Throughout the ages, politics has been fueled by emotionally-charged subjects, sometimes well beyond the obvious rational arguments: welfare, abortion and birth control, gun control, taxes, immigration and the like. Often, the obvious rational arguments are subverted because they are unpopular. Anyone who has read "Freakonomics" understands that sometimes the most popular misconceptions in reality are their polar opposite, the truth being counter-intuitive. The fact that popular media figures such as Donald Trump, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, et al, can literally invent facts that are accepted as truth "because it was on TV" or are emotionally satisfying is further evidence of this. For example, Donald Trump said he was more popular than Obama according to a CNN poll, and asked the interviewer to check it. Thank god they did, as there was no such poll conducted by CNN and in another poll Trump trailed Obama by double-digit figures. However, anyone who heard The Don's statement, and didn't bother on the follow up may accept his statement as fact.
When the "Birther" movement started, it was easily debunked. Documents produced and checked, done, finished, over, Lou Dobbs lost his job, right? Wrong. Like many urban myths that are rationally dispelled, this one lives on. No, Procter & Gamble is not run by Satanists. No, Mikey of the Life Cereal commercials did not die from eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda, yet there are people who believe this stuff. If any rational person thought about it for 30 seconds, do they not think that a candidate for President of the United States would have a veritable rectal exam of their entire background by the FBI, CIA, not to mention the countless private parties of political enemies they have accumulated over their careers? A President could not even get a blow job in the Oval Office without there literally being a Federal Case created over it. Why won't the birther thing go away?
Two main reasons for this: 1) Obama because he is black and/or has a foreign sounding name but you can't say that's the reason you don't like him out loud anymore. He doesn't look like your stereotypical American president, his name has a foreign ring to it, his middle name is Hussein like one of our mortal enemies, and he certainly doesn't speak like the good 'ol boy we had talking at us for, aw shucks, 8 years. He can't be born in America because he doesn't look and act like the majority of Americans. Thank god.
If you don't think the "birther" argument is inherently racist, I pose this: How many birthers, or people in general, would vote to repeal the requirement that a Presidential candidate be born in the USA if Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to run for President? Think about it and let that sink in. I know we are idealists and think that racism largely been eradicated over the last 47 years, but it hasn't. Your average white American in the good 'ol US of A lacks the education and/or critical thinking skills to evaluate any candidate on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, or the length of their skirt, in the case of Sarah Palin.
2) Your average citizen is so removed from the political process, or uneducated on the issues of our government, that the only messages that resonate are the ones that just sound right or fit in with their personal beliefs. If someone said, "I don't like the Universal Health Care Law due to the political compromises or penalties for non-participants.", that I can speak to. Whether you agree or disagree with all or part of the statement, it is a fact of the law that can be debated. Disliking national health care "because the President wants to turn us into a Communist country" is one of those emotional arguments that doesn't have a defense because it has no basis in fact. It's a BELIEF. If someone likes Donald Trump better than Barack Obama, why don't they just say that? "I like this one better than that one" expresses an opinion as such, which is fine. It's a preference. No defense needed. The birther argument gives a faux-factual reason to validate a personal preference. Is there anyone who has said, "I really liked Obama, but when I heard he was not a US Citizen, I just can't support him anymore."? The birther belief is just another reason to hate someone you hated in the first place by trying to legitimize it.
Some of this smacks of childish name calling. Do you remember in grade school how hard it was to shake something like someone saying, "You smell?". Even if you didn't smell, if the popular belief was that you were stinky or looked stinky, you were dead socially. You certainly could not run for any school office, let alone President. How do you rationally argue away that you do not smell? You can't. Donald Trump saying that Obama has no long form birth certificate is like saying he smells. Not even worth debating due to its idiocy, but if you don't like Obama, you will believe that he smells.
Why am I even spending time on such a moronic subject that's been done to death anyway when there are about 38927 of the world's problems I can solve by blogging? Maybe I am starved for intelligent political debate and want this shit to stop. Having people at my bar bitch about Obama "not being a US citizen" is listening to people say the world is flat. There are 1001 real reasons to dislike any politician, but the fact that most people are so uneducated about policy that the only thing they can come up with is "He wasn't born here!" is just beyond inane. I just got back from London and was happy to find that most Londoners know more about US politics than we do, though we may know more about the Royal Wedding.
One of my customers even said to me, "He was born in Hawaii!", as if Hawaii was not a state. Blows my mind. When I pointed out that simple fact, he said, "Well, he's a (used a derogatory Mexican term for a black person)." Looks like there's one more person I can't debate our military strategy in Libya or budget proposal with. Damn.
