No, i don't think Bill Ayers past matters in the selection of the President because there is no hard evidence of Barack Obama and Ayers being linked except for the the $200 Bill Ayers donated. If we were to research the background of every single person that has ever donated money to a politician i'm sure we would find all kinds of criminals. Many people are concerned with Bill Ayers violent background, however it is important to remember that Obama was very young when those events took place so Obama could not be associated with that. Further more if the nation is so concerned about Bill Ayers why are they letting him be a professor?
Yes, the candidates should be very careful who they associate with because the media is always looking for something bad to say about them, but I think we should vote for the politician based on what your beliefs are and not on what friends they might have had. I don't think it is a good thing that society assimilates guilt through association. Ultimately I don't think Bill Ayers past is going to affect the way the country is run. There are so many important issues like, global warming, gay rights, animal rights, war and abortion that we should be focusing on. We should look to the future instead of always looking into the past.
Here is my summary of Wednesday night: Well, first of all it was the last debate of the presidental election. i think Obama did a better job than McCain because McCain was attacking most of the time. Spoiling information when it wasn't his turn. According to Bill Ayers' past matter: i think it was 21% did really care and 60% doesn't matter at all!
First of all, everyone has opionons, listening to some Bill won't help a big difference with McCain and Obama. The Presidents matters the most to this country rather listening to this politician.
I agree with alexa on why Bill Ayer's past won't affect this country in any way. :)
Bill Ayers was a terrorist that was the leader of the 1960s and 70s domestic terrorist group Weatherman. Their motto: "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He was involved in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. But now is currently a professor at the university of Illinois. So why is he important. “After he won the grant of $50 million, Ayers’s group chose Barack Obama to distribute the money to “raise political consciousness” in public schools. Between 1995 and 1999, Obama distributed the $50 million and raised another $60 million from other civic groups to augment it. In doing so, he was following Ayers’s admonition to grant the funds to “external” organizations, like American Community Organizations for Reform.” But the question is does Ayers past effect the election? I say no. Why should one man’s mistakes affect anyone else? Ayers clearly learned from his, by giving millions to the educational systems of America. If that affects Obama’s presidency then that is just wrong. Of course Obama probably new who Ayers was but its not a bad thing to disrepute money to those who need it. One mans mistakes should not condemn another’s future.
But something about the people today do not look at the facts. All they think about is who he was not who he has become. So yes, we do as a society assimilate guilt through association. Candidates need to be careful who they are working with because the media, appointees you name it, will unfortunately use what every they can to turn it against you. However, I do not believe it will effect the election at all because Obama did nothing but help schools.
I got my source of information at this site: http://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2008/10/08/the_obama-ayers_connection
Bill Ayers' past should not matter because it was wayyy in the past. Now, if it were more recent, then you have to wonder what's up with Obama? But the deal with Bill Ayers is that he was a radical anti-war guy during the '60s and '70s who formed the group Weather Underground and they bombed about a dozen public buildings in protest of the Vietnam war. Now he's 63 and a professor at the Univ. of Illinois Chicago. That I don't get. And in September 2001 he told the New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough." Hey, that's not right. What's with that guy? Obama was 8 years old around the time of the bombings.
Obama's association with him consisted of sitting on two committees together and one time Obama had coffee with Ayers in his living room. They used to live near each other in Chicago and were both liberals. One committee was the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty group. That was from 1999-2002. Ayers also gave $200 to Obama's campaign back then.
I think it's pretty crazy to hang out with such a radical guy, especially thinking that you might want to run for higher office one day, or any political office because the media really jumps on this stuff and makes your life crappy over it. I think it was poor judgment on Obama's part. But I think as long as it's checked out and we know that Obama doesn't have any association with him and doesn't advocate those same ideas, then it's hard to pin something on him now. You have to like at Obama's own past because being a political figure and coming into contact with many people is bound to put you in the path of some bad guy. And now Ayers is a respected professor by some and a member of the same anti-poverty group.
Obama's not planning bombing anything. He explained the relationship to the American people during the last debate. We can't control everyone we meet up with in life.
You can say the same thing about John McCain because he was associated with Gordon Liddy who was busted for obstruction of justice during the Watergate scandal and served time. Liddy says he is a close personal friend of McCain's and has donated money to his campaign. What's the dif between that connection to a bad guy and Obama's connection. At least Obama isn't still hanging with Ayers as far as we know.
I don't think Ayers past should have any big impact on Obama's campaign. Obama was 8 years old when Ayers was doing his significant "terrorist" actions. So he can't really be linked to him there. The only thing that links the two of them is the $200 Ayers donated to Obama's re-election. I'm not even sure Obama was aware of his violent past when they first met early this century. Overall I think that this was just something dug up to besmirch Obama's name to make voters jump to the conclusion that he was in league with terrorists.
But in general, I think that the people you know or come in contact with can have an impact on the public's opinion of you. It's clear in many social situations. For example, say you were associated with someone in your youth who stole a car or did drugs. People may jump to the conclusion that you do drugs or have committed crimes without any solid evidence except for the sole fact that you may have been friends with them as children. That doesn't seem very fair does it? It's in society and politics are no different. Campaigns will use any bit of dirt they can find to get a leg up on their opponents. They take advantage of people's guilt through association to attract potential swing voters.
But in the end, it's your choice to determine whether the facts presented to you are true or not or let that affect your decisions.
No, I do not think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. It doesn't matter because if your democratic your still going to vote for Obama, if your republican your still going to vote for McCain, and if your undecided I don't think it really changed people's thoughts on Obama since most people are concerned with the economy rather than who was associated with whom. Although as a society I think we do assimilate through guilt through association because it is easy to blame others for problems. For example when the economy is bad like right now, people will blame the entire political party for its failure even though it was just a handful who were involved.
Here's a good website on Bill Ayers http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
I don't think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. Although Bill Ayers does have a criminal background, Obama was not associated with him then. They met because they were neighbors & by the time they met, Ayers criminal acts were in the past. The only reason they are connected is through the $200 donation Ayers made towards Obamas campaign in 2001. He supported Obama from 1999 to 2002 on the board of the not-for-profit Woods Fund of Chicago. The group only met 4 times a year. I don't think anything Ayers has said in the past to Obama is going to influence the decisions he makes if he becomes president.
No matter who runs for president, or what their background is, there will always be something negative that shows up from their past. I don't think people should let that influence their decisions. Also, if you look at Bill Ayers' current situation, you will find that he & his wife are successful professors & that they are not currently linked to any criminal affairs.
Overall, I do not believe that Bill Ayers’ past matters in the selection of a President. Obama has clearly stated several times that he has no direct association with Ayers and that Ayers will never be a part of his campaign. As Obama stated, McCain is so concerned with making this issue a huge part of his campaign which in all, reflects more on McCains campaign than it does on Obama. Just because Ayers has been involved in bad things does not reflect on Obama. If you were to look through history, not everybody that has been associated with the government has a clean background. Saying that, Obama is not even the one associated with this issue. He just knew the man doing the bad things. Another point to keep in mind is that Obama was not even a teenager when all of this took place, so in reality, how could Obama have been involved at such a young age? For all we know, Obama was not even aware of what was going on back then. I understand the idea that people want to know the background of the person who may be leading our country, but his background technically would even include these allegations against Bill Ayers.
As a society, I think people do assimilate guilt through association. But at the same time, I think it is wrong that people do that. Just because someone in this world has done something wrong, does not necessarily make their friends, family and acquaintances guilty as well. I think in the media, people should be careful who they relate themselves with. If you hear that Lindsey Lohan has yet again gone to jail for driving drunk and the next day, you see a picture of her and Brittney Spears partying together, you may assume Britney has also been driving drunk. People from the outside perspective do not know Lindsey or Brittney personally, so they assume things from what they see. I have been in situation relating to guilty by association. I was friends with a girl at my school and one day she started hating my best friend for whatever reason. A few days later, she stopped talking to me and when I asked her why, she answered with, “Well you’re friends with *****.” Although I did nothing wrong, she still hated me for being friends with someone that she did not like. She was making me a guilty party, hence guilt through association.
