Americans have never fully appreciated what a radical thing we did — in the eyes of the rest of the world — in electing an African-American with the middle name Hussein as president. I’m convinced that listening to Obama’s 2009 Cairo speech — not the words, but the man — were more than a few young Arabs who were saying to themselves: “Hmmm, let’s see. He’s young. I’m young. He’s dark-skinned. I’m dark-skinned. His middle name is Hussein. My name is Hussein. His grandfather is a Muslim. My grandfather is a Muslim. He is president of the United States. And I’m an unemployed young Arab with no vote and no voice in my future.” I’d put that in my mix of forces fueling these revolts.Er, his father was a Muslim too, wasn't he? But let's not quibble about that. I have the sense that listening to Obama--the man, not the words--had very little to do with the Arab world's implosion. From what I've read young men in that antic realm are far likelier to criticize Obama for supposedly siding with Israel than they are to identify with him, his age and skin colour. For Friedman to insert Obama into the "rebellion" in this way is as ludicrous as, well, Obama inserting himself into the Academy Awards show.
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
The O Factor
Thomas L. Friedman believes that one of the forces that fueled the Arab "revolt" is what he calls "the Obama factor":
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Given President Obama's grovelling to repressive states and his failure to even recognize Israel as being both democratic and giving rights to non-Jews, I think the Arabic boyos are figuring he's on their side.
Er, . . . no. Has Mr. Friedman actually spent any time in the company of actual, garden variety Arabs in unguarded moments? I have; I studied with them, ate with them, and played pick-up soccer with them at the University of Florida, then worked with them in several jobs after college--real Arabs from North Africa and the Middle East. They are much more likely to see someone like Obama and think, "abd" or "kaffir"--both words are commonly used in the sense of "n*gger" among Arabic speakers--than to entertain the lofty notions of President Obama in Mr. Friedman's multicultural fantasy.
I can say, unreservedly, that Arabs are the most racist group of people I have ever encountered (and I spent the better part of my childhood in rural Central Florida, at the tail end of the Jim Crow period, so that's saying a mouthful). Mr. Friedman might want to consider a single incident, the reaction of Egyptians to the broadcast in their country of _Sadat_, the 1983 made-for-tv movie in which the black American actor Louis Gosset plays the title role. Near universal outrage ensued when Egyptian viewers saw Sadat--who was quite dark-skinned--played by a black man. Multicultural _bien pensants_ like Mr. Friedman really should get out more in the real world, with their ideological filters off; it is not a multicultural utopia.
Friedman lives in la-la-land, a happy-dappy place with only one blot on the landscape: Israel's "occupation" of Arabs. There is little hope that someone so in love with himself and his worldview will ever be able to see what's what.
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