The "Birthers" and Our Ailing Political Culture

I went back and forth with myself for awhile as to whether or not I should post my thoughts on the "birther" phenomenon -- the faction of Americans who insist that Barack Obama was not born in the United States and is therefore not qualified to be president. (By the way, I am told that the term "birther" is derogatory, so in fairness, if you have an equally accurate but less offensive word, send it over.) Although I understand the very compelling reasons for just ignoring the absurdity, my concerns about the cultural sickness that underlies the claims continues to gnaw at me. It's one thing for a handful of misguided conspiracy theorists with too much time on their hands to toss out bizarre claims about the president of the United States, but it's another for mainstream media to give those theories even a shred of credibility. And admittedly, this is at some level personal for me, because I have heard a few of my own family members somberly repeating the questions raised by the birthers in a way that sincerely hurts my heart. So for the record, let me say that I do not take the claims of these folks at all seriously, and if my acknowledgment of their claims lends them legitimacy, then mea culpa a thousand times over.

That said, we have got be frank about what is happening to us -- as a nation, a culture, and as human beings, and what this latest "movement" tells us about those things. These folks represent a small but vocal minority in this country who have somehow failed to grasp that American democracy is rooted in a set of principles, not a set of demographic characteristics.

The "birthers" -- who are being irresponsibly egged on by the likes of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck -- appear to be immune to both reason and truth. That's nothing new -- every society has its fringe elements. However, what makes them dangerous is that their not-so-thinly-veiled racism (because let's be honest, would the perseverance of this kind of claim be even remotely fathomable if our president were not black?) is tied so overtly to an increasingly fanatical and shallow notion of what it means to be American. When "birthers" -- or those who enable them -- say things like "We have to take our country back," they are not talking about political party control of the branches of government, they are talking much more insidiously about a cultural vision (actually, delusion) of the United States as white, "Christian," and ethnologically monolithic. Everyone who does not fit neatly into the narrow demographic prerequisites of this shallow and amorphous concept of American patriotism (which -- I cannot state emphatically enough -- is pretty much everyone) is a potential scapegoat at best and a target for violence at worst.

When I watched the video of Rep. Castle's town hall meeting in Delaware a few weeks back, I was struck by the degree of fanaticism displayed by the scene-stealing "birther." That woman is angry. What is it about President Obama that causes her to react with so much rage? I can't help but wonder as I watch: Is there anything that would put this issue to rest for her? What evidence would convince her that Barack Obama is a citizen of the United States? Is there anything...anything at all that would calm her outrage? Would it alter her views to know, for example, that none of first seven presidents of the United States were born in the United States?

Woefully, it appears doubtful. An inflexible unwillingness to update one's beliefs in the face of logic or evidence is the very definition of fanaticism. And as the video demonstrates, that phenomenon is as alive and well in the United States as in any of the countries whose citizens have been systematically demonized by our government and media over the decades. Can you imagine how much satisfaction extremist Taliban leaders must get from displays like this? How gratifying it must be to watch citizens of the world's self-proclaimed beacon of democracy and civilization turning on each other in such vile, primitive ways?

The fact is that there are too many genuine divisions between people for us -- in the world's most advanced democracy -- to spend our time fabricating false ones. American civilization is at a crossroads. We have reached a pivotal historical moment where we are faced with nothing less than the decision to consciously evolve or not. Now is the time when we should be healing ourselves as a culture, not finding new ways to harm one another. It's a time when should be acknowledging our common humanity, not dehumanizing those we don't understand. Now is our opportunity to promote a vision of the future that is rooted in constructive optimism, rather than cynicism. We have the chance to genuinely elevate the well-being of others -- and by extension, ourselves -- rather than continuing to tear them down with indignities. But if we are to take the higher road, we must understand that being patriotic citizens on the one hand and decent human beings on the other are -- in a just and democratic society -- indistinguishable concepts.

Someone please tell the birthers.

Follow Cynthia Boaz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/cynthiaboaz

Comments

[William Young]

This birther BS has to be dropped but it won't because the media outlets continue to get ratings for this nonsense. The only way for it to die is for the media to drop it, or worse when someone gets hurt. Which I'm afraid my happen. To the birthers look up the word insanity, it describes you guys to perfection.

[GeorgeBurnsWasRight]

This whole birther movement reminds me of the people about 10 years ago who believed that parts of the USA had been militarily occupied by the United Nations. And if they heard that the town where, for example their aunt lived, was UN-occupied, and they talked to their aunt on the telephone and she said the town wasn't under UN control, well that just meant that this wasn't really their aunt, just someone who was pretending to be their aunt.

The only difference is that significant parts of the Republican Party didn't support the "black helicopter" movement of the 1990s.

[Adam-Troy Castro]

Passing it on. Instead of birthers, certifiables.

[snoopjohnny]

I agree that we need a time of healing. I also see Birthers as partly influenced by a growing trend for people to cling to absolutist views. When they disagree with something, it's not left at "live and let live" or "different strokes". Not anymore...­. if someone doesn't conform to your views, they are patently evil, socialist or not even a citizen. It's a tidy way to resolve a question; no sense in looking for compromise or even listening.­....

