Why Obama Had to Have Been Born in Kenya

Why are there so many "crazies" coming out of the woodwork to attack public officials with their views that defy reality? And why are they so angrily insistent on those views?

As a psychologist I believe the answers to these two questions have profound significance for our nation's mental health and will determine whether America will have the mental capacity to confront the increasingly complex challenges that confront us.

Of course we know these people are lied to by increasingly effective and ruthless Republican strategists operating in patriotic sounding front organizations. They are indoctrinated 24 hours a day by Fox News and proselytized to by the Religious Right.

But that still takes our "why" question only so far. What is it about the mind that makes so many people accept a reality that is so much at odds with the reality that we hold? There is nothing subjective about the reality issues in play here. Obama was born in Hawaii and there are no death squads in Obama's plan. So what gives?

In a recent book, I tried to answer these "why" questions from a psychologist's perspective. Here is the most succinct way I have been able to articulate it.

Reality

We take our sense of what is real and what is not real for granted. We shouldn't. We each actually form our own unique "reality sense" with our mind that assimilates an infinitely complex bombardment of stimuli from outside us and from within. It is no simple task, and the most miraculous part of the human mind is that it is able to create a coherent reality at all.

The problem is that in times of extreme uncertainty the mind has a hard time creating this reality sense. The mind becomes confused. This can be caused by external events in our world, such as rapid change or inner psychological states -- for example, when we are experiencing strong emotions like paranoia, envy, or challenges to our sexual identity.

In this state of confusion, the mind does not do very well at all. When it feels sufficiently uncertain about what is real and what is not real, it panics. Ultimately the mind will fragment if it is not able to create a cohesive reality sense with a reassuring sense of what is real and what is not real. The breakdown in this ability to form a coherent reality sense is the primary difference between sanity and madness. Thus, it is not too surprising that for many people it is more important to have some reality sense than it is to have a correct reality sense. Of course, people differ greatly in their ability to tolerate ambiguity and in their ability to create a reality sense in times of stress. But for someone in an acute state of uncertainty, it is any port in a storm when it comes to reality formation.

And this is where things go awry. Current right-wing politics is an art form that is designed to re-define reality for a class of people who are increasingly unable to establish their own sense of reality. Instead, they succumb and become increasingly dependent on someone else to tell them what is real and what is not real. In their regressed psychological state, under certain conditions, many people will accept as real whatever they are told by an authoritative sounding figure be it Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, or Bill O'Reilly.

And the more people lean on these people to provide that function, the more dependent they become on them, and the less able they are to think for themselves. As this process continues people will accept ever more outrageous ideas. Death squads in health care? Obama secretly born in Kenya? Okay.

The value people like Limbaugh and O'Reilly have for these people is that without them people simply cannot make sense of their world. They are in a state of confusion unless and until someone offers them a reality that "explains" things enough that they at least feel they understand what is going on in the world. Only then is their panic and anxiety abated.

The "reality" sense they are handed has to be simple enough that they can readily understand it. The devil was one of the earliest bogeymen for a reason. We create a "devil box" and everything that needs explanation comes from the devil box.

So if you paint a Hitler-like mustache on a picture of Obama and toss in the word "socialist" things begin to make sense and come into a focus no matter how distorted that "focus" is. Again, it is better to have a reality sense that is wrong than to have no reality sense at all. In the latter case one enters a state of complete fragmentation or madness.

The portrayal of someone, in this case Obama, as the devil incarnate serves multiple functions. It organizes a person's world by explaining so much so simply, and it also offers an explanation of why the person has been feeling so apprehensive. They were not afraid of their own psychological fragmentation. Instead, the danger is external in the form of Obama. Better the enemy be outside of oneself than inside oneself.

And, of course, if Obama is a foreigner from Kenya their fear is much more understandable and helpful in arranging our inner world. The "birthers'" insistence on their reality, even in the face of Obama's birth verification from Hawaii and the copy of the newspaper announcement of his birth, reflects the deep psychological need these people have to maintain the view of reality that was handed to them. Once their reality is established people are reluctant to retrace the steps of uncertainty that has led them to their illogical position. To do so they have to traverse their route back through the uncertainty they were trying to escape in the first place.

