Newsweek Perpetuates Politics of Hate and Fear
Dec 5th, 2008 by nick
In response to this inane column in Newsweek a few weeks ago, I wrote the following letter to the editor. Unfortunately, Newsweek didn’t appear to publish any letters from that issue.
I’m horrified that some people apparently believe that President-Elect Barack Oabama is the Antichrist (“Is Obama the Antichrist?” Belief Watch, November 24). And I am even more appalled that Newsweek chose to give credibility to their outrageous claims. While it may be newsworthy that some people believe this nonsense, the Newsweek article presented these opinions as reasonable and well formed. Indeed, the author went so far as to assure us that, “The people who believe Obama is the Antichrist are perhaps jumping to conclusions, but they’re not nuts…”
Sadly, these ill-formed opinions are merely the latest in a long line of myths about Barack Obama. Throughout the campaign, we heard whispers (and sometimes shouts) that Obama is a Muslim, a terrorist, a socialist, a communist, elitist, anti-American, and now the Antichrist. The only constant theme is that he’s somehow different from “regular” Americans, and that we should be afraid of him.
By giving a forum to the latest of these outrageous accusations, Newsweek is perpetuating the same pathetic politics of hate and fear. Luckily, this fear mongering didn’t dissuade people from voting for Obama in record numbers, and won’t prevent him as President from enacting the change he promised, and this country so sorely needs.