2008 Obama’s Turban
posted by February 26 at 8:40 AM
onI was away from the Slog yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to post about the Drudge-Clinton-Obama turban extravaganza.
The whole thing is absurd, especially when you consider this. (And this.)
Still, I don’t think one can discount the extent of Americans’ ignorance about turbans, and the political uses to which that ignorance can be put.
I mean, granted, this was almost seven years ago now, but don’t forget what happened in this country, and in this city, after Sept. 11:
In SeaTac last week, a man was charged with attacking a turban-wearing Sikh cab driver, calling him a “butcher terrorist.” In Seattle, a man was arrested after he allegedly tried to choke a Sikh, telling him, “You have no right to attack our country.” In Arizona, a man shot a Sikh gas-station owner to death, later explaining to authorities: “I’m a patriot.”Hundreds of other assaults on Sikhs have been reported across the country, a trend that strikes many as bizarrely misguided.
Yes, Sikhs wear turbans. But they have no connection to the Islamic extremists now wanted by the U.S….
Those seem to be distinctions many are unaware of. John Cooksey, a Republican congressman from Louisiana, recently offered this suggestion for weeding out terrorists: “If I see someone come in and he’s got a diaper on his head and a fanbelt wrapped around the diaper on his head, that guy needs to be pulled over and checked.”
That’s from an article I wrote in The Seattle Times in late September of 2001—an article that had the hilariously basic (but apparently very necessary) headline: “Turbans: Don’t Link Them to Terrorism.”
Linking turbans to terrorism is, of course, what the release of the Obama photo was all about. The implicit argument: Obama once was photographed wearing a turban, therefore Obama is vulnerable in the general election to smear campaigns that will inevitably stoke the fears and exploit the ignorance of people like… Well, people like Congressman Cooksey, for starters.
The Clinton campaign, which is full of non-denial denials about being the source of the photo, was trying to hide out on the high road yesterday. Campaign manager Maggie Williams said in a release:
Enough.If Barack Obama’s campaign wants to suggest that a photo of him wearing traditional Somali clothing is divisive, they should be ashamed. Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.
This is nothing more than an obvious and transparent attempt to distract from the serious issues confronting our country today and to attempt to create the very divisions they claim to decry.
We will not be distracted.
Her release wasn’t helped by the fact that Obama was in Kenya, not Somalia, at the time the turban photo was taken. In any case, if Maggie Williams, or anyone else, wants to take a look at the lovely illustrated guide to turbans that ran with my article, it’s here. (A friend recently joked: Was the illustrated guide provided so that people could more easily search out the Muslims they wanted to beat up? Answer: No.)
I’m traveling today, so I can’t get to the bottom of this myself, but here’s a remaining question I have that I hereby crowd-source to the Slog mob: When Obama donned that turban in Kenya, were his hosts even Muslim?
Because this “traditional garb” that he’s wearing could just as easily have belonged to a non-Muslim ethnic (or religious, or tribal) group as to a Muslim group. Do we potentially have an American ignorance hat-trick here: Wrong country, wrong underlying religion, and, of course, wrong potential outrage?
Comments
Traditional garbs must be banned. From everywherez.
Agree, @1. It would be more interesting if we all go naked.
who cares either way or in any way but what are the candidates' ideas for helping improve the situation in Kenya that might be of interest.
Sorry, but if you're looking for sympathy for ragheads here, you've come to the wrong guy.
I don't know about your question, Eli, but the Clinton Camp response drives me insane. "No one would care if Clinton was in a turban!" is bullshit because no one is spreading rumors about her being a moslem.
Unfortunately, the fucking MSM will leave it at that without challenging the lie. And no one will care...
I don't think the Hillary camp thinks Obama is really a Muslim or a terrorist sympathizer. They don't even believe it's ethical to exploit the prejudices of others to win the nomination. It's just that they've become so deeply committed to the perceived righteousness of their cause that they -- when thinking as a group -- can convince themselves that any act in the service of their cause is allowed.
If you were to separate a Hillary operative from the others and try to reason with them, they would probably wake up. But immersed in the "Hillary cult", as I call it, they become divorced from not only reality, but divorced from their own independent sense of right and wrong.
I am more bothered by Bush holding hands with the Saudi men myself. I mean he claims to be straight!! Yeah right; straight to bed!
Its been out since yesterday that the photo was spreading around the usual right wing chain letter circuit. Drudge put it up for shits and giggles as he tends to do, and implied somebody from the Clinton campaign sent it. Because he is a right wing asshole.
