Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

...it just doesn't work the way you seem to be assuming. It only tracks appearances by that person in the media types you select, e.g. feature films, documentaries, news broadcasts, and makes associations that way. It does not at all deal with actual degrees of separation, only degrees of separation in the filmic media.

In terms of actual degrees of separation, I'm probably only one step further removed from Louis Farrakhan than Obama is (I know someone who met Bayard Rustin because his folks were sort of friends with him, which probably puts my degrees-of-separation number from Farrakhan at 3), and I'm a white kid from the suburbs of southern Canada. In other words, so fucking what? As long as Obama isn't actually a hate-spewing racist, who cares? I can understand caring that he goes to church and what church he goes to (although in the US that seems to be a requirement for elected office -- no religious test my ass!), but because one of the pastors (pastor, by the way) there happens to be into Farrakhan for unspecified reasons isn't exactly a reason to write off every single one of the church's parishioners. I'm given to understand there are something like ten pastors at that church, too, so calling him "Obama's pastor" is also kind of disingenuous.