26
Jul
President Barack Obama spoke to the nation last night. His appearance on television prompted a heated discussion among a family I am visiting in Minnesota.
Previously, I did not know anything about my friends’ political or religious views. So when sitting in the living room last night, they suddenly said they did not like the president, I asked why.
“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not a racist. You know that,” The daughter told me. “But in the three years he has been president, he has done nothing. The country has become worse.”
I probed her further, pointing out that the precarious financial state of this country could not be fixed in just a few years.
“He has made the debt worse by spending money on abortion programs and giving aid to immigrants,” She explained.
“A lot of people think so,” the mother chimed in as she left the living room and headed for the kitchen.
“And [the president] supports gay marriages,” the father added. “I can’t stand this guy.”
I realized then that they were talking about their emotions and personal beliefs and not really about the economy. Otherwise how could anyone say that the $14,347-billion national debt is being caused by the aid to immigrants in the US?
In France, North Africans are considered to be the problem. In Minnesota, the Somali refugees are the new scapegoat.
Having worked as an immigrant counselor in the Chicagoland area, I tried explaining to my friends that refugees do not lead the high life on government money.
But logic does not work on emotions. The argument got even more heated, rolling from one subject to the next faster than I could keep up. I let the father and daughter go at it without me and tried to hear the president’s speech.
“I’m confident we can reach a compromise,” said the president on television. He added something about respect in our disagreement.
In the living room, the volume of the dispute went up a notch.
“Do you know the difference between voodoo and wicca?” the daughter asked.
“They’re all a cult,” the father barked.
“No, they’re not!”
On television:
“America, where every human view is welcome; where out of many, we are one.”
In the living room, the full-blown argument changed topic.
“You have never read the bible,” the father accused his daughter.
“Yes, I have. I just didn’t read it from front to back; it’s too boring,” the daughter defended herself.
“That’s not reading the bible,” the father retorted.
On television:
“So let’s seize this moment to show that The United States of America is still the greatest nation.”
The president’s 15-minutes speech is over and the father/daughter Christian duo are still arguing. Now the topic is: Why is the Da Vinci Code wrong?
“… I heard it on Christian radio,” the father yelled.
“You are believing what you heard, I know what I read,” the daughter yelled back. “I have read that book front to cover.”
“You can read it all you want,” the father shouted. “I don’t care.”
The shout-out had reached an impass. The mother stepped in.
“What is the rule in our house?” she interjected. “We don’t discuss politics. We don’t discuss religion. In this house, we can’t discuss personal views.”
And that is how I spent my evening in Minnesota.