The Clinton campaign was too mixed-up and disorganized to send out their flat denial first, before that obtuse Maggie Williams statement. Big mistake. However the "Hillary is eeeeeeeeeevil!" faction would rather jump all over Clinton than admit they were fooled by Drudge. Did I mention he's an asshole?
Naked is the new traditional garb.
Hey gang, lets ask that old racist gun nut for sympathy! Yeah! He's a crusty old bigot, but I bet if we ask really nicely he will share his thoughts with us!
notice the flag pin, though. it's there on his t shirt, barely visible under one of those quasi-suspender pieces.
see, he DOES love 'murka.
I think it's interesting that we've arrived at muslim=smear without anybody questioning it. I can understand how a muslim would never be elected, just like a mormon, a bhuddist or any number of religions that are not protestant derived. But is a turban really a smear?
This is the traditional garb in some countries. It is not just Muslims who wear it.
13 didn't read the slog post! hahahahhaaha
did you like the purdy pitchures?
@13-that's what eli said. also, the people who are fooled into thinking that obama is a terrorist shouldn't be voting anyway; and if they do it's for mccain.
Shhh, she's teaching.
14, are you referring to someone as a bitch? Sexist!
Tip of the iceberg.
Obama's bio and his entire family and their antecedents will be reported in detail in weeks and months to come.
Just having lived abroad, having close relatives abroad, being part of a family that is part Asian and part African, and part American, is very new and interesting. It's one of Obama's selling points and he said foreign linkages give him a better understanding of how foreigners see US policy. Typically we know everything about a president's family (Clinton's nee Blythe's oedipal smackdown of his step dad; Bushie history going back to Clipper ships and Skull and Bones rituals), so expect the same of Obama and his Kansan AND Kenyan and Indonesian connections and relations.
I fully expect People magazine to have a cover showing his living Kenyan relaties pretty soon with penetrating questions like
"what is your favorite US movie?"
"Do you think US foreign policy is on the right track?"
"what should the US president do about the situation in Kenya?"
and "are you proud to have a relative running for president in the USA and you agree that makes us a great country, right?"
This data set will be a plus for some voters and a negative for others.
There was a Sikh cabbie attacked in Seattle just a couple of months ago by a shithead shouting "Osama bin Laden".
Sikhs aren't even Muslim.
haha...what a douchebag. he's such a KNOB!
The difference between Obama wearing a turban and Hillary dressing up in traditional muslim clothing is that Hillary is whiter than the day is long, and unlikely to be mistaken for a muslim. Obama's got the non-whiteness and Hussein middle name, which coupled with the photo makes a nice little smear.
Of course, people who actually believe in this sort of thing are idiots and people who act in violence on this kind of information (like the poor non-muslim Sikh attacks) are the worst kind of idiots. My worst nightmare is being surrounded by a mob of people who are moronic and violent, because they can't be reasoned with. As long as we keep them separated, I think we'll be ok.
@18
If I went around saying Hillary was unelectable because the right will attack her with sexist stereotypes, you would say I'm reinforcing the glass ceiling. You would say that if I'm exploiting other people's prejudice for my own benefit, then I myself am invested in the institutions of sexism.
But for some reason you're allowed to use other people's bigotry against Obama. For some reason, it's allowed for team Hillary to cynically use racism and chauvinism to their own advantage without they themselves being called racist ad chauvinist.
And now you're going say, "Oh, I didn't mean anything. I was just innocently pointing out some unfortunate facts." No doubt you deplore this state of affairs, but hey? It helps Hillary, so why not?
This response from the Obama camp so retarded. It's just like his answer to the "Muslim" question at the California debates. He wore the turban on a visit to Kenya. Members of his family are Muslim. Neither should be considered a "smear" and he should be willing to stand up and say so.
america dumb. think turban is angry hat. i am manbitch.
Clinton (through Wolfson) has denied having anything to do with this. Haters are relying on the word of Matt Fucking Drudge.
If we learn later anything to discredit Wolfson's statement, fine, but until then calm down.
i read (and I can't remember where, sorry) that this outfit came from a somali-kenyan group on the border, no idea of religious affiliation.
For what it's worth, much of northeastern Kenya is inhabited by Somali nomads. The Clinton camp was right that this is traditional Somali clothing. Newsflash, but the political borders in Africa don't correspond to tribal and cultural borders.
And yes, many Somalis are Muslim.
Big Sven @ 25 -- Wrong you are! Anyone named "Clinton" is guilty of anything anyone says, anywhere ... and any attempt to raise objections to this immutable law is further confirmation of their perfidy.
@18 - Obama talks about this family history from this father's side in his autobiography. I'm sure the press will probably interview his relatives though. I do wanna see how beautiful his sistors are since one is full Kenyan and the other is 1/2 white and 1/2 Indonesian.
