A simple gesture

Beth Seidel, a factory worker in Cleveland who works the third shift so she can take her son to school and then to practices for the four sports he plays. Pausing recently at a Wal-Mart, she said: "Honestly, I don't know what to do. I really don't want to vote for McCain. You can tell he only cares about rich people. Sarah Palin wears glasses that cost $300. McCain's wife wears Gucci clothes. Which means they don't know anything about people like me." Into that stew of assumptions, she adds: "I hear that Obama's a Muslim. If he is a Muslim, that would be a problem, because the terrorists already attacked us."

Beth, he's not. In fact if you read a paper, watch the news, google, read his book at the bookstore or Wal-Mart, you may find out that Obama isn't a Muslim. But I wanted to talk about this blanket view of Muslims. It still gets me that people view every Muslim as terrorists. If I believed in the actions of a certain race, I would believe that white men were serial killers/rapists, Native Americans had magical powers, and Latinos danced all day. Ridiculous? Yes.

It's time to think critically. Beth's issue is small but very serious. The answers for her questions are there, on paper, on the screen, in plain sight. The simplest thing to do, is to get up, get out, and find out. If you want to know about Obama's background, read about it. It's there, plain and simple.


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