Strategy

And make no mistake about it, the conservative element in America has a very good understanding of how this process works inside the mind, the critical sense of timing it requires, and how one must deliver the powerful messages in repetitive depth charges to the human mind.

The democrats are still lagging very far behind in this regard and still think the public is engaged in a substantive discussion of the issues. They ignore the reality of the human mind time and time again.

There are two critical elements to this form of "reality" politics. One is timing. The other is certainty. To exploit this vulnerability in the mind, the time to strike is at the very first moment of uncertainty that people feel, before they have formed any reality of their own and before they become attached to anyone else's view of reality. This is why the swift-boating was so effective. John Kerry was "unfit to lead" before he even introduced himself to the American public.

With the current health care debate, a black man is offering a government designed health care plan that is largely undefined. Health care is too complicated and confusing for most people anyway, and Obama is a "foreigner." Latent paranoid fears and uncertainty are not hard to understand. In such a state, many people are receptive to anyone who presents him or herself with a strong angry argument that organizes their world and gives some extrinsic explanation for the anxiety they are feeling. Anger is a tremendous organizer. Angry people may not think clearly, but they are very certain of themselves. This is what we are seeing in the town hall meetings.

So what should progressives do? Do we have to be like the far right and beat them at their own game? No, not at all. But we do have to hoist them on their own petard. We have to expose the manipulations and the manipulators with a torrential counterattack that is focused on the manipulations, not a message that emphasizes some irrelevant "positive" message such as how important health reform is.

Instead, we need to harness the rage that is ubiquitous in this country because of all the uncertainty and the confusion. That is the energy that is driving health care and most political life in America at the present time. We need to harness it for constructive purposes, exposing the puppeteers and the corporate interests that are behind them. Health care is ultimately a populist issue, but we are not igniting the populist rage that drives all populism. Until progressives learn this lesson they will lose.

Those Pollyannas who thought that with Obama's election progressives had won were very naïve. If we learn nothing else from the birthers and the deathers, if we learn that we must work with the deeper strata of the human mind, it will be an invaluable lesson.

Bryant Welch is a clinical psychologist and attorney. He is the author of State of Confusion: Political Manipulation and the Assault on the American Mind (St. Martin's Press, 2008).

Comments

[Russell Lynn]

So according to this article the reason that black racists are so small minded is because they were raised with the "reality" that white people owe them something? Their tiny minds cannot comprehend that we are allowed to disagree with the President based on his politics without regard to the color of his skin? That most of America embraced MLK's words that we should judge people on the content of their character and not on the color of their skin?

Because everyon I know who is opposed to Obama's government takeover of everything in this country oppose him based on his own statements and the people he surrounds himself with, I barely remember the man is of mixed race until it is pointed out by the black racists who just cannot believe its possible people don't like his politics.

[Bikebox]

We openly wonder about a disconnect between these oddball views and reality and yet no one bats an eye when people run around basing their lives and their life decisions on religion and one deity or another. Hmmm.

[BigPictureReg]

Why?

The answers are in the relative degrees of exposure that they have as compared to the rest of the world.

Top Ten Most Educated States

D.C. not incl.

1 - % of population > 25 with B.S. or higherr

2 -Median household income & (rank)

3 - Voting Pattern, last 3 presidential elections

MOST EDUCATED STATES
**********­********1*­***** 2****3 (08, 04, 00)
Massachuse­tts/35.8/$­54,617 (8)/Blue, Blue, Blue
Colorado/3­4.7/$52,01­1 (11) /Blue, Red, Red,
Connecticu­t/34.6/$57­,369 (5) Blue, Blue, Blue
Maryland/3­4.5/$58,34­7 (2) Blue, Blue, Blue
Virginia/3­2.2$54,301 (9) Blue, Red, Red
New Jersey/32.1/$59,989 (1) Blue, Blue, Blue
Vermont/32/$48,508 (16) Blue, Blue, Blue
Minnesota/­30.6/$56,0­84 (6) Blue, Blue, Blue
New Hampshire/­30.3/$58,2­23 (3) Blue, Blue, Blue
Washington­/30.2/$50,­885 (14) Blue, Blue, Blue

