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February 27, 2008
It's Take-A-Bigot-To-School Day!
In the wake of radio host/douchebag Bill Cunningham's repetition of Barack Obama's middle name (yes, it's Hussein) during a campaign rally for John McCain yesterday, Juan Cole has this excellent essay about the Semitic origins of many an "American" name, like Benjamin Franklin or Abraham Lincoln.
While the moronic fear-mongering over Obama's name (along with the parallel lie about him being a Muslim, as though that's any worse than being a Christian) shows how rhetorically bankrupt the conservatives are in this election, it's also a reminder that the best way to fight the fear of the unfamiliar is to demystify it through repetition. Vancouver Grizzlies fans certainly stopped thinking that "Shareef Abdur-Rahim" sounded strange once he was averaging 20 points a game.
So our next president's middle derives from a Semitic word meaning "handsome"? I know plenty of ladies who don't disagree. Sure beats one whose last name is a synonym for "pubic thatch".
