What is American? Who is American?

This morning, i read an article on BBC news. The article described the Facebook reception in response to a Facebook post from the Democratic challenger to Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake.

The Democratic challenger's name is Deedra Abboud. Ms. Abboud is a 45 year old Phoenix based lawyer of the Muslim faith. The Facebook post she published spoke to her endorsement and pride in the Constitutional separation of Church and State, an idea central to formation of the US government and the foundation upon which the Founding Fathers constructed what would become, today, the United States. After all, was it not Thomas Jefferson who wrote, in January 1st, 1802, that "I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." The quote in Thomas Jefferson's letter was in fact taken from the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

Needless to say, in the current atmosphere, her Facebook post was greeted with numerous angry responses, of which several were quoted by the BBC article. Several of these Facebook responses shook me to the core as they disclosed the general ignorance of these "Facebook patriots".

One such "Facebook patriot" suggested that she was espousing the ideas of "the Muslim brotherhood" which is odd in two ways. First, her idea of appreciating the separation of Church and State is an appreciation of the founding of the United States of America. Second, "the Muslim brotherhood" is agitating for Muslim Caliphate rule. More simply, and in plain American, "the Muslim brotherhood" is trying to establish a conservative Islam based government, or, a government with NO separation between Church and State. Thus, on two counts, this "Facebook patriot" was wrong.

Another "Facebook patriot" announced "Nice try but your first love is Satan (AKA Allah) and your second love is to a litter box your 'people' come from. You are as American as Chinese checkers." Where do i start? Satan is a fallen angel, formerly the First amongst the Heavenly Hosts (and i am a Buddhist... why do i know this?). Allah, well, he was a desert trader turned Prophet of God (which is also how Jesus of Nazarus was viewed by the Islamic faith, another Prophet of God -- again, i am not of the Christian faith, so this is the very basic understanding i have of it). So in the mind of this "Facebook patriot" Satan is also a Prophet of God? Just preaching to the denizens of Hell and Purgatory? That is actually not very far from the Buddhist figure named Kshitigarbha, who vowed to never achieve Nirvana until Hell can be emptied. So perhaps this post is from a very confused and slightly Buddhist "Facebook patriot". Finally, what caused me to laugh out loud was his/her juxtaposition of Chinese Checkers and American, as to suggest that there is nothing further from American (the ideal? the people? the??) than Chinese Checkers. Well, i laughed because i vaguely recall learning that Chinese Checkers was in fact not a Chinese game but an European game quite long ago (Junior High? College? i forget). The surprise was on me, however, when i investigated the history of Chinese Checkers. Turns out, the root game is (drum roll please) AMERICAN!!!! Turns out Chinese Checkers is a German variant of an 1883 game invented by an American professor and Harvard Medical School thoracic surgeon George Howard Monks called Halma. This finding was also confirmed by ye olde wikipedia, which has appropriate references to backup the text. So was this "Facebook patriot's" post actually one of support?

Anyhow, the article at the end was one that rather celebrated America as the ideal i hold daily with hope. One person to come to Ms. Abboud's defense was in fact Republican Arizona Senator Jeff Flake. Senator Flake's post celebrated the good people in Arizona who celebrates tolerance and diversity and that, truly, is the American ideal above all.