The Guardian is self-admittedly a liberal newspaper. Jeb Bush is self-admittedly quite conservative.
I'm neither of those things, but today I'll try to figure out the Republican. This might be a bit of a devil's advocate kind of post for this blog, but something in the British newspaper's story got under my skin.
The article summarizes Bush's comments at a conservative conference in Washington, focusing on his answer to a question about Islam in which he said that Muslim extremists are "barbarians" who have "hijacked" the religion in order to "destroy western civilization."
Um, so that's extreme. So much so, in fact, that it makes me wonder: why would a possible presidential candidate choose to put a foot worthy of a size 14 shoe in his mouth?
The Guardian writer would have readers believe it's because of Bush's lack of intelligence, judging by the three paragraphs he devotes to the last minutes of the interview, in which Bush forgot the name of the book he's reading (The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, if you're curious).
But could it be as simple as that? Does Bush truly not realize that his statement is of the kind that go viral and make politicians the laughingstock of all liberal media?
Maybe there is something so disturbing, so frightening in Islam that Bush feels justified in making his sweeping statements. Surely the sight of seeing the twin towers fall on 9/11 was so terrifying. Perhaps he knew someone who had been affected.
It's easy to explain away his feelings of fear and threat and say if he only knew more about Islam, he would not be so worried. But for someone who has truly had negative experiences - maybe even lost a loved one in a terrorist attack - forgetting the negative and believing the positive isn't a simple matter of choice.
And we live in a world that doesn't make it any easier.
Just as the extreme statements of conservative politicians are discussed and exaggerated by liberal media, so are the extreme actions of Islamic fundamentalists discussed and exaggerated by conservative media.
A more compassionate journalist might have chosen to include other details from Bush's interview instead of the politician's reading list memory slip. More understanding media might choose to focus on positive aspects of Islam rather than repeating reels of terrorism footage.
Until we all get a little closer to the center, to compromise and to compassion, this world will never cease to seem divided and unfriendly.
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