Corzine needs an education

NJ Governor Jon Corzine, a Democrat, told the Star Ledger:
"All of our hearts go out to all of the innocent, wherever they are (and) whether they're Christian, whether they're Arabs or whether they're Jews."
It was bad enough that Corzine's budget raised the sales tax by 17%, and with all that extra revenue he still had to cut funding for higher education. Because an ignorant comment like this one suggests that he needs a bit more education himself.

Let me explain. There is a difference between ethnicity and religion. If Corzine was talking about religion, which it seems he was since he mentioned Jews and Christians, then he should have used the term "Muslims". Those would be the 3 main religions practiced by those inhabiting the tumultuous region. Instead, he juxtaposed the word "Arabs".

"Arab" is an ethnic designation. My origin in Arab, although my religion is Christianity. There are also Jews of Arab ethnicity.

Most, but not all, Arabs are Muslim. However, some, but not most, Muslims are Arab.

Corzine should be able to recite that in his sleep. Frankly, I find it disturbing that someone could rise to the Governorship of an incredibly diverse, multi-ethnic and multi-religious state like New Jersey and still be so uninformed. Rest assured, Corzine's opponent from last year, Republican Doug Forrester, would not have made such a remark. But then again, when the Arab American community held a candidates forum last fall, Forrester showed up - Corzine didn't.