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HappySqurriel on 10 October 2008
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akuma587 said:
HappySqurriel said:

One thing to consider is I don't think I have ever seen a single individual who had nearly as many associations with extremists and radicals as Barack Obama who has had a successful political career. Many people will see these associations in blogs and youtube videos, and follow up doing some research and seeing that these articles and videos are factually sound, and start to accept any conclusions that were made.

The reality is that a lot of these outbursts are a direct result of the media not doing its job, not giving people balanced coverage of the election, and therefore giving propagandists hard facts to present to people to convert them to their viewpoint. The most dangerous propaganda is based on unspoken truths ...

Have you seen how freaking insane a small but visible portion of Christians are in the US?  Those people are as radical or more radical than anyone Obama has associated with. 

1) Reverend Wright is pointed out because = Black

2) William Ayers is pointed out because = accused of (key word here) terrorism not to mention he is in academia.  Republicans hate people in academia on principle.

If you are white and have never been accused of any crimes, it doesn't matter how insane and extreme your beliefs actually are.  It just matters that your extremity is something Americans are used to, even if they shouldn't be.

And just because you are "patriotic" doesn't make you sane.  The Russians have always been patriotic, terrorists are patriotic, hell even Hitler was patriotic.  As Samuel Johnson so tersely put it, "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

Outside of the whole Reverend Wright thing, sometimes it is patriotic to be unpatriotic.  Why should you stand by everything your country does if it blatantly contradicts what you believe in?  Blaming people for saying things that are "unpatriotic" is like saying that speaking our minds is something reprehensible.

I am sick of a lot of what this country has done in the last eight years, and I am ashamed that my government sometimes acts like a dictator.  A government should be judged by the worst things it does and how easily it justifies its own actions for results.  And sometimes a democracy must fight with one hand behind its back because doing so is the only way to uphold the principles of democracy.  I don't see how we can proselytze democracy abroad without upholding it here. 

Am I unpatriotic for believing that?  If I am, then patriotic is not something I ever want to be.

 

Reverend Wright is pointed out because he was considered Barack Obama's spiritual advisor ... Had John McCain's spiritual advisor been a preacher of a church that advocated racial segregation I'm pretty sure it would be a very big issue.

William Ayers is an unrepentant terrorist who admits to his acts and is currently a free man because the state made moronic mistakes and illegally wire-tapped him.

Edit: Also, I never said any of the relationships were meaningful just that the media not reporting on them in a way which provides balance enables extremists to use this information to convert people to their world view.