When questioned as to why he believes that a Muslim is not fit to become President of the United States, Ben Carson's response implies his disapproval where he believes that they cannot be as trusted to run the country because of their faith. He says that the founding fathers would respond: "We don’t even want to take the slight chance that we would put someone in that position who had different loyalties." Carson's opinion on this is ignorant and is completely irrelevant because the faith of a person should not be the defining of his or her capability to rule a country.
His statement goes to drive the nation apart, not to unite it together. The USA is a country that has long stood for freedom to practice whichever religion one pleases to, and to say that someone adhering to one religion would be worse than another is ridiculous. Practicing Muslims have been attacked and mocked by many people, especially after the 9/11 attacks, and we don't need any other reason to continually hurt others because of their beliefs. Carson's coverage in the media hasn't been as widespread as other GOP candidates, and I hope it stays that way if he keeps making such outrageous remarks.
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ben-carson-founding-fathers-wouldnt-have-trusted-muslim-president
The comment at the end of this article suggesting that Carson considers Muslims guilty until proven innocent is spot-on. I agree with Joanna; Carson's words are banking on stereotype and generalization, and they ultimately will dissuade Muslim voters to vote for him. It's understandable for a president to be cautious, but when that caution borders on obscene discrimination and hinges on reinforcing stigmas, a line should be drawn.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Daniel that Carson's words will dissuade Muslim voters but he could potentially receive support from extremely conservative Americans who share this sentiment. There are many people that agree with what Carson said and now that the public knows this, his poll numbers could go up. I believe this statement will hurt him in the long run with most voters but as we can see, outrageous comments usually lead to higher numbers.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, Carson is going a bit too far. His views on the Muslims are very short sighted, and he's only basing them off of the various numbers of stereotypes, and the fact that he addresses the WHOLE community is also a crucial mistake.. This is also driven home by the fact that America was supposed to be a place of liberty and freedom, including the ability to practice whatever religion one wants to practice. This statement will cost him a lot of voters, except for the most conservative Americans.
ReplyDeleteIt's scary to believe that Carson would deny some Americans a fundamental right. However there is one small, small, small sliver of truth in what he is saying. Not in the sense that Muslims can't or shouldn't run for office. But that many Americans will not trust a Muslim president. It's hard to believe that there is still such rampant racism in America, but it's in a country where the 'unofficial' religion is Christianity, and that one of the main arguments against Obama being president is that he is Muslim, it is easy to see a large majority of Americans will never support a Muslim president .
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