When the "Birther" movement started, it was easily debunked. Documents produced and checked, done, finished, over, Lou Dobbs lost his job, right? Wrong. Like many urban myths that are rationally dispelled, this one lives on. No, Procter & Gamble is not run by Satanists. No, Mikey of the Life Cereal commercials did not die from eating Pop Rocks and drinking soda, yet there are people who believe this stuff. If any rational person thought about it for 30 seconds, do they not think that a candidate for President of the United States would have a veritable rectal exam of their entire background by the FBI, CIA, not to mention the countless private parties of political enemies they have accumulated over their careers? A President could not even get a blow job in the Oval Office without there literally being a Federal Case created over it. Why won't the birther thing go away?
Two main reasons for this: 1) Obama because he is black and/or has a foreign sounding name but you can't say that's the reason you don't like him out loud anymore. He doesn't look like your stereotypical American president, his name has a foreign ring to it, his middle name is Hussein like one of our mortal enemies, and he certainly doesn't speak like the good 'ol boy we had talking at us for, aw shucks, 8 years. He can't be born in America because he doesn't look and act like the majority of Americans. Thank god.
If you don't think the "birther" argument is inherently racist, I pose this: How many birthers, or people in general, would vote to repeal the requirement that a Presidential candidate be born in the USA if Arnold Schwarzenegger wanted to run for President? Think about it and let that sink in. I know we are idealists and think that racism largely been eradicated over the last 47 years, but it hasn't. Your average white American in the good 'ol US of A lacks the education and/or critical thinking skills to evaluate any candidate on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin, or the length of their skirt, in the case of Sarah Palin.
2) Your average citizen is so removed from the political process, or uneducated on the issues of our government, that the only messages that resonate are the ones that just sound right or fit in with their personal beliefs. If someone said, "I don't like the Universal Health Care Law due to the political compromises or penalties for non-participants.", that I can speak to. Whether you agree or disagree with all or part of the statement, it is a fact of the law that can be debated. Disliking national health care "because the President wants to turn us into a Communist country" is one of those emotional arguments that doesn't have a defense because it has no basis in fact. It's a BELIEF. If someone likes Donald Trump better than Barack Obama, why don't they just say that? "I like this one better than that one" expresses an opinion as such, which is fine. It's a preference. No defense needed. The birther argument gives a faux-factual reason to validate a personal preference. Is there anyone who has said, "I really liked Obama, but when I heard he was not a US Citizen, I just can't support him anymore."? The birther belief is just another reason to hate someone you hated in the first place by trying to legitimize it.
Some of this smacks of childish name calling. Do you remember in grade school how hard it was to shake something like someone saying, "You smell?". Even if you didn't smell, if the popular belief was that you were stinky or looked stinky, you were dead socially. You certainly could not run for any school office, let alone President. How do you rationally argue away that you do not smell? You can't. Donald Trump saying that Obama has no long form birth certificate is like saying he smells. Not even worth debating due to its idiocy, but if you don't like Obama, you will believe that he smells.
Why am I even spending time on such a moronic subject that's been done to death anyway when there are about 38927 of the world's problems I can solve by blogging? Maybe I am starved for intelligent political debate and want this shit to stop. Having people at my bar bitch about Obama "not being a US citizen" is listening to people say the world is flat. There are 1001 real reasons to dislike any politician, but the fact that most people are so uneducated about policy that the only thing they can come up with is "He wasn't born here!" is just beyond inane. I just got back from London and was happy to find that most Londoners know more about US politics than we do, though we may know more about the Royal Wedding.
One of my customers even said to me, "He was born in Hawaii!", as if Hawaii was not a state. Blows my mind. When I pointed out that simple fact, he said, "Well, he's a (used a derogatory Mexican term for a black person)." Looks like there's one more person I can't debate our military strategy in Libya or budget proposal with. Damn.
LOVING this Mama! Yay! xoxo
ReplyDeleteStupidity is the common idealology of the common man. England may be more knowledable on the US policies but England still has a lot of stupidity and blind faith.
ReplyDeletePoliticians sucking up to banks, banks leading econonomic crisis and being bailed out and keeping their pay cheques yet the common man has little understanding of generic simplicities like interest rates and credit ratings.
When the common man can't evaluate a decision properly we appear to be going backwrods not forwards. Stupidity seems to bred incompetence and there's far too mcuh of that. Even at the very top. Then the stupidity forces the intelligent to suffer. Irrelevant of their nature and decision making.
Thomas