I found some info at: http://www.foxnews.com/video/?playerId=videolandingpage&referralObject=3153881
I don't think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of the president because it was so long ago. The only connection Obama has to Ayers is the $200 Ayers donated to Obama's re-election fund in 2001, and the fact that they were both members of the Woods Fund of Chicago which was an anti-poverty group.
Other than that, and being neighbors, Obama has no association with Ayers and was only 8 years old when Ayers was committing acts of terrorism.
As a society we assimilate guilt through association even though we shouldn't. Even if Obama and Ayers were linked in more ways, it still would not mean that Ayers' past acts would influence decisions Obama would make as president.
Bill Ayers in !960 and 1970 was the leader of the domestic terrorist group Weatherman. the terrorist group moto was : "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He also Participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. Now anyways i thought you would lik a little backround information before i answer the blog question. i don't think his past matters to muh because like alexa said if were to look back and see all the people who donated money to politicains we would find many criminals. Now like i said in the other blog i hate politics and everything to do with them so do i think Bill Ayers past will have affect on the pesidents selection? well no i dont because obvisously he has done many bad things in the past and it was the past so i would think he is not the same. For example it is the same as obama because his backround is muslim and right now muslims are not our friends. So obamahas like the same thing happening as bill ayers but in a different way.
The other part of the question is yes i think we do assimilate guilt through our society.For example if George bush shot someone when he was a kid wouldn't people think he was going to accidently shoot someone during his presidency term. Or for example if a kid got caught cheating on a test wouldn't the teacher not trust him any more because of that one incident. People could think of him differently and hold it against them to trust him any more. So yes we assimilate guilt through our society in many ways.
The Bill Ayers thing could go both ways. For him not to have any effect would be in this case. Democrats and Republicans have such different views, and I don’t think Democrats will change and vote for John McCain just because Obama was associated with a past terrorist. Plus Bill Ayers has changed for the better and is now a good person. The only people I think this could affect would be the Independent voters. The Independents sometimes look at every single detail in both candidates, and something like that could lead them to vote for John McCain, and others could just look right over it. Also, if all these little things from the past really mattered to a voter, they would research every piece of it to find out the exact truth and not just what the news is telling them.
As a society I think we definitely assimilate guilt through association with almost everything. An example of everyday life would be getting into an argument with someone you know but aren’t that good of friends with, and then up hating the people they are friends with just because they are friends with them.
I don't think Bill Ayer's past should matter in the selection of a president. I feel that what he was associated with was so long ago, like in the 70's, that it shouldn't affect our decesions today. The past is the past and you can't change it so i think we should be focusing more on what each canidate can do to help the future,not who they associated with many years ago.
I think as a society we do assimilate guilt through association. It happens no matter how old you are. If you have problems with one friend most people will end up stop talking to someone else because they are friends with the person you don't like. I think it's kinda stupid but that's just the way everyone thinks.
Bill Ayers terrorist peak was almost over 30 years ago, how this affects Obama now I do not know. Unless some how Obama found some way to make contact with a terrorist when he was about 8. Politics is full of criminals, whether we know it or not. I do think that it was irrational for Obama to associate himself someone known for terrorism. Regardless of who Obama associates with it is highly unlikely that it will be a problem for him when it comes to making decisions about running the country. The media plays the whole Bill Ayers card way too much and when I say the media, I really mean the McCain campaign. It's a move of desperation. But that's ok because we will find out whether it worked or not on election day!
I think the Bill Ayers controversy is nothing more than an intense form of political mudslinging. Some people have made bad mistakes that they, at one point or another, will regret. Who cares what happened in the 70’s? Why is this relevant to Obama’s candidacy? The 60’s and 70’s were times when everyone was radical, and everyone wanted to protest. Do people honestly think that Obama will bring Ayers back to his peak of radical activism? Democratic voters want Obama to win because they know he will move on. If he doesn’t move on from the 70’s, how will he move on from the Bush years? The past is the past, and if Obama is the great man that everyone makes him out to be, than this will not affect his presidency at all.
Judging from the extent of Obama and Ayer's relationship I do not think it should be a matter in a voter's selection of a candidate. That being said, I definitely believe that our society associates guilt through association. Decided voters for McCain are just going to see this as further evidence for not voting for Obama. Decided voters for Obama are most likely going to defend the accusation. It is the undecided voters that may be swayed by this idea that Obama has a past relationship with a terrorist. Again, I think a more prominent issue relating to Obama's past relationship is that of he and his pastor. It was much more recent and much closer of a relationship with a person who’s ideals are not in the best interest of The Unites States. I got my information about Bill Ayer's past from MSN encarta, and the information about Obama's relationship with him from yahoo news.
I believe that Bill Ayers' past does not matter in the selection of a President. His anti-war record has nothing to do with Obama because Obama was only eight years old when Ayers was part of the anti-war group, "Weather Underground." Ayers' is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The only association he has to Obama is that he donated 200 dollars to his campaign in 2001, they lived in the same neighborhood, and they worked together for a couple non-profit organizations. I don't think it was right for McCain to bring him up with Obama's campaign because Obama was never associated with Ayers' terrorism to the US back in the sixties. Although presidential candidates should be careful with whom they associate with, Obama should not be linked to Ayers' past.
For the other question, yes, I do believe we as a society assimilate guilt through association, but I do not think it is right. Just because someone has done something wrong in their past or in the present doesn't mean friends and family should be looked down upon too. A really good example is the obvious one with our age group. When you get in a fight with someone you won't talk to their friends because they are associated with the person your mad at.
I got a lot of information at: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
Writing in TIME, Michael Kinsley bashes Bill Ayers but dismisses the importance of a link between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama:
Years later, Ayers threw a fund-raising party for Obama. They sat together on the board of a community group. Is this association between Obama and these dangerous radicals a scandal? Or is the scandal digging up all this ancient history? Those have been the options in the debate. But the truth is a third option: Ayers and Dohrn are despicable, and yet making an issue of Obama's relationship with them is absurd.
Well, before dismissing it, shouldn't Mr. Kinsley inform himself and his readership as to the full extent of the relationship? Bill Ayers was instrumental in setting up the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a project dedicated to public school reform which was launched in January 1995; Barack Obama was the first chairman of the group, and they worked together on it for years. Let's add that the fundraiser hosted by Ayers was in 1995, at the same time Ayers and Obama were buddying up on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge; they were hardly casual acquaintances.
Also keep in mind - Obama's campaign has been lying by omission about this Ayers-Obama link - their "Fact Check" on the two men failed to disclose this connection.
So why the cover-up? I don't know. But I do know that it makes little sense to dismiss a relationship that has not been fully disclosed and is being concealed. Remember the rule - where there's smoke and a guy with a fire extinguisher, there's fire.
In my opinion, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. I believe this because the so called "terrorist acts" committed by Bill Ayers were nothing more than acts of protest towards the Vietnam War. His acts of protest did not cause any casualties to citizens. The only casualties that occurred happened to members of his own group, who were killed while attempting to make bombs. Although I do not see it as an important factor in the election, I can see how other would see it that way. If Obama were running for any other federal job, he would not be able to get it. For example if he were trying to become a member of the CIA and they preformed a background check, and he was linked to a known terrorist, there is no way he would get the job. I do think we as a society assimilate guilt through association. If a person is in the car while another person is committing a crime, the person in the car would still be guilty of committing the crime, even if he didn’t know it was happening. A situation similar to this occurred right here in Agoura Hills, this is the link http://www.brandonhein.com/
To be completely honest I didn’t even know who Bill Ayer was until Mr. Shipley assigned this current event. However, I feel that his previous history or what he’s known for doing should not affect the selection of the next president of the United States. He made bad decisions in the 1960’s and some may feel that he will do them again. But after reading the article that has been posted by many I feel that he has changed for the better he is now the owner of Alaskan Airlines and wants to help. His donation to Obama which was only 200 dollars is not big enough to have any major effect on Obama’s fundraising campaign. Many other people have made larger contributions to it that Bill Ayer. This is only a problem because he is a democrat, if he was helping a republican this would not be a problem.
No, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President because it was in the past. Although it is definitely frigthening to think about, he has obviously learned from his mistakes. As Alexa said earlier, if you check everyones background you are sure to dig up some dirt. Bill Ayers was the leader in the 1960's and 70's domestic terrorist group weatherman. His motto was " Kill all the rich... bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He participated in the bombings of NYC Police Headquarters in 1970, Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. To contrast, he is currently a professor at the University of Illinois. Ayers and Obama worked together with the CAC. Ayers made presentations to board meetings charred by Obama.
Yes I do believe we assimilate guilt through association because in high school lots of the time you judge people by the kids they hang out with. For example, if your parents found out that your friends were doing drugs or drinking at a party, they would assume you were too. Therefore, they wouldn't want you to be associated with them anymore. As previously stated, if friends get in a fight sometimes they will not talk to their "ex friends" friends just because of the argument. For example if any of you are Hills fans, Lauren won't talk to Heidi because she is associated with Spencer.
In my opinion Bill Ayers past will not matter in the selection of President. I think that he has made some mistakes in his life, but hey, he is only human, and i think that most Americans understand that. But, he has shown that he has learned from his mistakes, and in a way made up for them by giving money to educational foundations. I do not believe in dwelling on the past because, no matter how badly we want to, we cannot change it, we can only learn from it, which like i said is exactly what Bill Ayers did in a way. I think that if this was a more recent matter, then it would definitely affect the selection of President, however, like i said it is not. Plus the only real connection that Obama and Ayers have is the $200 that Ayers donated to Obama. Obama was 8 years old when Bill Ayers was said to be a terrorist. That was quite some time ago. My mom did not have a single clue who this guy even was/or is.
However, i do think that we do assimilate guilt through association. I personally do not think that it is necessarily correct to do so, but nonetheless i think we do it. I mean i come across it at school all the time, if someone doesn't like you it nearly always means that they do not like your close friends either.
I got the information needed in order to make my decision on this matter from the following sites: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213 http://www.foxnews.com/video/?playerId=videolanding
Bill Ayers' past has absolutely no importance to the selection of our next president because he has nearly no relation to Barack Obama. His only relation to Obama from their attendances at several political assemblies and several fundraisers for Barack's campaign for senate. Also, Bill Ayer's was a criminal back when Obama was 8 years old, so there is no possibility that Obama is a terrorist or ever was a terrorist. McCain's allegations are poorly supported and are unacceptable for his campaign.
I do not think the majority of society assimilates guilt through association; although, opponents of a specific force try to in order to gain a more popularity, but generally, not very successfully. For example, McCarthy accused many Americans of being un-American and unpatriotic by accusing them of being communists.The people he accused who might have been near or were Communists were many times arrested and un-rightfully tried in court. McCarthy quickly grew enemies and his attacks backfired and caused him to step down.
I think that there are some people who might base their vote on the relationship between Ayers and Obama, although I wouldn't think it would be significant. I find it a little scary that Obama may have had an affiliation with a domestic terrorist, but I'm sure Obama's intentions are good, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. As a society, I think we overlook little things like Ayers and can focus on what really matters, (at least I hope) like taxes, foreign policy, warfare, and in today's world, the economic crisis. Voters definitely should have plenty more to think about before someone like Bill Ayers pops into their head.
Bill Ayers’ past should have no affect on the selection of the president of the United States. Obama and Ayers knew each other before and after Ayers terrorist involvement. However, Obama had no connection to Ayers through that time in his life. Obama himself was not and has never been affiliated with any terrorist activities. This wide spread rumors and attempts to create guilt be association are just the actions of a dying campaign. McCain spread these rumors in hopes of swaying voters in his favor.
As a society, we have at times in the past assimilated guilt through association. An example of this is the McCarthy era. However, these claims are too outrageous for society to take seriously. Although society is impressionable there is only so far an extent people will believe what they are told.
I personally believe that Bill Ayers will not affect the vote of the president. Who is Bill Ayers? What is so significant about him? Can you assimilate guilt through our society? Bill Ayers has done some horrifying acts in the past, but he has put that all behind him by becoming a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Bill Ayers found Weathermen, which launched bombs that targeted the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. Other bombings by the Weathermen had been in 1970 when a pipe bomb n San Francisco attributed to the group killed one police officer and severely hurt another. Even though Ayers has committed bombings in the past, doesn’t mean he still is the same person Obama campaign relationship can greatly exaggerate his opponents’ sympathy. In 1974, federal riot and bombing charges were dropped. Another explosion in Greenwich Village town house basement killed three in 1981, an armed robbery of a Brink in NY, two police officers and a guard were killed. People do make mistakes, but to judge a person by his friends or the decisions you made in the past is immature. Twenty –six years later, Barrack Obama met Mr. Ayers, whom hosted for Barrack for Mr. Obama’s first run for office. Obama was only eight years old when he first met Bill. The only time they got close was when Bill Ayers donated to an Obama campaign. I agree with Lailafar, because we do assimilate guilt through our society.
I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters would affect Barack Obama at all. Even though Bill Ayers was part of the Weather Underground that dealt with terrorism. Bill affected Barack Obama by living in the same neighborhood and he supported Barack Obama. But does that count to make Barack Obama label as a terrorist. I understand the possibility that Barack could have been influenced but we would have been able to pick up those traits from the very beginning. Barack own style for fighting for us is what got us entranced by his speeches. It was not Bill Ayers past crimes that made Barack into the famous political hero we see of today.
Even though that was one example, society still judges people based off guilt through association. Barack Obama was not affected by it but does that make it so for every event. There are times one can influence an acquatiance and get him to do stuff that would endanger the public.
I am not saying that it is right for us to do it. But in our society, it is fair and just that it is even in law. Even if u were totally innocent, if u were caught with a friend, you could get arrested for being an acquaintance.
I believe that Bill Ayers' past will matter in this election. The republican's have made a big deal about Senator Obama's association with Bill Ayers. Through the most part, I believe as a society we do assimilate guild through association. Senator Obama was 8 years old at the time Bill Ayers was a "terrorist." I hope that Senator Obama's association with Bill Ayers later in his life does not negatively effect his campaign.
I do not believe that Bill Ayers should be included in consideration for Barack Obama. When Barack Obama was associated with Bill Ayers he had no way of knowing that Bill Ayers would become a criminal. As a society we do unfortunately assimilate guilt through association.
I think that the Bill Ayers issue is absurd. Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist from the Vietnam era. He should no longer be relevant unless, for some reason, he decides to continue the things he did all that time ago. However, many "violent" republicans, like the ones who call Obama a terrorist at Palin or McCain rallies or those who might want to kill Obama or the pundits on news outlets that want to make up a rumor everytime the Republican candidate say something stupid so that Americans will forget what the stupid thing is and pay attention to terrorism.
NO, I believe that Bill Ayers had nothing to do with this presidential election. When Bill was doing his "terrorist" actions Obama was only 8 years old so i think they had nothing to do with each other there. But besides that the only thing that really links them together is Ayers donating 200 dollars to Obama's re-election. Obama tells everyone that he had nothing to do with Ayers "terrorist" plots or anything of that manor. He says to every one that Ayers will not be apart of his campaign. There is no way Obama could have been apart of Ayers' "terrorist actions because he was so young and he most likely had no idea what was even going on at that young of an age.
Yes because the people today basically only look at the person's past instead of what they are today. The media today would basically change the truth into anything making every one think the wrong things about that person. We should instead of looking at the past should look at the future so we can actually make the right choices.