LEAST EDUCATED STATES

**********­********1*­***** 2****3 (08, 04, 00)
Oklahoma/2­1.9/$38,89­5 (43) Red, Red, Red
Tennessee/­21.5/$39,5­24 (41) Red, Red, Red
Louisiana/­21.3/$36,8­14 (46) Red, Red, Red
Alabama/21­.2/$38,180 (44) Red, Red, Red
Indiana/21/$43,735 (32) Blue. Red, Red
Nevada/19.5/$48,314 (17) Blue, Red, Red
Arkansas/19/$35,591 (48) Red, Red, Red
Mississipp­i/18.7/$34­,508 (50) Red, Red, Red
Kentucky/1­8.6/$37,56­6 (45) Red, Red, Red
West Virginia/17/$35,234 (49) Red, Red, Red

Source: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/elearning/?article=mosteducatedstates

[Beca]

As I've been saying all along, these minds of these idiots exploded when we elected a non-white President, and they further exploded when he was sworn in and had he and his non-white family actually moved into the White House. Why? because their tiny racist minds could not compute this fact. These tiny mind people were trained from birth that anybody not white was a non-person, hence could not possibly legitimately hold any position of authority, let alone the post of President of the United States. In their tiny racist minds, its as if an alien from outer space became our President. As their tiny minds exploded, the ridiculous rhetoric from Fox, the GOP and the radio crazies began to indoctrinate them and feed their exploding minds with garbage and non-sensical lies.
I think, for their sake and their mental health, they should all be shipped to Alaska where they can create their own racist country and leave us to the business of fixing our country.

[msladydeborah]

I am not shocked by the level of fear that has been expressed. Perhaps that is due to the fact that we've known when and if there ever was a Black POTUS-this would be a part of the reaction. We knew that there would be a backlash.

I grew up during the fifties. So, the in your face style of fear and loathing that is being expressed is not anything new to me. It is new to my adult children's generation. Even if they knew that there has always been this element withn the society-they have never had to deal with it in this manner. While you've done an excellent job of explaining one side of the fear. But, there is our side of this issue. And it is different than theirs. I cannot recall any conversation on this subject in which the upset to the status quo was not mentioned. This was long before Obama stepped up on the American political scene. We knew that the idea of a Black person in the major leadership role of America would be too much for some people to take. They didn't prove our theory wrong.

I find myself becoming more ill at ease than I've been in a long time. Irrational anger is also very dangerous anger. I find myself questioning if this anger will eventually be turned towards people of color who are just average citizens.

[Blakkwolfe]

Very thoughtful article that explains the existence of the Bizarro world that these folks live in. It would seem that, due to the manipulative nature of the propaganda machine, that major news networks should be held accountable for the truthfulness of what is being reported or discussed, even to simply differentiate "fact" from "opinion."

[CatTheGadfly]

Loved your post.

I've been fascinated with how authoritarian racist types would reconcile the two competing concepts of the respect for authority up to and including the sanctity of the Presidency of the United States (yes, even when a Democrat has occupied the office, there has been a degree of respect for the office itself) and deep-seated White supremancy and/or racism. I may sound rather "ivory tower" and unemotional right now, but I get sufficiently emotional over these same issues often enough.

Some of my predictions of how this would play out have come to pass. Some turns have been surprising. It's playing out in some interesting ways that I hadn't anticipated. People's minds (and I don't give them conscious credit for their creativity) are coming up with some remarkable ways of resolving cognitve dissonance of this magnitude, the magnitude that attacks core beliefs. Such as going to extremes to discredit a person's legitimacy as President (i.e., "birthers"­)...trying to undo the whole thing, so they don't have to resolve the threat to their stability and their "reality".

President Obama in the White House can shake up the "realities" for a lot of people whose only shaky claim to self esteem was their supposed White supremacy. The types who in general feel "less than" when someone else does well, which is a whole lot of people. If they only knew what they were admitting by speaking as they do...

