Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I Wish I Could Write Stuff Like This

Andrew Sullivan received an email from a South Dakota reader:

I live in SD and I am a candidate for the State House. I was out walking my district last month and spoke to a woman about the primary. She has a statue of the Virgin Mary in her front yard and was wearing several crosses around her neck. Here is our conversation:

Woman: "I don't know about that Obama guy."

Me: "I'm an Obama supporter, do you mind if I ask what you're unsure about."

Woman: "He's a muslim and there is a biblical prophecy that a muslim will take over our country and destroy the world."

Me: "You're aware he is not a Muslim."

Woman: "He can say anything he wants."

This is the stuff that makes for great sitcoms and SNL sketches. If I could write like this, I'd be famous and I'd be rich.

Oh, wait. This stuff is really scary, isn't it? This kind of willful, stubborn, authoritative ignorance (how's that for an oxymoron?), the stuff that makes you just throw up your hands and simply resign yourself to NEVER being able to talk sense into her. If I didn't realize that there are many thousands of people in this country who think exactly like her, I would actually laugh about this. And in her own mind, she believes she's one of the informed people: "All the information I'll ever need is in the Good Book, no doubt about that."

My stars!

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