Bill Ayers was the leader of the 1960’s and 70’s domestic terrorist group Weatherman. He once said “kill all the rich people…bring the revolution home. Kill your parents.” Ayers believes in communism and is associated with Obama. He was the one that gave Obama 600 thousand dollars for his campaign and he helped Obama when he first started his campaign. Ayers is a communist terrorist that is anti-American and is held responsible for some bombings that occurred in the united states. After his girlfriend died him and his wife were fugitives of the FBI. He participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970 of the Capitol building in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. In 2001 he said “I don’t regret setting bomsa..i feel we didn’t do enough.” This here proves that he does not love this country and since he helped Barack with his campaign he is linked to him. Barack knew about his past yet still remained in contact with him? Would you as a presidential candidate eliminate all the people that may bring your career to an end. Barack was associated with a church that was ant-American and spoke of nothing but hate. Why would he now all the sudden want to be the president of our country. If Obama does become president I think that we may be in big trouble because he is still in contact with Bill Ayers and who knows if will once again bomb the united states? Ayers joined the Woods Fund of Chicago where he served with Barack Obama in the board until 2002. With our elections just around the corner how do we know as the people that Barack will stick to his word and not let another terrorist attack happen? Being associated with Bill does nothing but make him look bad and possibly not do anything if an attack was planed and acted upon. http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2169 Our society today does assimilate guilt with association because it is how our country Is ran. If you were in the position of being a gang members friend, brother, sister, mom, dad, ect. And you were to witness something that was illegal or not right you are automatically associated with the criminal because you are an accomplice. Say the criminal were to get away well then you would still be associated and have guilt because you knew in your heart what occurred was not right. Living in America it is the law that if one is associated you are also convicted of any crime that is committed.
“Bill Ayers and Barack Obama at one time lived in the same neighborhood in the city of Chicago, and both had worked on education reform in the state of Illinois. The two met "at a luncheon meeting about school reform."[41] Obama was named to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Project Board of Directors to oversee the distribution of grants in Chicago. Later in 1995, Ayers hosted "a coffee" for "Mr. Obama's first run for office."[42] The two served on the board of a community anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 2000 and 2002, during which time the board met 12 times.[42] In April 2001, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate.[41] Since 2002, there has been little linking Obama and Ayers.[42] Obama said in September 2008 that he hadn't "seen him in a year-and-a-half."[43] In February 2008, Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement from the senator about the relationship between the two: "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous."[41] CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the non-profit projects in which the two men were involved.[44] Internal reviews by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic "have said that their reporting does not support the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship".[45] William C. Ibershof, the lead federal prosecutor of the Weather Underground case noted, "I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child."[46]” wikipedia
No, Bill Ayers only worked with Obama for 2 to 3 years over a school project and only held meetings 12 times. He only donated 200 dollars to Obama’s re-election fund.
Yes, its one of the most popular sayings I know “guilty by association.” And McCain always seems to think that that’s going to work. He always associates him slef with a role model or a person of great importance, assuming that people are going to say ‘ oh, well, if he knows the Dali Lama, he has to be a good guy.’
Woah. Ok. total internet issue, stupid IE, last time I use it.
Ok so since IE decided to not post my comment yesterday, ill try and make this short, sweet, and to the point.
The question of guilt through association is an interesting one and I think we can all agree that if I was unaware of someone hurting someone else, that would not make my guilty. I will not go as far as to say that the McCain campaign is in sighting guilt through association, but I believe that speaks for itself. The question is more if association period matters in the selection of any thing elected by the people and the answer is simple... even if it may not matter our conscious brings it up, whether it be to discuss the topic or just discuss how ludicrous it is, it still reveals itself. Being significant or not, if it gains its 15 second of fame, it has done its part and will force you regardless of prior nature to think deeper.
Perhaps this is good, perhaps this will change future elections. Maybe it will not and society will continue to assimilate guilt through association, especially as Americans who somehow enjoy pointing the finger at others no matter what happened. It is always someone else's fault don't ya know. So the questions raised is not if we do, but how do we deal with the notion of it. That is poorly. Of course Bill Ayers' should not matter in the selection of a President, but putting rational reasoning aside, it does play with our minds- the foundation of the topic in the first place. I may be wrong and you may be right, but as long as I change the subject or get your mind off-topic... I win.
In my opinion, Bill Ayers association with either candidate will not have an effect on the presidential election. I think this because recently I've been watching a lot a news, and only once has Ayes come up. Only ONCE and the media exaggerates everything. I've heard more about Acorn and "Joe the Plumber" than Ayers. It's not surprising that Ayers donated money, he's a liberal and Obama is a liberal. I agree with Alexa that if people were to do background checks on all the individuals that donated money, I'm sure that you would find some pretty... interesting stuff. I find it ridiculous that Bill is even dragged into this. As everyone before me has mentioned, Barak was EIGHT years old! I believe there is absolutely no connection between them. It's just the medias way of falling off the deep end to associate Obama with a terrorist.
As a society, yes we do assimilate guilt through association. One of the biggest examples I can think of is that even NOW in 2008, some American people still associate German people with the Holocaust. Germany today has completely changed, yet people are still in that mindset that Germany=bad. Everyone is quick to judge without hearing the full story. It's sad almost that we are judged by the people we associate our selves with instead of on our individualism. But at the moment, that's just how it is.
No, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in this election. I don't know how Obama could be associated with him if Obama was only 8 when Bill Ayers made an attack. Anyways so what if Ayers gave Obama some money. I bet that most people who have donated money to a candidate has done something bad once in their life You could even say that is someone who is giving a ton of money to a candidate is bad if they never give any money to charities. This is just another attack plan by McCain. In other words I think that Ayers past shouldn't be associated in this election, but it might be because this society does in fact assimilate guilt through association. How many times have we chosen not talk to someone just because they are friends with someone who we don't like. Even when some one sees a middle eastern person in an airport, a lot of people get nervous. Chances are that that the person is just a normal guy, but society assumes that they are a terrorist. So yes, our society does assimilate guilt through association, even though we shouldn't, we do a lot of things we shouldn't.
It is not true to say that all society Members of certain groups use this tactic to gain popularity, but generally, not very successfully. It is completely rediculous to think that 200$ meant anything dirty was going on between Obama and Bill Ayers... When anyone wants to find something like maybe dirt on a politician bad enough they are bound to turn up something eventually.
I completely agree with Brennan on every point. This is a perfect example of mudslinging gone out of hand. We all do things we aren't proud of. This was too long ago, and has nothing to do with Obama, his views, or his candicy. We have to trust Obama to not let this happen. And considering the radical cultural difference between the 60-70's and now, I think it is safe to assume Obama can handle it.
I personally think that Bill Ayer's past does not matter in the selection of a president. His previous records don't really have anything to do with Obama. The only connection they have is that he donated some money and worked for a few non-profit organizations. For McCain to bring up Ayer's is stupid because technically Obama and Ayer's were never even associated. To answer the second question I do think that we as a society assimilate guilt through association. I think it is like you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah someone may have committed a crime in the past but should other family members have to pay for the crime too? http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
41 comments:
No, i don't think Bill Ayers past matters in the selection of the President because there is no hard evidence of Barack Obama and Ayers being linked except for the the $200 Bill Ayers donated. If we were to research the background of every single person that has ever donated money to a politician i'm sure we would find all kinds of criminals. Many people are concerned with Bill Ayers violent background, however it is important to remember that Obama was very young when those events took place so Obama could not be associated with that. Further more if the nation is so concerned about Bill Ayers why are they letting him be a professor?
Yes, the candidates should be very careful who they associate with because the media is always looking for something bad to say about them, but I think we should vote for the politician based on what your beliefs are and not on what friends they might have had. I don't think it is a good thing that society assimilates guilt through association. Ultimately I don't think Bill Ayers past is going to affect the way the country is run. There are so many important issues like, global warming, gay rights, animal rights, war and abortion that we should be focusing on. We should look to the future instead of always looking into the past.
