies to demonize.”

He really appears to be the candidate for change, not only speaking on subjects other politicians avoid, like racism, but in confronting the lies from the rumour mill head on with a website that addresses the issues.

The arrogance and insensitivity of using a respected religion with over a billion followers, as a negative connotation and as a means of besmirching a candidate is astounding. Islam is as varied as Christianity. What is troubling is the lack of ability to understand or respect another worldview, or opinion. This is called paradigm blindness and is the base of xenophobic fear, or bigotry.

The late Senator Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” Reading Internet content with a naively uncritical approach tends to blur fact and fantasy.

When will the United States join the world as fellow co-inhabitants of the Earth?