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Old 08-20-2010, 01:41 PM   #22
BlackEleven
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure View Post
1/5 of the population being stupid sounds about right in any country.
There's a difference between not knowing something and believing something false to be true. And as you can see in the graph someone posted above, this is not about the right percentage for other countries.

I think the important question is why do those people believe he's Muslim? Have they been mislead by someone trying to paint him as a Muslim boogeyman or are they making their own assumptions based on his name or race or some other critera and then passing it off as fact? And if they know enough trivial information about him to form such assumptions about his religion then why don't the actual facts about his religion?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Azure View Post
IMO, people are saying he is Muslim because they're stupid, and because they're frustrated.

Which would be why the number rose from 11% last year.
I don't get what you're saying here. A stupid person thinks "Man, my life sucks. It must be the president's fault. I didn't think he was Mulsim before but now its the only explanation". I don't think I've ever met anyone that stupid.

I think its more likely due to his political enemies trying to imply he's Muslim without coming out and actually saying it -- ie reporting on where he father was born, repeating his middle any chance they get, etc, but never mentioning what his religion actually is.

Yeah, people are stupid for making assumptions based on that, and they're also stupid for assuming his religion even affects his ability to be president, but there seems to be something much more insidious going on to me.

Last edited by BlackEleven; 08-20-2010 at 03:28 PM.
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