To Hussein or not to Hussein? Facebookers duke it out

It all started as a way to prove solidarity with Barack Obama and take a stand against people who associated the presidential candidate with terrorists because of his middle name, Hussein. Hundreds of supporters on Facebook added "Hussein" as their middle name on the site and joined groups such as "Take The Middle Name 'Hussein' for Barack Obama." There were thousands of them. There was Marc Hussein Andreessen. Clay Hussein Shirky. Kate Hussein Wetherhead. Peter Hussein Honeyman. James Hussein Shaw. Patricia Hussein Washburn.

But Facebook, like other communities, hosts people of many different political persuasions. They also had something to say about Hussein as a middle name. So they started their own Facebook groups. Now, there are more than 100 groups on the social networking site concerning the issue of adopting Hussein as a middle name.

They include the likes of (you may need to be a Facebook member to view them):

Support Obama – Add Hussein as your middle name to protest misconceptions

Anyone with the middle name "Hussein" should not be president of the U.S.

Saying Barack's middle name is "Hussein" doesn't make you a racist

Enough already with the "I changed my middle name to 'Hussein' on Facebook"

The groups and the discussion among them have made some participants marvel at the way Facebook allows them to engage in political discourse with people they didn’t previously know. Still others make fun of them for talking politics on a social network that also houses pictures of people drinking beer.

Alex Freeman, a music professor at Carleton College, started his 5,134-member group, I'm changing my Facebook name to Hussein, a few weeks ago.

"In a small way, I thought I could defuse the bigotry, or at least the fear," he said. Supporters he didn’t know posted compliments on the group's homepage, including one whose actual middle name was Hussain. Dissidents also posted, telling him his idea was stupid. While Freeman was sleeping, one Turkish group posted dozens of pictures of genocide on the site as sabotage. Still, Freeman thought the group was effective.

"One guy wrote and said, 'This is retarded, you’re not doing anything,' " Freeman said. "I explained it to him, and he said he saw my point and joined."

Same with Casey Godwin, a 16-year old from Dunn, N.C., who started the group His Middle Name is Hussein, for Pete's Sake, which featured a photo saying "Beware Obama and bin Laden." Godwin, an Obama supporter, says she started the group ...

... to mock all the McCain supporters in her small town who think Obama is a terrorist. Not everyone got the sarcasm: one comment on the page read "I think it's so great that so many members of this group are apparently from North Carolina. Guess what? NC is going to be BLUE this November! Get used to President Obama Hussein."

Also in support of the Hussein-as-middle-name camp was Leah Hunter, a West Hollywood resident who works in the film industry. After changing her name, she received messages from other Hussein middle names she didn’t know.

"It's gone across racial lines, age groups," she said. "It’s been really cool how people have been connecting over something so small as a middle name."

She found that changing her middle name on Facebook invited some confused responses from her right-leaning high school friends in Jacksonville, Fla. One, who supports John McCain, wrote to ask her if she was "really voting for Osama bin Laden." It gave her an opportunity to talk politics with him on Facebook, each arguing for their own candidate. She probably wouldn't have had that type of discussion otherwise, she said.

But Michael Jannol thinks it's all lame. The L.A. resident, who works for a nonprofit, created a group called My middle name isn't Sidney. Yours isn’t Hussein. So shut up!!! It has 15 members. His bone to pick with Hussein Facebookers? "I think it's a silly way to take a stance on an issue," he said. "It’s on Facebook, where there are also pictures of people’s cats."

Matt Hanson agrees. He founded the Saying Barack's middle name is "Hussein" doesn't make you racist group after a friend took offense at a photo he had posted of Obama that included the candidate's middle name. She likened the photo to a swastika, accused him of being in the Ku Klux Klan and reported him to Facebook for posting racially offensive material. He and a friend started the group because they were sick of overly politically correct people on Facebook. Most of the comments he got after he started the group were supportive.

But Brandon Saurber, a marketing professional in southwestern Ohio, said Facebook is the perfect place to discuss politics, racism and the middle name Hussein. He started the group "I am aware that his middle name is Hussein and I don't give a ...." He received many positive and negative e-mails after starting the group, which has 46 members.

"Maybe there are more formal or more academically accepted ways to voice your opinion," he said. But he sees Facebook as the perfect place to have a discussion among the college-aged crowd, especially because most of them spend much more time on Facebook than they do reading the news. With a group like his, he said, he hopes that "certain people who don't take an active interest in politics may see something like this and get exposed to a new idea."

A note to those who might read this post and accuse the "liberal media" of talking to mostly pro-Obama supporters: I reached out to groups on both sides of the Hussein-middle-name debate, but received responses only from the above groups. If you have any thoughts or comments about Hussein as a middle name, we welcome them from any political persuasion in the comments below.

-- Alana Semuels

Photo by Al Grillo / Associated Press

Comments

[Not An Obama Kool-Aide Drinker]

Since when is the L.A. Times a credible source for objective news reporting? They're totally in the tank for Obama, the chosen one, The Messiah.