Here is my summary of Wednesday night: Well, first of all it was the last debate of the presidental election. i think Obama did a better job than McCain because McCain was attacking most of the time. Spoiling information when it wasn't his turn. According to Bill Ayers' past matter: i think it was 21% did really care and 60% doesn't matter at all!
First of all, everyone has opionons, listening to some Bill won't help a big difference with McCain and Obama. The Presidents matters the most to this country rather listening to this politician.
I agree with alexa on why Bill Ayer's past won't affect this country in any way. :)
Bill Ayers was a terrorist that was the leader of the 1960s and 70s domestic terrorist group Weatherman. Their motto: "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He was involved in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. But now is currently a professor at the university of Illinois. So why is he important. “After he won the grant of $50 million, Ayers’s group chose Barack Obama to distribute the money to “raise political consciousness” in public schools. Between 1995 and 1999, Obama distributed the $50 million and raised another $60 million from other civic groups to augment it. In doing so, he was following Ayers’s admonition to grant the funds to “external” organizations, like American Community Organizations for Reform.” But the question is does Ayers past effect the election? I say no. Why should one man’s mistakes affect anyone else? Ayers clearly learned from his, by giving millions to the educational systems of America. If that affects Obama’s presidency then that is just wrong. Of course Obama probably new who Ayers was but its not a bad thing to disrepute money to those who need it. One mans mistakes should not condemn another’s future.
But something about the people today do not look at the facts. All they think about is who he was not who he has become. So yes, we do as a society assimilate guilt through association. Candidates need to be careful who they are working with because the media, appointees you name it, will unfortunately use what every they can to turn it against you. However, I do not believe it will effect the election at all because Obama did nothing but help schools.
I got my source of information at this site:
http://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2008/10/08/the_obama-ayers_connection
Bill Ayers' past should not matter because it was wayyy in the past. Now, if it were more recent, then you have to wonder what's up with Obama? But the deal with Bill Ayers is that he was a radical anti-war guy during the '60s and '70s who formed the group Weather Underground and they bombed about a dozen public buildings in protest of the Vietnam war. Now he's 63 and a professor at the Univ. of Illinois Chicago. That I don't get. And in September 2001 he told the New York Times, "I don't regret setting bombs...I feel we didn't do enough." Hey, that's not right. What's with that guy? Obama was 8 years old around the time of the bombings.
Obama's association with him consisted of sitting on two committees together and one time Obama had coffee with Ayers in his living room. They used to live near each other in Chicago and were both liberals. One committee was the Woods Fund of Chicago, an anti-poverty group. That was from 1999-2002. Ayers also gave $200 to Obama's campaign back then.
I think it's pretty crazy to hang out with such a radical guy, especially thinking that you might want to run for higher office one day, or any political office because the media really jumps on this stuff and makes your life crappy over it. I think it was poor judgment on Obama's part. But I think as long as it's checked out and we know that Obama doesn't have any association with him and doesn't advocate those same ideas, then it's hard to pin something on him now. You have to like at Obama's own past because being a political figure and coming into contact with many people is bound to put you in the path of some bad guy. And now Ayers is a respected professor by some and a member of the same anti-poverty group.
Obama's not planning bombing anything. He explained the relationship to the American people during the last debate. We can't control everyone we meet up with in life.
You can say the same thing about John McCain because he was associated with Gordon Liddy who was busted for obstruction of justice during the Watergate scandal and served time. Liddy says he is a close personal friend of McCain's and has donated money to his campaign. What's the dif between that connection to a bad guy and Obama's connection. At least Obama isn't still hanging with Ayers as far as we know.
I don't think Ayers past should have any big impact on Obama's campaign. Obama was 8 years old when Ayers was doing his significant "terrorist" actions. So he can't really be linked to him there. The only thing that links the two of them is the $200 Ayers donated to Obama's re-election. I'm not even sure Obama was aware of his violent past when they first met early this century. Overall I think that this was just something dug up to besmirch Obama's name to make voters jump to the conclusion that he was in league with terrorists.
But in general, I think that the people you know or come in contact with can have an impact on the public's opinion of you. It's clear in many social situations. For example, say you were associated with someone in your youth who stole a car or did drugs. People may jump to the conclusion that you do drugs or have committed crimes without any solid evidence except for the sole fact that you may have been friends with them as children. That doesn't seem very fair does it? It's in society and politics are no different. Campaigns will use any bit of dirt they can find to get a leg up on their opponents. They take advantage of people's guilt through association to attract potential swing voters.
But in the end, it's your choice to determine whether the facts presented to you are true or not or let that affect your decisions.
No, I do not think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. It doesn't matter because if your democratic your still going to vote for Obama, if your republican your still going to vote for McCain, and if your undecided I don't think it really changed people's thoughts on Obama since most people are concerned with the economy rather than who was associated with whom.
Although as a society I think we do assimilate through guilt through association because it is easy to blame others for problems. For example when the economy is bad like right now, people will blame the entire political party for its failure even though it was just a handful who were involved.
Here's a good website on Bill Ayers
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
I don't think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. Although Bill Ayers does have a criminal background, Obama was not associated with him then. They met because they were neighbors & by the time they met, Ayers criminal acts were in the past. The only reason they are connected is through the $200 donation Ayers made towards Obamas campaign in 2001. He supported Obama from 1999 to 2002 on the board of the not-for-profit Woods Fund of Chicago. The group only met 4 times a year. I don't think anything Ayers has said in the past to Obama is going to influence the decisions he makes if he becomes president.
No matter who runs for president, or what their background is, there will always be something negative that shows up from their past. I don't think people should let that influence their decisions. Also, if you look at Bill Ayers' current situation, you will find that he & his wife are successful professors & that they are not currently linked to any criminal affairs.
Overall, I do not believe that Bill Ayers’ past matters in the selection of a President. Obama has clearly stated several times that he has no direct association with Ayers and that Ayers will never be a part of his campaign. As Obama stated, McCain is so concerned with making this issue a huge part of his campaign which in all, reflects more on McCains campaign than it does on Obama. Just because Ayers has been involved in bad things does not reflect on Obama. If you were to look through history, not everybody that has been associated with the government has a clean background. Saying that, Obama is not even the one associated with this issue. He just knew the man doing the bad things. Another point to keep in mind is that Obama was not even a teenager when all of this took place, so in reality, how could Obama have been involved at such a young age? For all we know, Obama was not even aware of what was going on back then. I understand the idea that people want to know the background of the person who may be leading our country, but his background technically would even include these allegations against Bill Ayers.
As a society, I think people do assimilate guilt through association. But at the same time, I think it is wrong that people do that. Just because someone in this world has done something wrong, does not necessarily make their friends, family and acquaintances guilty as well. I think in the media, people should be careful who they relate themselves with. If you hear that Lindsey Lohan has yet again gone to jail for driving drunk and the next day, you see a picture of her and Brittney Spears partying together, you may assume Britney has also been driving drunk. People from the outside perspective do not know Lindsey or Brittney personally, so they assume things from what they see. I have been in situation relating to guilty by association. I was friends with a girl at my school and one day she started hating my best friend for whatever reason. A few days later, she stopped talking to me and when I asked her why, she answered with, “Well you’re friends with *****.” Although I did nothing wrong, she still hated me for being friends with someone that she did not like. She was making me a guilty party, hence guilt through association.
I found some info at:
http://www.foxnews.com/video/?playerId=videolandingpage&referralObject=3153881
I don't think Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of the president because it was so long ago. The only connection Obama has to Ayers is the $200 Ayers donated to Obama's re-election fund in 2001, and the fact that they were both members of the Woods Fund of Chicago which was an anti-poverty group.
Other than that, and being neighbors, Obama has no association with Ayers and was only 8 years old when Ayers was committing acts of terrorism.
As a society we assimilate guilt through association even though we shouldn't. Even if Obama and Ayers were linked in more ways, it still would not mean that Ayers' past acts would influence decisions Obama would make as president.
