“While the left wing is huffing and puffing over it, Republican primary voters are with us at least 80-20,’’ Carson campaign manager Barry Bennett told the Associated Press. “People in Iowa particularly are like, ‘Yeah! We’re not going to vote for a Muslim either,’” he said.
With the latest news from the GOP Presidential Campaign trail, you would think that being muslim was a crime against humanity. There is such anti-Muslim sentiment in America, that it seems the key to success is to show how much you dislike muslims and distrust Islam.
Many will say that Dr. Ben Carson is a decent and honorable man. I imagine he is. I know his story is amazing. He has overcome a lot and is a testament to the possibilities of America, even if the odds are stacked against you.
That’s why his statement on muslims is disheartening. For, I also know that no matter how honorable and decent he might be, his statement about muslims was calculated and political. The evidence is everywhere. Just read the quote from the New York Post, above. His campaign knows that xenophobia is at an all-time high in America. And, while Donald Trump has cornered the market on anti-immigration, Ben Carson is hoping to corral the anti-Muslim vote. So maybe he didn’t mean it as incendiary for himself, but he had to know there were major constituencies in the Republican Party that would embrace those statements in the fullness of their xenophobic nature.
Muslim Xenophobia Is Propelling Dr. Carson
Since those remarks, Dr. Carson has been raking in the cash at a rate of $1 Million per day. So his gamble is paying dividends. He has gambled on the simplemindedness of the American voter who has been convinced that muslims are the epitome of evil. By nature of being Muslim, or even being Arab (yes, there are Arabs who aren’t Muslim…there are muslims who aren’t Arab), one is brought under suspicion in this Country. Remember Ahmed Mohamed?
Muslim Xenophobia Will Destroy America
The very thing that is propelling Ben Carson in the polls and driving in truckloads of cash, is the very thing that will ultimately destroy our Country, if left unchecked. The rhetoric of muslim suspicion creates a fundamentalist point of view that makes anyone and everyone who can be associated with Islam a person who is inherently wicked.
No religion is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism
-Pope Francis
Likewise, no society is immune from forms of individual delusion or ideological extremism. And so, we must be attentive to every type of fundamentalism: the idea that my way – and only my way – is right. The same people who agree with him on never voting for a Muslim president, are the same ones who would have “never voted for a Black president.”
For Mr. Carson to be feeding a fundamentalist beast is very dangerous. Once that beast gains its strength, it will devour everything and only a wasteland will be left.
We must be able to have concerns and raise disagreements without appealing to hate. If we are to remain One Nation under God, we must learn to discuss our fears and debate our differences without pitting ourselves against one another. It is difficult to respect each other, but it is necessary. It is easy to say inflammatory things, but it must be avoided.
The Country needs better. The world is looking for better. We can be better…don’t you think?
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