Saturday, November 01, 2008

What's in a Name? A Rant

William Shakespeare wrote in Romeo and Juliet:

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet."

The reason that I thought of this is I noticed a tendency among some Conservative Republicans to always refer to Barack Obama as Barack Hussein Obama in a misguided (at best) attempt to smear him with great emphasis in my not so humble opinion. I am being kind in my thoughts on this because I try very hard not to cuss here and not offend anyone. Cussin' is--again in my not so humble opinion--the quickest way to detract from one's message is and lower oneself to the offending party's shoddy standards.

Think about your own name? Did you choose it? Probably not. Most likely your parents named you. And for better or worse, you're stuck with it. Do you like your name? I don't particularly like either of the names my parents gave me but those are the names I was baptized with and I've lived with for over sixty years. They're not embarrassing or weird -- I just don't like them.

Can you imagine being stuck with Obama's name as cruel as children can be at times? No wonder he was 'Barry' in high school. My dad hated his first name --Marion -- and refused to answer if teachers (or anyone else) called him by it. He preferred his middle name.(Now y'all don't have to wonder how I got so ornery -- the nut didn't fall far from the tree. LOL!) As to Arab names, I know several nice Baptist young men named Rasheed and other similar names who would probably get pretty hostile if you called them an Arab. Parents can get pretty creative in naming kids.

And what does his name have to do with his leadership ability? Playing games with Obama's name makes the person who does it look really awful and it reflects on his party. I'd rather they attack his platform than resort to petty ridicule. The latter means they haven't progressed beyond the playground.

That Obama has obviously come to terms with his names and himself because he has the ability to laugh at himself and I find that admirable. He is who he is and can even laugh about it as seen in his speech at the annual Al Smith Dinner. I hope y'all do, too!



Happy Blogging!!!!!!!!!!!!

Kay

11 comments:

  1. I wrote this once, but the darn connectivity problem cut me off so will start again some ten minutes later.

    Yeah, don't recall being given an opportunity to select my name at birth, or maybe I just forgot.

    Thanks for your comments on my 2nd blogging anniversary post and kind words about my new blog look.

    Don't give up on the Buckeyes -- they've come a long way since the ill-fated game I watched part of against that Calif. team.

    ReplyDelete
  2. He is actually named after his father, like so many sons are, including our current president. He was also advised early in his political career to have his name changed, but he refused. Good for him!

    This is a man who knows where he is going and has confidence in who he is. I like that in him, because if he has confidence in himself it makes it much easier for me to have confidence in him as my president.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have probably gotten at least 50 emails with his full name plastered all over them, and the assertion that he is Muslim and wants to overthrow the government in the US and all manner of horrible things.

    I wonder why I have not seen very much stuff against McCain that is nasty and mean-spirited like the stuff written about Obama?

    ReplyDelete
  4. I follow a lot of my friends on Facebook, and they have a group in which everyone takes the middle name Hussein until Election Day. Pretty neat if you want to make a statement.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:17 AM

    Respectfully, he does NOT reply by talking about John Muck Cain ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was named after an Aunt who was only a few years older than I. That was probably a mistake because we never had much use for each other after we were grown.

    Good for Obama in dropping the nickname Barry. That shows a maturity that is beyond most of us.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I dunno. "Barry" always sounds to me like someone I'd want to have a drink with.

    The emphasis on Obama's middle name, though, has been absurd; even John Sidney McCain thought so.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Anonymous9:01 PM

    Thanks for this update! I missed this up. :) Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for putting this video up. It's always a pleasure to hear Obrama speak -

    I've been thinking about Tim Russett and how he would be having a great old time talking about this fore-coming election.

    Nice that Obama paid a tribute to a great person.

    ReplyDelete
  10. yeah, and in that light, you don't get a chance to help name your grandchildren either. My DIL wanted to give her baby the middle name of Havock if it was a boy and Storm if it was a girl. I don't even remember the first names because I was so upset by the STUPID middle names. Luckily, my prayers for her helped a bit. She chose Amore instead for her baby girl. That means love, so I guess I won't complain. Besides she is a darling baby.
    God Bless, Sweet Kay.
    ~a

    ReplyDelete
  11. PS it says the video is no longer available. so I couldn't watch it
    huh
    ~a

    ReplyDelete

I love your comments!!! If you wish to post as Anonymous, please leave a name in your comment otherwise your comment will not appear.