I found info about Ayers at:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html
Bill Ayers in !960 and 1970 was the leader of the domestic terrorist group Weatherman. the terrorist group moto was : "Kill all the rich people. ... Bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He also Participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970, of the Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. Now anyways i thought you would lik a little backround information before i answer the blog question. i don't think his past matters to muh because like alexa said if were to look back and see all the people who donated money to politicains we would find many criminals. Now like i said in the other blog i hate politics and everything to do with them so do i think Bill Ayers past will have affect on the pesidents selection? well no i dont because obvisously he has done many bad things in the past and it was the past so i would think he is not the same. For example it is the same as obama because his backround is muslim and right now muslims are not our friends. So obamahas like the same thing happening as bill ayers but in a different way.
The other part of the question is yes i think we do assimilate guilt through our society.For example if George bush shot someone when he was a kid wouldn't people think he was going to accidently shoot someone during his presidency term. Or for example if a kid got caught cheating on a test wouldn't the teacher not trust him any more because of that one incident. People could think of him differently and hold it against them to trust him any more. So yes we assimilate guilt through our society in many ways.
The Bill Ayers thing could go both ways. For him not to have any effect would be in this case. Democrats and Republicans have such different views, and I don’t think Democrats will change and vote for John McCain just because Obama was associated with a past terrorist. Plus Bill Ayers has changed for the better and is now a good person. The only people I think this could affect would be the Independent voters. The Independents sometimes look at every single detail in both candidates, and something like that could lead them to vote for John McCain, and others could just look right over it. Also, if all these little things from the past really mattered to a voter, they would research every piece of it to find out the exact truth and not just what the news is telling them.
As a society I think we definitely assimilate guilt through association with almost everything. An example of everyday life would be getting into an argument with someone you know but aren’t that good of friends with, and then up hating the people they are friends with just because they are friends with them.
I don't think Bill Ayer's past should matter in the selection of a president. I feel that what he was associated with was so long ago, like in the 70's, that it shouldn't affect our decesions today. The past is the past and you can't change it so i think we should be focusing more on what each canidate can do to help the future,not who they associated with many years ago.
I think as a society we do assimilate guilt through association. It happens no matter how old you are. If you have problems with one friend most people will end up stop talking to someone else because they are friends with the person you don't like. I think it's kinda stupid but that's just the way everyone thinks.
Bill Ayers terrorist peak was almost over 30 years ago, how this affects Obama now I do not know. Unless some how Obama found some way to make contact with a terrorist when he was about 8. Politics is full of criminals, whether we know it or not. I do think that it was irrational for Obama to associate himself someone known for terrorism. Regardless of who Obama associates with it is highly unlikely that it will be a problem for him when it comes to making decisions about running the country. The media plays the whole Bill Ayers card way too much and when I say the media, I really mean the McCain campaign. It's a move of desperation. But that's ok because we will find out whether it worked or not on election day!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxoiZdBSi-g
I think the Bill Ayers controversy is nothing more than an intense form of political mudslinging. Some people have made bad mistakes that they, at one point or another, will regret. Who cares what happened in the 70’s? Why is this relevant to Obama’s candidacy? The 60’s and 70’s were times when everyone was radical, and everyone wanted to protest. Do people honestly think that Obama will bring Ayers back to his peak of radical activism? Democratic voters want Obama to win because they know he will move on. If he doesn’t move on from the 70’s, how will he move on from the Bush years? The past is the past, and if Obama is the great man that everyone makes him out to be, than this will not affect his presidency at all.
Judging from the extent of Obama and Ayer's relationship I do not think it should be a matter in a voter's selection of a candidate. That being said, I definitely believe that our society associates guilt through association. Decided voters for McCain are just going to see this as further evidence for not voting for Obama. Decided voters for Obama are most likely going to defend the accusation. It is the undecided voters that may be swayed by this idea that Obama has a past relationship with a terrorist. Again, I think a more prominent issue relating to Obama's past relationship is that of he and his pastor. It was much more recent and much closer of a relationship with a person who’s ideals are not in the best interest of The Unites States. I got my information about Bill Ayer's past from MSN encarta, and the information about Obama's relationship with him from yahoo news.
Oh and i got my facts from:
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/fact-checker/2008/02/obamas_weatherman_connection.html
I believe that Bill Ayers' past does not matter in the selection of a President. His anti-war record has nothing to do with Obama because Obama was only eight years old when Ayers was part of the anti-war group, "Weather Underground." Ayers' is now a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The only association he has to Obama is that he donated 200 dollars to his campaign in 2001, they lived in the same neighborhood, and they worked together for a couple non-profit organizations. I don't think it was right for McCain to bring him up with Obama's campaign because Obama was never associated with Ayers' terrorism to the US back in the sixties. Although presidential candidates should be careful with whom they associate with, Obama should not be linked to Ayers' past.
For the other question, yes, I do believe we as a society assimilate guilt through association, but I do not think it is right. Just because someone has done something wrong in their past or in the present doesn't mean friends and family should be looked down upon too. A really good example is the obvious one with our age group. When you get in a fight with someone you won't talk to their friends because they are associated with the person your mad at.
I got a lot of information at:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
Writing in TIME, Michael Kinsley bashes Bill Ayers but dismisses the importance of a link between Bill Ayers and Barack Obama:
Years later, Ayers threw a fund-raising party for Obama. They sat together on the board of a community group. Is this association between Obama and these dangerous radicals a scandal? Or is the scandal digging up all this ancient history? Those have been the options in the debate. But the truth is a third option: Ayers and Dohrn are despicable, and yet making an issue of Obama's relationship with them is absurd.
Well, before dismissing it, shouldn't Mr. Kinsley inform himself and his readership as to the full extent of the relationship? Bill Ayers was instrumental in setting up the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, a project dedicated to public school reform which was launched in January 1995; Barack Obama was the first chairman of the group, and they worked together on it for years. Let's add that the fundraiser hosted by Ayers was in 1995, at the same time Ayers and Obama were buddying up on the Chicago Annenberg Challenge; they were hardly casual acquaintances.
Also keep in mind - Obama's campaign has been lying by omission about this Ayers-Obama link - their "Fact Check" on the two men failed to disclose this connection.
So why the cover-up? I don't know. But I do know that it makes little sense to dismiss a relationship that has not been fully disclosed and is being concealed. Remember the rule - where there's smoke and a guy with a fire extinguisher, there's fire.
I used two of these websites:
http://townhall.com/columnists/DickMorrisandEileenMcGann/2008/10/08/the_obama-ayers_connection
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
In my opinion, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President. I believe this because the so called "terrorist acts" committed by Bill Ayers were nothing more than acts of protest towards the Vietnam War. His acts of protest did not cause any casualties to citizens. The only casualties that occurred happened to members of his own group, who were killed while attempting to make bombs.
Although I do not see it as an important factor in the election, I can see how other would see it that way. If Obama were running for any other federal job, he would not be able to get it. For example if he were trying to become a member of the CIA and they preformed a background check, and he was linked to a known terrorist, there is no way he would get the job.
I do think we as a society assimilate guilt through association. If a person is in the car while another person is committing a crime, the person in the car would still be guilty of committing the crime, even if he didn’t know it was happening. A situation similar to this occurred right here in Agoura Hills, this is the link
http://www.brandonhein.com/
To be completely honest I didn’t even know who Bill Ayer was until Mr. Shipley assigned this current event. However, I feel that his previous history or what he’s known for doing should not affect the selection of the next president of the United States. He made bad decisions in the 1960’s and some may feel that he will do them again. But after reading the article that has been posted by many I feel that he has changed for the better he is now the owner of Alaskan Airlines and wants to help. His donation to Obama which was only 200 dollars is not big enough to have any major effect on Obama’s fundraising campaign. Many other people have made larger contributions to it that Bill Ayer. This is only a problem because he is a democrat, if he was helping a republican this would not be a problem.