I have a theory that a segment of the country is vulnerable to the misinformation which is more available than in the past. They haven't realized that the antidote to this barrage of sensational (and ratings driven) "information" is our increased ability to research facts; if you're not able to figure out that these "commentators" are a rather vocal minority (to put it in civil terms), you're liable to be roadkill on the information highway. The HP piece on the (interviewed) Republican senators silence regarding birthers reveals the influence of this phenomenon.

[Zanti]

As far as the mainstream media's role is concerned, it should be obvious by now (I write this on the 29th) that the GOP has been promoting this myth from the start. So it's in fact a good thing the MSM is covering this. Instead of making them the problem, maybe we should be happy they're on the scene to document things of these type. Seriously, what if the MSM mostly ignored this--would we not be faulting them for under-reporting?

As far as labels go, I have to suspect that much of the grief received by the mainstream media has to do with the connotation of "mainstrea­m"--i.e. common, ordinary, popular. Mainstream things--religion, for instance--are often targets of progressive annoyance. Something to think about.

[Ohsnap]

I have a neighbor who is blatantly prejudiced, and doesn't care much about speaking negatively about black people in general. Of course, he also insisted he played for the Rams. He is a diabetic with one leg and is about 5'4".

[HeevenSteven]

People too often 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's birth is a manifestation of right-wing populist paranoia; but this is an astro-turf populism begat and carefully fed by right-wing media and political leadership.

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. Right-wing political leadership knows this and takes every effort to whip up paranoia taking advantage of racism, and xenophobia among their base.

There were left-wing conspiracies about Bush, but the cable and radio media never propagated them or gave them any credibility; not even the lefty shows. The fact that FOX, CNN and of course all the radio shows have been all over this tells you something about the corporations that own and finacne them IMO.

[anniecanuck]

I'm not sure what the solution is but the pervasive air time given to voices denying modernity and evidence seems to be a particularly American problem. It's as if the understandably prized notion of free speech and balanced reporting is privileged over reasoned, well-intentioned discussion. Flat earth believers are not given equal time in our educations systems, much like agenda-ed global warming deniers are not given equal time in classrooms.
It would seem that mainstream US media has been bullied into presenting both "sides." But, as I heard recently, reality has a liberal bias. More of us should have the courage to state this and the "bias" criticism be damned. Reason and compassion are both required. And the right wing loonies have neither.

[sopeprah]

We must not be too harsh on these individuals. I dont think most
of them are "evil" or "racist" people, they are just souls who have
not yet come to grips with the fact that their world is changing.
They are afraid and concerned that everything they knew is withering
away; it is not, it is simply reforming. We must pity these people, not
bash them

[getsix]

i do not support the president or his administration or the path he is taking this great nation but i believe he was elected Farly and i believe he is a natural born i also know how the liberal media is spinning this as any person who does not bow is some how a racist i view the word as like the story about the boy who cried wolf every time you turn around there is that word thrown out by the liberal media its getting to the point that before too long it will no longer have meaning . do they even know what it is if someone disagrees with you or does not follow or vote the way you want you toss out a name to some how silence those who do not share your ideology

[mbaty]

This has already been debunked, so why are people still talking about it? Did they miss the ample evidence that Obama was born in Hawaii? Didn't they watch the Daily Show? This story is already moldy and stale. Why is the mainstream even giving this the time of day?

[IGNSTHMD]

vying for American hearts and minds is as much an institution as parading our patriotism across the theatrical stage that is the modern mass media. What we need instead of ideals and lethargic institutions is change.may­be change is new paradigms and pathologys I doubt that it is not about what we accomplish. so having integrity and sensing for a unanimic ethic are just words and the dynamic is somewhere between organized flow of information and the social solidification of grassroots organization and employment. What can we know about these things?

[wandering girl]

unfortunately, these idiots subscribe to the philosophy that whatever doesn't agree with their own philosophy must be eradicated by any means, fair or foul.

mostly foul, it would appear.

[pgoody]

"none of first seven presidents of the United States were born in the United States" - this is not true.

[pgoody]

Oops! thought for a minute and get the point now. They were born British subjects.

[Cynthia Boaz - Huffpost Blogger]

They were born in British America, before the colonies became part of the United States.

Which would be exactly the same thing that birthers say disqualify Obama from being president- that he was born in Hawaii before it became a state-- but for the fact that he was born there two years *after* Hawaii got statehood.

If I'm wrong about the first seven presidents being born in British America, I'll correct it, but you'll need to show me some evidence. As best I can tell from several historical sources I checked, Van Buren was the first president born in the United States.

[Rmtns]

SO, we need a less derogatory term for birther, so how about racist,or sore losers, or too stupid to follow simple facts? Maybe entirely enraged, out of their minds, or even geez get a life already?
Any of these are apt and to the point. This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that we need universal medical care immediately. these folks need some meds, desperately!