Over at No More Mister Nice Blog this week, Steve's been giving full coverage to recent nasty rumors about Barak Obama that have been circulating through the Internet and various right-wing news outlets. Based on information about where Obama went to school when he was 6 years old, the intent is to plant the seeds of fear in people and thereby scuttle his potential presidential run in 2008. To borrow a techie phrase, it's classic FUD.
I find the whole thing despicable, not least because the real fear-mongering part of this crap is based on the concept that all Muslims are somehow part of a vast, evil, and powerful worldwide conspiracy. Replace the word "Jew" for "Muslim" and this is the exact same horrible lie that's been lobbed against the Jews for centuries.
The sad part is, it was a highly effective lie. People still believe it today. And at least some of them will believe this too.
