Why the Birthers Matter

The following video came from a Town Hall meeting with Mike Castle (R-DE). A woman stands up, barely able to control her emotions, and furiously demands Barack Obama prove he is a United States citizen:

It's easy to dismiss the woman as a half baked lunatic and lump her in with other conspiracy theorists on the fringes of society. She is of course, and belongs with the fake moon landing idiots and 9/11 Truthers. But the fervor with which she states her case, and the extraordinary reaction of the audience is indicative of a far, far greater problem.

The Obama Birther Movement claims that Barack Obama was born in Kenya, and is not a United States citizen. At a National Press Club session, New York preacher James Manning declared Obama "the most notorious criminal in the history not just of America, but of this entire planet."

Lou Dobbs, Liz Cheney, and a whole host of conservatives have done little to quell the rumors, and have even helped promote it.

There is of course, no evidence for the assertion. Obama was born in Honolulu in 1961 to an American mother, and a Kenyan father. And that's the end of the story.

The 'Birthers' have literally pulled it out of their backsides and are banking on extreme ignorance, racism and anger to promote their cause. Unfortunately, it seems to be working as hundreds of thousands of people have signed a petition demanding he provide proof of his birth (thanks to sites like World Net). Conspiracy theories are not unique in America - it's a national pastime, and generally speaking fairly harmless. As Ben Smith writes in Politico:

Belief in obscure, discredited theories is a constant in a country with a history of partisan division -- a country in which, a recent survey showed, 34 percent of the public believes in UFOs and 24 percent believes in witches..

Yearly trips to Sedona, weird Internet chat rooms, and the occasional feature on the History Channel are about as much as the average conspiracy theorists needs -- it's enough to keep them quiet for most of the time, and provides good entertainment for everyone else.

However, the belief in vast conspiracy theories can also be hugely damaging as it distracts people from real issues and keeps them focused on exciting fantasies that make them feel important. The 9/11 truth movement was enormously helpful to the Bush Administration as it provided a giant distraction from the colossal crimes they committed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If their energies had been directed in a positive way, there's a good chance Bush would have been impeached and Dick Cheney thrown in jail. Alas, the 9/11 truth movement dedicated its time to proving the U.S government tried to kill thousands of its own people in exchange for gold/political power.

The Birther movement can be compared to the 9/11 truth movement, perhaps not in scale, but certainly in its potency. It is another example of a scared, confused population unable to rationalize why their jobs are being shipped abroad, their health care costs are spiraling out of control, and the prospect of putting their kids through college is moving rapidly from slim to none.

The true reasons for this have been well documented. The United States government has been systematically bought out by giant corporate interest that have undermined the interests of the public. While the banks are entitled to welfare in times of crises, the people are not, and must fend for themselves, riddled with debt financial uncertainty.

But to understand this requires education and time, something far too many Americans have gone without. Instead, they lash out with fear and hatred at the nearest object.

That object happens to be a highly educate, serenely confident black man who epitomizes everything they are not. The Birth certificate nonsense has nothing to do with Obama's credibility as a U.S citizen. When the Nazi party blamed the Jews for Germany's economic woes in the 1930's, no one seriously believed they had a case. The fact is, as a highly educated, skillful sector of the population, Jews were often better off than average Germans during times of economic uncertainty. They were resented for it, and a theory was developed to legitimize the hatred.

The Birther movement is a racist movement that could quickly target others if left unchecked. Barack Obama has round the clock protection from the best trained professionals in the world. Minorities around the country do not, and could well be on the receiving end of the Birther's ire should they get bored of the birth certificate gibberish.

And the chances are, they probably will.

Ben Cohen is the Editor of The Daily Banter.com

Follow Ben Cohen on Twitter: www.twitter.com/thedailybanter

Comments

[memorypeterjennings]

Ben, Could you tell us which hospital Barry was born at? Any idea as to why the hospital has not erected a plaque? When Sotoro name was changed to Obama, what court did that name change take place in?

Please provide direct answers, not flames.

