Some Social-Psychologists and Criminologists have posited that people self-select their companions and associates who do NOT train or indoctrinate them; But, rather, reinforce their pre-set tendencies. It is also posited that this begins at a very early age (About seven years old) and continues through life.
Therefore (Assuming this is true) children with positive values as to education, athletics, honesty will group together with like-minded persons who give positive responses to such behaviors and ideas. Likewise, those who tend towards criminality, disobedience, destruction of property, lying and similar tendencies will join one another for such emotional or mental or physical rewards as such associations bring to the end that their acts and thoughts are "reinforced".
However, it is not only children who drift towards such mutual-admiration and negative groups. Consider the tendency of "needle sharing" drug addicts, non-monogamous and adult-onset homosexuals, anti-democracy group terrorists (So common at too many of our universities) and such like enemies of humane humanness.
How then does this apply to Senator Obama? He did not, of course, have a choice in his enrollment in a Koran school in Indonesia. Yet, his statement as to supporting Muslims if the political winds blow badly and his willingness to sit down, without ground rules, with the leaders of terrorist and Mad-Mullah ruled Iran do lead me to wonder about the effect of his early years' orientation.
As an adult, he did have close associations with persons (And organizations) which preached and practiced racism (His wife and the Black Muslims), terrorism (Mr. Ayres and other traitors), vote-fixing groups (Acorn and the Chicago political machine) and other like persons and groups.
Senator Obama may or may not have been "formed" by such associations. However, he does seem to have drifted towards those who would reinforce-by-approval his actions AND whose thoughts and actions he would and did approve by ongoing associations. Such movement is not, as such, abnormal; But, the end results can be harmful to society and the self.
Too many in the media continue to pound the drum of those who project that a candidate's formative associations are not important. At the least, they should point out that some scientists hold that is NOT the case AND that just "knowing people" who are dysfunctional (As I did as a Probation & Parole Agent and prison Social Worker) is NOT the same as the types of self-justifying relationships described above and as, perhaps, led to the "real Senator Obama" .
Association is not evidence of any guilt; BUT, can be (Is?) evidence of basic character.
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