[richnerd]

In addition to the barrage of upsetting images and lurid top-of-the-hour lead-ins with cameos of the most absurd of Tea-Baggers and Birthers, and GOP politicians, I was also having to contend with the biggest anxiety of all...and that is "Why"? Why is all this happening? I'm 60 years-old and have never seen the likes of this.

Well, thank you, you have explained the "why" deftly enough that I can now relax a little. That was the best short-term therapy I've ever had. Where do I send your check?

[danaseilhan]

I have two words for you: Welfare reform.

If the Democrats "reform" health care like they "reformed" welfare, we are all screwed.

I typically vote either Democrat or Green, preferring the latter, but the Dems are ticking me off more and more each day. The latest insult is treating health care like a cost question when the real problem is that PEOPLE CANNOT AFFORD TO GO TO THE DOCTOR, PERIOD... Medicaid looks at it as a cost question, too, rather than looking at care outcomes and I may have suffered permanent endocrine damage thanks to the "ministrations" of a Medicaid-accepting "doctor" and I can't afford the real doc to look me over nor the lawyer to sue about it.

That's what the rest of you get to look forward to. Either we need to get single-payer or we need something like a health care version of the Section 8 or food stamp program, and then a law requiring all doctors to accept it. Nothing short of either of those is going to solve the REAL problem. With an additional requirement to cover pre-existing conditions, of course.

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

I think we could add education reform to that as well. Basically, unless we all partake in the public programs we build we are creating an even worse class system in our country.

[littleblackcat]

Mr Welch, may I suggest that a single sentence may be the whole story? "A black man is offering a health care plan"........ and the operative word is "black". A huge portion of the problem President Obama is facing stems from the resentment from BOTH sides that a man of colour was chosen over the white (read "superior) candidates. Racism is alive and well, whether or not anyone will admit it. The final bastion of many rednecks, no matter what part of the country they came from, was that no matter how low, how far down the scale of achievement they themselves were, they wuz "better" than any coloured man. This has been disproven in the most visible way, the head of the International Stage, the President of the United States, is a man of colour.
The repubs have hated the fact that FDR put the country back on its feet ever since he did it and was SO supported by the people they re-elected him FOUR times.
They do not want Obama to succeed at anything because they do not want to face the fact that not only is a black man their equal, he is vastly their superior.

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

Yes, I think that we all gave ourselves credit prematurely on the race issue with Obama's election.

[shelsgram]

What I want to know is if those who believe these things will be able to realize how false their beliefs are when, with time, their fears are shown to be unfounded.

[baseballmom]

Thanks so much for this article, Bryant. This certainly explains why so many people believe things (Obama is a socialist Kenyan who wants to kill your grandma, the Earth is 6000 years old, etc.) when there is actual evidence to the contrary.

My question is: life is becoming ever more complex as the pace of change is increasing. What are people who cannot deal with change, uncertainty, and complexity going to do? If they can't handle it now, what are they going to do when we elect the first minority woman president, or when we find proof of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe, or when some other yet unimaginable event occurs?

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

I know. The pace of change is increasing exponentially. I think this is why we have seen such a resurgence in fundamentalist religion and such vulnverability to Fox News, I think we have a tremendous educational task just to teach people about the difficulties of change per se. That is what I tried to address in my book.

[Willybee]

Don't we all remember last year when Barack Obama got into so much hot water when he said "it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

I think that his statement now seems quite mildly stated but perfectly accurate when we see the behavior of the people discussed in this article. Just shows again how really intelligent and perceptive Mr Obama really is.

[andycan]

The title of this story only adds grist to the mill of the birthers.
Think!
What a stupid title, or a really duplicitous one!

[Bryant Welch - Huffpost Blogger]

I think when humor and irony become too dangerous to use we have lost the war.

[Cye]

There is nothing more dangerous than a belief system that is incapable of recognising facts or verifyable truths, but insists, instead, on creating its own reality. It cannot be reasoned with, it will not be moderated and, given enough momentum, cannot be stopped.

To quote Goya, "The sleep of reason creates monsters".