A friend of a friend - a physician - declared categorically almost 18 months ago that she could never vote for anyone whose middle name was "Hussein." In stark contrast, a Jewish friend of mine recently joined a Facebook group of over a thousand participants who have all adopted the middle name, "Hussein." The purpose of this group, of course, is to protest against the unflagging use of Obama's middle name as a negative propaganda tool, not to mention as an occasional near-expletive. But I like to think that the Jews and Christians and Muslims and others who are adopting Hussein as a middle name are doing so not only in solidarity with Obama, but with the hundreds of thousands of people worldwide named Hussein, which is, after all, just as common a name as "Joe."

In his manifesto advocating the middle-name movement, Jeff Hussein Strabone wrote, in February of 2008, "We are all Hussein." And he's right. But, loosely speaking, the converse is true, too.

Because plenty of Husseins are American. In fact, plenty of Muslims are Joe-Hussein-the-Plumber average Americans who are being vilified by the very politicians who claim to care so much about average Americans. Those who elevate Joe the Plumber as the symbol of America while simultaneously denigrating Obama for being Hussein miss the point: Obama, along with his American Joe-Hussein-the-Plumber namesakes, are symbols of the greatness of America, too.

Even more troubling, though, is that never have religious prejudices, xenophobia, and racism been so widely exported to the rest of the world. The prejudice that we export rebounds back upon us. Our images are no longer limited to American media, but are spread far and wide by global media.

These attitudes are exported because Muslims - not just Arabs, who constitute only one-fifth of Muslims worldwide - watch television. They watch Hollywood movies, too, in which the vast majority of Arab characters that are depicted are racist caricatures. And they read the hate literature that abounds in the United States concerning Muslims.

These images are so potent that Muslims abroad have wondered, since long before 9/11, why Americans hate Islam and Muslims. Just as Osama bin Laden's or Ahmadinejad's statements are broadcast all over the American media, American anti-Islam and anti-Muslim statements are broadcast all over media in Muslim-majority countries.

Take a recent example of what Muslims abroad might see. We Americans pride ourselves on our separation of religion and state, and many Americans erroneously assume Islam requires a unity of religion and state (it doesn't). Yet, last week CNN covered a McCain rally in Iowa, at which Reverend Arnold Conrad delivered the invocation, including this passage:

"There are millions of people around this world praying to their God - whether it's Hindu, Buddha, Allah - that [McCain's] opponent wins... and Lord I pray that you would guard your own reputation, because they're going to think that their god is bigger than you, if that happens."

Add this incident to negative campaigning, the racist movie caricatures, and the hate literature, and what's the result? Extremists can say with impunity to Muslim populations: "Look; the West despises Islam and means to destroy us." Just as extremists in the West use translated hateful statements by Muslims to say: "Look; Muslims despise the West and mean to destroy us." The net result is that we have shown each other the very worst of ourselves.

Just this weekend, former Secretary of State General Colin Powell spoke on how damaging negative campaigning can be, specifically referring to "who's a Muslim, who's not a Muslim." In his interview, General Powell insisted:

"Those kinds of images going out on al-Jazeera are killing us around the world....we have got to say to the world, it doesn't matter who you are - if you're American, you're an American . . . We have got to stop this nonsense, pull ourselves together, and remember that our great strength is in our unity, in our diversity."

This week has seen prominent Americans of both political parties urging the negative campaigning to stop, because finally media and political personalities are beginning to understand that hate hurts America. It divides and conquers us.

We can continue to highlight the worst of both sides and render the "clash of civilizations" a self-fulfilling prophecy. Or we can use our freedom of speech with responsibility, not with insulting carelessness; we can use our freedom of religion with pluralistic understanding, not with dogmatism. We can stand up and adopt "Hussein" as a middle name in celebration of our common humanity. It's our choice.

Now here is something I find interesting. If you listen to Obama and McCain and watch their ads, its always "I will do this.." or "I will do that...." or "I think this and that...." or "I am not worried about so and so....".

Almost seems to me America is run by one person, the President! I, I, I, Me, I, Me, I, I. I thought it was a team of people who come up with policy. Odd.

>> These attitudes are exported because Muslims - not just Arabs, who constitute only one-fifth of Muslims worldwide - watch television. They watch Hollywood movies, too, in which the vast majority of Arab characters that are depicted are racist caricatures. And they read the hate literature that abounds in the United States concerning Muslims.

Presuming this article is directed towards Muslims, Are we as Muslims universal about this attitude? Are we disturbed by stereotypes of weak-kneed and frail women, drunk russians, greedy jews, flowery homosexuals etc? And what about the hate literature that comes from our community too? And the hate literature that is spread by some in our religious establishment under the guise of faith driven debate?

>> "Those kinds of images going out on al-Jazeera are killing us around the world....we have got to say to the world, it doesn't matter who you are - if you're American, you're an American . . . We have got to stop this nonsense, pull ourselves together, and remember that our great strength is in our unity, in our diversity."

I was speaking to an elderly person and he started talking about the Caliphate in Turkey and how it was the central moral and legal authority for the whole Muslim world and how the head of that religious council was killed by the Americans in 1940 something. That speaks volumes about the myth of the great and uniting moral force called the Caliphate and how we think America killed it. I think its ironic that GENERAL Colin Powell has similar delusions about his country.

>> Almost seems to me America is run by one person, the President! I, I, I, Me, I, Me, I, I. I thought it was a team of people who come up with policy. Odd.

Its because they are the product. These people are selling themselves. Oddly enough, you also said "IIIII thought it was a team of people..". Isn't that exactly what people expect from a presidential campaign? Aren't they interested in who the candidates are?

Watch Stephen Colbert's take on Arnold Conrad: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/188890/october-21-2008/battle-of-the-gods

I'm having a little fun with the Hussein middle name. I've taken to calling Senator Obama "Abu Ali", and, should he win, as I hope and pray, then we need to slaughter a sheep and distribute the meat in charity and in hosting our friends! Then we need drums and praise singers for the inauguration.

And, yes, this campaign has gone on far too long ...

Ayman, alot of mt facebook freinds and colleagues have started asserting Hussein as their middle name, lol. Now, we are surely becoming the new Jews...

Sumbul,

Among your many excellent points, I'd like to discuss this one:

>>many Americans erroneously assume Islam requires a unity of religion and state (it doesn't).

I, too believe there is no unity of religion and state in Islam. However, the political radicals among us DO believe that and they are the ones whose views get widely disseminated in the Western media. So, in a sense, the American public believes this because the Muslim communities here have shoved this down everyone's throats as the truth and only the truth, so help them God. We shoot ourselves in the foot way more often than we realize.

>I, too believe there is no unity of religion and state in Islam.<

LOL ofcourse which neocon does...

>So, in a sense, the American public believes this because the Muslim communities here have shoved this down everyone's throats as the truth and only the truth, so help them God.<

Rubbish. We haven't haven't shoved anything down anyone's throat. Blame the media and the moronic Joe Plumbers(who believes an Obama Presidency would be the death knell for Israel). That's what they want to believe.
The funniest thing I've read this week was a claim by a judeofascist blogger(Atlas Shrugs) that Obama is Malcolm X's love child.

>We shoot ourselves in the foot way more often than we realize.<

Only those who like you support the Iraq war, the Patriot act and other draconian measures by the government, and yet claim to be members of the Muslim community.
So much for that ruse eh Gumby?