Here is the article which provided a lot of info.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
No, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in the selection of a President because it was in the past. Although it is definitely frigthening to think about, he has obviously learned from his mistakes. As Alexa said earlier, if you check everyones background you are sure to dig up some dirt. Bill Ayers was the leader in the 1960's and 70's domestic terrorist group weatherman. His motto was " Kill all the rich... bring the revolution home. Kill your parents." He participated in the bombings of NYC Police Headquarters in 1970, Capitol building in 1971, and the Pentagon in 1972. To contrast, he is currently a professor at the University of Illinois. Ayers and Obama worked together with the CAC. Ayers made presentations to board meetings charred by Obama.
Yes I do believe we assimilate guilt through association because in high school lots of the time you judge people by the kids they hang out with. For example, if your parents found out that your friends were doing drugs or drinking at a party, they would assume you were too. Therefore, they wouldn't want you to be associated with them anymore. As previously stated, if friends get in a fight sometimes they will not talk to their "ex friends" friends just because of the argument. For example if any of you are Hills fans, Lauren won't talk to Heidi because she is associated with Spencer.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2169
In my opinion Bill Ayers past will not matter in the selection of President. I think that he has made some mistakes in his life, but hey, he is only human, and i think that most Americans understand that. But, he has shown that he has learned from his mistakes, and in a way made up for them by giving money to educational foundations. I do not believe in dwelling on the past because, no matter how badly we want to, we cannot change it, we can only learn from it, which like i said is exactly what Bill Ayers did in a way. I think that if this was a more recent matter, then it would definitely affect the selection of President, however, like i said it is not. Plus the only real connection that Obama and Ayers have is the $200 that Ayers donated to Obama. Obama was 8 years old when Bill Ayers was said to be a terrorist. That was quite some time ago. My mom did not have a single clue who this guy even was/or is.
However, i do think that we do assimilate guilt through association. I personally do not think that it is necessarily correct to do so, but nonetheless i think we do it. I mean i come across it at school all the time, if someone doesn't like you it nearly always means that they do not like your close friends either.
I got the information needed in order to make my decision on this matter from the following sites:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213
http://www.foxnews.com/video/?playerId=videolanding
Bill Ayers' past has absolutely no importance to the selection of our next president because he has nearly no relation to Barack Obama. His only relation to Obama from their attendances at several political assemblies and several fundraisers for Barack's campaign for senate. Also, Bill Ayer's was a criminal back when Obama was 8 years old, so there is no possibility that Obama is a terrorist or ever was a terrorist. McCain's allegations are poorly supported and are unacceptable for his campaign.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
I do not think the majority of society assimilates guilt through association; although, opponents of a specific force try to in order to gain a more popularity, but generally, not very successfully. For example, McCarthy accused many Americans of being un-American and unpatriotic by accusing them of being communists.The people he accused who might have been near or were Communists were many times arrested and un-rightfully tried in court. McCarthy quickly grew enemies and his attacks backfired and caused him to step down.
I think that there are some people who might base their vote on the relationship between Ayers and Obama, although I wouldn't think it would be significant. I find it a little scary that Obama may have had an affiliation with a domestic terrorist, but I'm sure Obama's intentions are good, so there shouldn't be anything to worry about. As a society, I think we overlook little things like Ayers and can focus on what really matters, (at least I hope) like taxes, foreign policy, warfare, and in today's world, the economic crisis. Voters definitely should have plenty more to think about before someone like Bill Ayers pops into their head.
Bill Ayers’ past should have no affect on the selection of the president of the United States. Obama and Ayers knew each other before and after Ayers terrorist involvement. However, Obama had no connection to Ayers through that time in his life. Obama himself was not and has never been affiliated with any terrorist activities. This wide spread rumors and attempts to create guilt be association are just the actions of a dying campaign. McCain spread these rumors in hopes of swaying voters in his favor.
As a society, we have at times in the past assimilated guilt through association. An example of this is the McCarthy era. However, these claims are too outrageous for society to take seriously. Although society is impressionable there is only so far an extent people will believe what they are told.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
I personally believe that Bill Ayers will not affect the vote of the president. Who is Bill Ayers? What is so significant about him? Can you assimilate guilt through our society? Bill Ayers has done some horrifying acts in the past, but he has put that all behind him by becoming a professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago. Bill Ayers found Weathermen, which launched bombs that targeted the Pentagon and the U.S. Capitol. Other bombings by the Weathermen had been in 1970 when a pipe bomb n San Francisco attributed to the group killed one police officer and severely hurt another. Even though Ayers has committed bombings in the past, doesn’t mean he still is the same person Obama campaign relationship can greatly exaggerate his opponents’ sympathy. In 1974, federal riot and bombing charges were dropped. Another explosion in Greenwich Village town house basement killed three in 1981, an armed robbery of a Brink in NY, two police officers and a guard were killed. People do make mistakes, but to judge a person by his friends or the decisions you made in the past is immature. Twenty –six years later, Barrack Obama met Mr. Ayers, whom hosted for Barrack for Mr. Obama’s first run for office. Obama was only eight years old when he first met Bill. The only time they got close was when Bill Ayers donated to an Obama campaign. I agree with Lailafar, because we do assimilate guilt through our society.
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters would affect Barack Obama at all. Even though Bill Ayers was part of the Weather Underground that dealt with terrorism. Bill affected Barack Obama by living in the same neighborhood and he supported Barack Obama. But does that count to make Barack Obama label as a terrorist. I understand the possibility that Barack could have been influenced but we would have been able to pick up those traits from the very beginning. Barack own style for fighting for us is what got us entranced by his speeches. It was not Bill Ayers past crimes that made Barack into the famous political hero we see of today.
Even though that was one example, society still judges people based off guilt through association. Barack Obama was not affected by it but does that make it so for every event. There are times one can influence an acquatiance and get him to do stuff that would endanger the public.
I am not saying that it is right for us to do it. But in our society, it is fair and just that it is even in law. Even if u were totally innocent, if u were caught with a friend, you could get arrested for being an acquaintance.
I believe that Bill Ayers' past will matter in this election. The republican's have made a big deal about Senator Obama's association with Bill Ayers. Through the most part, I believe as a society we do assimilate guild through association. Senator Obama was 8 years old at the time Bill Ayers was a "terrorist." I hope that Senator Obama's association with Bill Ayers later in his life does not negatively effect his campaign.
I do not believe that Bill Ayers should be included in consideration for Barack Obama. When Barack Obama was associated with Bill Ayers he had no way of knowing that Bill Ayers would become a criminal. As a society we do unfortunately assimilate guilt through association.
I think that the Bill Ayers issue is absurd. Bill Ayers was a domestic terrorist from the Vietnam era. He should no longer be relevant unless, for some reason, he decides to continue the things he did all that time ago. However, many "violent" republicans, like the ones who call Obama a terrorist at Palin or McCain rallies or those who might want to kill Obama or the pundits on news outlets that want to make up a rumor everytime the Republican candidate say something stupid so that Americans will forget what the stupid thing is and pay attention to terrorism.
NO, I believe that Bill Ayers had nothing to do with this presidential election. When Bill was doing his "terrorist" actions Obama was only 8 years old so i think they had nothing to do with each other there. But besides that the only thing that really links them together is Ayers donating 200 dollars to Obama's re-election. Obama tells everyone that he had nothing to do with Ayers "terrorist" plots or anything of that manor. He says to every one that Ayers will not be apart of his campaign. There is no way Obama could have been apart of Ayers' "terrorist actions because he was so young and he most likely had no idea what was even going on at that young of an age.
Yes because the people today basically only look at the person's past instead of what they are today. The media today would basically change the truth into anything making every one think the wrong things about that person. We should instead of looking at the past should look at the future so we can actually make the right choices.