[fuelcell]

I seriously wish I could take all of the birthers. Maybe they would follow a flute, pied pipe style, and then sit them all in a corner and tell them to STOP IT! Just stop because it's wrong, ignorant, and it makes them look like fools and sore losers, and by way of the media "r@cist". Maybe they are. Has anybody asked to see a hood and robe or something? I hope they aren't and don't get violent. I wish South Park would just write an episode. This has to be one of the most obvious things I can agree on with dems. We've gotta come together to get them to stop this because its creating unnecessary debate, and wasting my precious republican time.

[Theodore Trout]

What ?
As you say, "The 'Birthers' have literally pulled it out of their backsides", whereas the 9-11 Truth Movement is based on a mountain of scientific evidence that most people are apparently too frightened to look at.
How are they remotely similar ?

[beelzabubbleboy]

Well said, TT.

[GHDiel]

Mr. Cohen,

Your comparison of the 'birther big mouths' to critics, ('truthers'?) of the official report of the events of 9/11, is way off the mark. The 'birther' rants are not the same as the legitimate issues and criticism of the blatant misinformation campaign surrounding 9/11.

The one, (the 'birthers' movement), is obviously a political ploy to gain media attention, and as you note, smells suspiciously racial in motivation. This nonsense is being fueled by hate-talk media manipulators. The other, the horror of September 11, 2001, is an extraordinary failure by our government and overwhelmed by subsequent political and informational deception.

Regarding concerns of a large segment of the population concerning 9/11: it may behoove you to become better informed concerning what really happened on 9/11, or, as the case may be, DID NOT happen. What did not happen? The United States was left open to attack by our own government! Nothing was done to prevent the attack, and that...is the undeniable TRUTH.

The 9/11 Commission leaders themselves publicly expressed concern about large chunks of missing information and forensic data that should have been included for their review, but was withheld. Are they too "half-baked lunatics?"

Including a reference to 9/11 in this post was unnecessary, a retraction is in order.

GHD

[VagabondSaint]

I am inclined to agree with the destructive effects of both campaigns as a distraction from other issues, specifially issues with far more available evidence.

I've said before that the I think the real motive for the birther movement is racial prejudice and fear, on the part of those in the movement, that they will be treated as abusively and oppressively as they treated minorities, if minorities rise to political power in this country. Your article, however, gave me an aspect that I hadn't previously considered.

You mention that those that are crying for proof of Obama's citizenship are jealous of him. As I was told in arkansas by my black 11th grade teacher, "there is nothing a white man with a penny hates more than a 'black person' (racial slur taken out) with a nickel." Obama is educated, calm, confident, has a loving family, certainly isn't struggling financially, loved by people worldwide, and is President. To poor, poverty-stricken, uneducated, screwed-by­-the-repub­licans-the­y-vote-for people see his success and compare it to their lack of success, there's only one solution allowed by their undeserved superiority complexes: he must have stolen it all somehow, he must have cheated or broken the law.

Ergo, the birther movement, brought on by the ignorant envious and adopted by those willing to use the ignorant envious for ratings, political points, and personal agendas.

Really, it's just sad.

[ScottEdgey]

Ben,

This is the second HuffPo article I've seen this week that attempts to lump Birthers and Truthers in to the same category. You're obviously un/misinformed about what the 9/11 Truth movement is about and what it's asking for. Of course there are fringe sub-groups of Truthers who propose preposterous notions, but the majority of the 9/11 Truth Movement is calling for a REAL independent investigation of the events.

I challenge you to actually take the time to investigate for yourself the mountain of evidence that's available. A large number of well educated and highly intelligent people have done so, and they've all come to the same conclusion: the 9/11 Commission report simply cannot explain what happened that day. Do a search on Google for "9/11 Truth" and you'll find a large number of websites that have extensive information available.

It is paramount that the truth finally come out. I'm not claiming to know who's responsible, but I, along with many others, sure would like to know.

[Moliere]

You raise some interesting points; i have some friends who are in building construction and they have some serious doubts about what happened as far as the physics of the fall. as far as the birthers are concerned that was just a racially motivated attempt to wrest the highest office in the land out of the hands of a person of color.

[Tenley]

Excellent last graph. Yes, even in reporting now about the "birthers" there is more than an undertone of the much larger and less protected group they will target as soon as they tire (if and when they tire) of focusing on one man alone: they will go after the undocumented with a vengeance.

[baubaublacksheep]

Ben Cohen or anyone else reading this blog........I would like you to answer this question.