Saying this is a Muslim turban isn't necessarily correct at all. Somalis are mostly Muslim, but turbans are in a ton of different countries and have different meanings in different countries and contexts. In Iran, a black turban indicates that you're a high ranking imam, and a descendant of Muhammed. If you're Sikh, it's just to control the hair that you're forbidden to cut, which is meant to make you identifiable as a Sikh, and therefore force you to act when you see injustice. In some places, it's just decorative, akin to a baseball cap here. I have no idea what this one means.
What I like about this election is that it's bringing to surface all the "-isms" that aren't usually discussed anymore. Zenophobia and Racism are definitely coming up alot now.
Of course, the main thing will be to tell middle america and all the "Bubbas" and "Bubbettes" (my HS band teacher in SC would call girls who's name he didn't know that) that Obama's not a Muslim and that whenever diplomats visit other countries it's customary that they wear the local cultural clothing that's being asked by the locals to wear. Refusing to do so is an insult to the country she/he's visiting. If this was Bush or Clinton wearing this, then no one would give a damn because they're white.
The main issue that really needs to be discussed is that Americans don't go overseas like citizens of other 1st-World developed nations do. From a young age, Aussies, Canadians, Kiwis (NZ), Brits, and EU citizens are encourage to open their minds by going overseas. Americans?? Well we're told that if we want to see the world that 1. Go Join the Military 2. Win the lottery or strike it rich somehow. 3. Wait until you're retired. To the mind of most Americans traveling is left to the rich and priviledged. When someone outside of that group does travel, they belittle them labeling them as too good for their kind, saying how lucky and privedlged they are and to basically stay in the country and get their head out of the clouds and get back to being a "productive" American by working long hard hours. We're not taught or encouraged to save our money to travel. Instead we're told we should save our money to buy the next new technological gadget, nice car, or something frivolous. Not encouraging the average citizen to travel the world, even if it's to places throughout America, the Caribbean, Canada or Latin America, makes most Americans close-minded and not able to know that the world exists.
So what does this have to do with the row concerning Obama's photograph. It's the way that the 85-90% of Americans that don't even possess a passport perceive of that photo. If most Americans can't name and locate the 7 continents on a map, then that's one of the major concerns of this nation for the 21st century.
It just makes Obama look like an oversized Oompa-Loompa
I have a pic of Sen Clinton wearing the Habib - the long black cloak dress where you can only see her eyes.
Except it's kind of hard to tell it's her.
She's standing next to McCain with the Saudi princes.
I love Obama. When he wins, he'll put all the rednecks in camps.
Not unless Hillary releases the wing-ed monkeys, first.
Apres-moi, Americans are more likely than French or Brits to go overseas, I'm pretty sure. Beach trips to Benidorm, or hen and stag parties to Prague don't count. The French are the most insular people around, and most Brits have never been to the large cities just a few miles from where they live. Aussies and kiwis, yeah, they travel more than anyone.
I love the BBC. They explain that what he's wearing is non religious. It's just traditional Somali Normadic clothing -
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7265115.stm
Okay, America--here's your chance to disprove all those stereotypes that you're a bunch of xenophobic racist ethnocentric redneck ignoramuses. Or that you can even conduct a relatively fair presidential election (after two very questionable ones).
The whole world is watching...
I'm kind of surprised that I'm the first to point this out, unless I missed it in the above comments, but did no one else find Eli's closing questions, "Wrong country, wrong underlying religion, and, of course, wrong potential outrage?" ridiculous? As though there is a right country, a right religion, and, of course, right potential outrage?
The Muslim question is the new Jewish question...
This is so typical of a Stranger post regarding anything to do with religion...but especially anything that hints at Islam or what is condescendingly referred to as "traditional cultures." A bunch of hipsters who say offensive things to be ironic. A bunch of hipsters who wish Seattle was in Scandanavia and want to forget this nation's history of racism or xenophobia...or don't want it mentioned constantly...or just enjoy mocking it when people mention it because "sensitivity" is what's mainstream in Seattle. And then there are the bigots who say whatever and the hipsters think they're better than because....I'm not sure why.
And then there are those who look down their noses and bloviate to no apparent purpose whatsoever.
It's all good.
Hey NapoleonXIV, "Bloviate" me. How's that? Bit more succinct, yes?
If you think Americans are ignorant of different nations outside the U.S., they are just as ignorant of the Native people in the U.S. We all supposedly lived in tipis and wore warbonnets. This is even more embarrassing, they live here and don't even know their own history!
Barack Obama's campaign reminds me and several others of the movie "The Omen". He dosen't have a son named Damien does he??????????
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