From Newsweek: The Power of Images
The New Yorker cover only reinforces the silly Obama rumors.
Jonathan Alter
Jul 14, 2008
....(H)ere are a few of Paul's Internet rumors, with my answers:
*(Obama's) stepfather sent him to a Muslim school.
False. When Obama lived in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, his mother and stepfather sent him for a time to a Catholic school, and for a time to an Indonesian public elementary school, where he had a class in Islamic studies (as required by the state). When CNN and other news organizations investigated whether this was a "madrassa" (religious school), the answer was a clear "no." Girls did not have to cover their heads, prayers were not required, students came from many different religious backgrounds and the school was recognizably "public."
*His father gave him the Muslim name Barack Hussein Obama.
True, but meaningless. Obama's father, whose name was also Barack Hussein Obama, was born to a Muslim family in Kenya but become an atheist long before he came to Hawaii in 1959, where he met Obama's mother.
*He changed his first name to Barry, and when he got into politics, he changed it back to Barack Hussein Obama.
False. "Barry" was Obama's nickname growing up, and he asked his friends to call him "Barack" when he went to college, which was 15 years before he entered politics.
*Barack's step-brother stated, "Barack is a Muslim."
Possible, but irrelevant. Obama has two half-sisters, Maya (on his mother's side) and Auma (on his father's), to whom he is close. He also has several African step-brothers (his father married several times), but he has met them only once or twice in his life....
http://www.newsweek.com/id/146217/output/printNOTE: Alter also gives an example of unlikely people who believe the Obama rumors, in noting how widespread they are:
"For a while, I thought only rightwingers and other Obama haters bought into the lies being spread about him. Then I got a call from Ross Perot....In the course of the conversation, it became clear that Perot thought Obama was a Muslim. When I informed him that Obama was actually a Christian, Perot was relieved. He didn't hate Obama; he just had an instinct to believe whatever he happened to see online over what he read in reputable newspapers."
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