[kushibo]

I can't think of any reason to refer to Senator Obama as "B. Hussein Obama" except to force a connection between Obama and scary elements like terrorists (or, to them, Arabs or Muslims). Call it racism or not, but it is clearly an appeal to bigotry.

[Ben]

Obama's friend AYERS wrote a book "Prairie Fire: The Politics of Revolutionary Anti-Imperialism." and DEDICATED it to SIRHAN SIRNAN the guy that shot KENNEDY >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_dkIFHnBLc

How can any Democrat vote for a guy that has been hanging around, (had him in his house!)with a guy that dedicated his book to SirHan SirHan,the guy who shot the most loved democrat president ever?

[Enough Already]

All this article shows is the huge amount of idiotic time wasting and circular discussions that exist in the 'blogosphere'. The LA times and other publications should be careful not to go down the same path in some effort to protect their brands from erosion by bloggers.

[Lee Maristany]

obama is a moslem and a socialist just like his Kenyan father was unlike his father he is not an alcoholic. I believe he will press for black reparation and his socialist agenda. If you are Jewish you should be afraid for Israel because he will destroy it. Please consider before you vote

[TR Roberts]

Only an under-read, ignorant, poorly informed person would believe Obama is a Muslim.

[tarbubble]

Ben: Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy, not John Kennedy. Robert Kennedy was running for president and was shot in 1968. John Kennedy was already president and was shot by Lee Harvey Oswald in 1963. Your ignorance of history discounts your opinion somewhat.

Ayers is tainted and Obama should have said "no thank you" to any Ayers efforts to help him. That's still not enough to get me to vote for McCain.

[europa]

I’m from europe, this kind of attacks would be considered unacceptable by virtually all political parties (if you exclude right extremists). A party attacking someone, directly or indirectly, on his faith would stand no chance of being elected. For many people around the world, hearing people calling Obama a muslim (although he’s not) as if it was an insult, this is really shocking. I know well the usa, I studied in Ohio and I visit the usa almost every year, so I know a lot of people in america don’t think this way. Unfortunately what the world hears is what these disrespectfull people say. That’s why I really Obama will be elected. So that many people around the world will see that the majority of americans are good people.

[Peter Hussein Honeyman]

i never imagined in a million years that my facebook would get mention in the LA times!

[Really?]

It's spelled "Kool-Aid." How is anyone supposed to take your opinion seriously if you can't even take the time to google the correct spelling of Kool-Aid?

[Jay]

NObamabots obviously love to pull out the race and fear-mongering tactic by using the word "Hussein" and claiming that those who disagree are "racist." Newsflash: according to the Muslim religion, anyone who is born from a Muslim father is considered Muslim, even if he or she later renounces it. In reality, NObama IS Muslim. Repeating what NObama says and believes it without considering this theological fact is ignorant, under-read and poorly informed of the fact that Hussein NObama IS Muslim.

[Rama-Selassie Barnwell]

My name is Rama-Selassie. There is no relationship between the first part of my first name and Rama, the 7th incarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu. The second part of my first name “Selassie,” has an indirect relationship to Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia. Surely, we, the citizens of the "Rome of the Twenty-first Century," can acknowledge and accept the fact that we are a country blessed with knowledge and wisdom from people who have come to our shores during peacetime as well as during armed conflicts. All of the armed conflicts we have had or will have will be between countries of our citizenry. To trivialize ones origin of birth or the moniker by which he or she identifies himself or herself---based solely on whom we are at war with---regrettably, will reduce America to a relic that will be consign to history books which no one will read.

[Magnus Kristiansen-Modéer a.k.a. Jesus]

"according to the Muslim religion, anyone who is born from a Muslim father is considered Muslim". According to the Muslim religion, yes. However, as he isn't a Muslim, he doesn't consider that to be true (I guess you must be Muslim, as you seem believe in it). Who is to decide his faith, he himself or some long dead ancestors (or mad, power-hungry priests)? Isn't his actual beliefs more relevant than how someone else likes to define him? If I invent a religion and claim that everyone is part of it, is that then true? Am I to define your faith? I think the declaration of human rights has something to say on the subject... Also, all of that is really irrelevant as the racism lies not in assuming that Obama is muslim, but in the implicit assumption that all muslims are terrorists.

[sheila]

seriously, attacking someone for the NAME THEY WERE BORN WITH, given to them by a FATHER THEY NEVER KNEW is as ignorant and repulsive as measuring people's rights by the accidental geography of their birth.

it's not like he chose the name in prison to make a revolutionary point. he was born with it. waaaay before saddam hussein tried to kill bush's daddy.

he might also have a birthmark in the same place as ronald reagan did - does that then make him a saint to these f***wits?

i truly despair that these people's vote counts as much as mine.

[Yes. Really.]

Dear "Really?",

If you said something in that post of yours, it sure would be interesting to know what it was. Seriously--total gibberish. I feel sure it is an accurate reflection of how clearly you think.