Bill Ayers was the leader of the 1960’s and 70’s domestic terrorist group Weatherman. He once said “kill all the rich people…bring the revolution home. Kill your parents.” Ayers believes in communism and is associated with Obama. He was the one that gave Obama 600 thousand dollars for his campaign and he helped Obama when he first started his campaign. Ayers is a communist terrorist that is anti-American and is held responsible for some bombings that occurred in the united states. After his girlfriend died him and his wife were fugitives of the FBI. He participated in the bombings of New York City Police Headquarters in 1970 of the Capitol building in 1971 and the Pentagon in 1972. In 2001 he said “I don’t regret setting bomsa..i feel we didn’t do enough.” This here proves that he does not love this country and since he helped Barack with his campaign he is linked to him. Barack knew about his past yet still remained in contact with him? Would you as a presidential candidate eliminate all the people that may bring your career to an end. Barack was associated with a church that was ant-American and spoke of nothing but hate. Why would he now all the sudden want to be the president of our country. If Obama does become president I think that we may be in big trouble because he is still in contact with Bill Ayers and who knows if will once again bomb the united states? Ayers joined the Woods Fund of Chicago where he served with Barack Obama in the board until 2002. With our elections just around the corner how do we know as the people that Barack will stick to his word and not let another terrorist attack happen? Being associated with Bill does nothing but make him look bad and possibly not do anything if an attack was planed and acted upon.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=2169
Our society today does assimilate guilt with association because it is how our country Is ran. If you were in the position of being a gang members friend, brother, sister, mom, dad, ect. And you were to witness something that was illegal or not right you are automatically associated with the criminal because you are an accomplice. Say the criminal were to get away well then you would still be associated and have guilt because you knew in your heart what occurred was not right. Living in America it is the law that if one is associated you are also convicted of any crime that is committed.
“Bill Ayers and Barack Obama at one time lived in the same neighborhood in the city of Chicago, and both had worked on education reform in the state of Illinois. The two met "at a luncheon meeting about school reform."[41] Obama was named to the Chicago Annenberg Challenge Project Board of Directors to oversee the distribution of grants in Chicago. Later in 1995, Ayers hosted "a coffee" for "Mr. Obama's first run for office."[42] The two served on the board of a community anti-poverty group, the Woods Fund of Chicago, between 2000 and 2002, during which time the board met 12 times.[42] In April 2001, Ayers contributed $200 to Obama's re-election fund to the Illinois State Senate.[41] Since 2002, there has been little linking Obama and Ayers.[42] Obama said in September 2008 that he hadn't "seen him in a year-and-a-half."[43] In February 2008, Obama spokesman Bill Burton released a statement from the senator about the relationship between the two: "Senator Obama strongly condemns the violent actions of the Weathermen group, as he does all acts of violence. But he was an eight-year-old child when Ayers and the Weathermen were active, and any attempt to connect Obama with events of almost forty years ago is ridiculous."[41] CNN's review of project records found nothing to suggest anything inappropriate in the non-profit projects in which the two men were involved.[44] Internal reviews by The New York Times, The Washington Post, Time magazine, The Chicago Sun-Times, The New Yorker and The New Republic "have said that their reporting does not support the idea that Obama and Ayers had a close relationship".[45] William C. Ibershof, the lead federal prosecutor of the Weather Underground case noted, "I am amazed and outraged that Senator Barack Obama is being linked to William Ayers’s terrorist activities 40 years ago when Mr. Obama was, as he has noted, just a child."[46]”
wikipedia
No, Bill Ayers only worked with Obama for 2 to 3 years over a school project and only held meetings 12 times. He only donated 200 dollars to Obama’s re-election fund.
Yes, its one of the most popular sayings I know “guilty by association.” And McCain always seems to think that that’s going to work. He always associates him slef with a role model or a person of great importance, assuming that people are going to say ‘ oh, well, if he knows the Dali Lama, he has to be a good guy.’
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fV_h-XwchkY
Woah. Ok. total internet issue, stupid IE, last time I use it.
Ok so since IE decided to not post my comment yesterday, ill try and make this short, sweet, and to the point.
The question of guilt through association is an interesting one and I think we can all agree that if I was unaware of someone hurting someone else, that would not make my guilty. I will not go as far as to say that the McCain campaign is in sighting guilt through association, but I believe that speaks for itself. The question is more if association period matters in the selection of any thing elected by the people and the answer is simple... even if it may not matter our conscious brings it up, whether it be to discuss the topic or just discuss how ludicrous it is, it still reveals itself. Being significant or not, if it gains its 15 second of fame, it has done its part and will force you regardless of prior nature to think deeper.
Perhaps this is good, perhaps this will change future elections. Maybe it will not and society will continue to assimilate guilt through association, especially as Americans who somehow enjoy pointing the finger at others no matter what happened. It is always someone else's fault don't ya know. So the questions raised is not if we do, but how do we deal with the notion of it. That is poorly. Of course Bill Ayers' should not matter in the selection of a President, but putting rational reasoning aside, it does play with our minds- the foundation of the topic in the first place. I may be wrong and you may be right, but as long as I change the subject or get your mind off-topic... I win.
In my opinion, Bill Ayers association with either candidate will not have an effect on the presidential election. I think this because recently I've been watching a lot a news, and only once has Ayes come up. Only ONCE and the media exaggerates everything. I've heard more about Acorn and "Joe the Plumber" than Ayers. It's not surprising that Ayers donated money, he's a liberal and Obama is a liberal. I agree with Alexa that if people were to do background checks on all the individuals that donated money, I'm sure that you would find some pretty... interesting stuff. I find it ridiculous that Bill is even dragged into this. As everyone before me has mentioned, Barak was EIGHT years old! I believe there is absolutely no connection between them. It's just the medias way of falling off the deep end to associate Obama with a terrorist.
As a society, yes we do assimilate guilt through association. One of the biggest examples I can think of is that even NOW in 2008, some American people still associate German people with the Holocaust. Germany today has completely changed, yet people are still in that mindset that Germany=bad. Everyone is quick to judge without hearing the full story. It's sad almost that we are judged by the people we associate our selves with instead of on our individualism. But at the moment, that's just how it is.
No, I do not think that Bill Ayers' past matters in this election. I don't know how Obama could be associated with him if Obama was only 8 when Bill Ayers made an attack. Anyways so what if Ayers gave Obama some money. I bet that most people who have donated money to a candidate has done something bad once in their life You could even say that is someone who is giving a ton of money to a candidate is bad if they never give any money to charities. This is just another attack plan by McCain. In other words I think that Ayers past shouldn't be associated in this election, but it might be because this society does in fact assimilate guilt through association. How many times have we chosen not talk to someone just because they are friends with someone who we don't like. Even when some one sees a middle eastern person in an airport, a lot of people get nervous. Chances are that that the person is just a normal guy, but society assumes that they are a terrorist. So yes, our society does assimilate guilt through association, even though we shouldn't, we do a lot of things we shouldn't.
It is not true to say that all society Members of certain groups use this tactic to gain popularity, but generally, not very successfully. It is completely rediculous to think that 200$ meant anything dirty was going on between Obama and Bill Ayers... When anyone wants to find something like maybe dirt on a politician bad enough they are bound to turn up something eventually.
I completely agree with Brennan on every point.
This is a perfect example of mudslinging gone out of hand. We all do things we aren't proud of. This was too long ago, and has nothing to do with Obama, his views, or his candicy. We have to trust Obama to not let this happen. And considering the radical cultural difference between the 60-70's and now, I think it is safe to assume Obama can handle it.
I personally think that Bill Ayer's past does not matter in the selection of a president. His previous records don't really have anything to do with Obama. The only connection they have is that he donated some money and worked for a few non-profit organizations. For McCain to bring up Ayer's is stupid because technically Obama and Ayer's were never even associated.
To answer the second question I do think that we as a society assimilate guilt through association. I think it is like you're in the wrong place at the wrong time. Yeah someone may have committed a crime in the past but should other family members have to pay for the crime too?
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/902213,CST-NWS-ayers18.article
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