During the 9/11 Commision it was pointed out that President Bush and his Cabinet was given a document by his National Security Council titled....BIN LADIN DETERMINED TO STRIKE US. This document was presented on AUGUST 6, 2001.....GOOGLE IT. Aug 6, 2001 PDB or Presidential Daily Briefing. In this document it mentions Bin Ladin highjacking commercial airliners and using them as missles and mentions targets like the WTC, the Pentagon, the WH, the Capitol.

The question? Given this information that we now know that Bush and his Cabinet were aware ......then explain how President Bush continues into an elementary classroom at 9 am on 9/11 in Sarasota, FL? If many of you do not know.....Bush was aware of a plane hitting the WTC BEFORE entering the classroom NOT when someone leaned over and whispered into his ear.

Also....explain how on Sept 12, 2001....Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfield, Myers....all at different locations at different press conferences ALL say basicly the same thing....."we had no idea.....we were shocked......that something like this would happen to this scale.....using airplanes to fly into buildings?" How can any of them much less ALL of them make that statement when they were ALL presented that document on AUGUST 6, 2001?

Explanations please?

[treboi]

Having awareness of a generalized plot is not the samething as knowing a specific attack is going to happen. They can all make the same statement b/c they were good politicians...

[Leifrakur]

Why all the "birther" nonsense? By now, everyone should know that the President was born in Hawaii, the son of an Irish father whose name was originally spelled "O'Bama". Part of the Black Irish, of course.

[miamia]

I was with you until you included the nine eleven truth movement in this.

[wagthedog1001]

Vast conspiracies are like shiny objects twinkling in the sun. They keep people like these right wingnuts occupied with the rest of the crows and now the rest of the sane people in the country can go on dealing with the monumental problems the wingnuts left us when Bush left us.

[JohnBryansFontaine]

Perhaps if there had been blogs and the HuffingtonPost ( and computers and the internet ) back during the rise of Hitler, the monster wouldn't have gone anywhere. Just like the the nativist nut-job in the video, she's had her fifteen minutes of fame, and now she will crawl back under her rock.

[HeevenSteven]

People don't let facts and evidence get in the way of a good belief. You can't touch certain kinds of belief with facts because people don't arrive at those beliefs by carefully considering evidence. Jonathan Swift said it long ago "It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into"

This thing about Obama is a manifestation of right wing populist paranoia. Mark Fenster presents a thesis in his book "Conspiracy Theories: Secrecy and Power in America" that conspiracy theories are often the result of populism from politically alienated groups. Having said that, I think this political alienation is an astro-turf movement deliberately manufactured by right wing leadership, and especially the media outlets, FOX, CNN and radio. It started the day Obama took office and I believe feeds on latent racism, xenophobia, and the "Paranoid Style" of American politics.

[HeevenSteven]

Correction: it started long before he took office-it was evident all through the campaign.

[beelzabubbleboy]

There are conspiracies on the front page of the newspaper every day. Prisons are full of conspirators.

[IGNSTHMD]

We ought whether dissenter or advocate realize our folly before it overtakes us. People feel like there is nothing to do so they resort back to the institutions they know and that ground them. more education is laudable and advisable, but the scale and clarity needed are lacking; today there is an saturation in the media of materialism and conceptual marketing and showmanship and self-righteousness. None it seems can aford to go without the status quo that has enveloped the flow of information; appearing to be "out of the loop" invites the perception by others of your ignorace and gives the opportunity of presenting yourself in a intellectually inferior role. neither of the latter come to mind when considering the environment created by todays media producers and with good reason the goal has shifted from one of a civil servant sharing his skills and resources to a man or woman that must hold your attention so as to gain the highest viewer ratings possible and thus advertiser dollars. So it seems that ethics and integrity are our battleground it would be interesting I think to se how our resourses measure up.

[Talossa]

What?

[kjstjohn]

There are people who have faced challenges in developing as citizens who need to be main-streamed into the larger political culture. It is not healthy for these citizens to be isolated in GOP discussion groups with other similarly-­challenged individuals.

[IGNSTHMD]

what do you mean "not healthy?" are they sick or is there some kind of harm that comes to them?

[Mortifyd]

If people are delusional then yes, that would be "not healthy" - and if you think the President is an illegal - yep, that's delusional.