As the sentient world well recalls, on the morning of September 11, 2001, “agents of the al Qaeda terrorist organization hijacked commercial airplanes and attacked the World Trade Center in New York City and the national headquarters of the Department of Defense in Arlington, Virginia.” Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557, 567-68 (2006).Thus reads part of an opinion from the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, on the Ms April Gallop suit, decided 27 April 2011.
Kad Barma and I have been conducting a discussion on whether Birthers are racist, pure and simple. Here is, I think, the Kad Barma argument.
African Americans attest that it's race-based. White Americans sympathetic to birthers' other politics deny the possibility. I have to believe one of two things:The argument put forward by Kad Barma is a strong one. It is rooted in what some call "America's Original Sin".
Either almost half of republicans aren't fit to vote based on their inability to understand the primary source evidence, or birthers are racists. you pick. I'm ok with either one.
My problem with it is that racism doesn't seem to explain the thinking behind the above mentioned April Gallop suit claiming the US Government decided to stage the 9/11 event (Crash of American Airlines Flight 77) at the Pentagon that resulted in the death of many US citizens. Nor does it explain all those other "Truthers" out there.
Then there is the "Trig-o-nometry" problem. Just this month Wonkette had a piece disparaging Sarah Palin and her Downs-Syndrome son, Trig. (The post was later taken down and this replaced it). Several years ago The Virginian put it down to anti-Christian bigotry.
OK, so maybe it is just bigotry, which comes in many forms, but that doesn't seem to explain the "Truthers".
Nor does it explain why people continue to insist on saying that President Obama is the first President to face this kind of accusation, when President Chester A Arthur went through the whole thing from his time as a candidate for Vice President through becoming President and to the end.
Maybe it really is the Paranoid Style in American Politics, as Professor Richard Hofstadter put it, back in 1963 (Full Harper's Article here).
Regards — Cliff
I guess what rankles me more than anything is this constant quest to categorize and label people based on generalities. People who hurl the word "racist" around do so with an equal amount of venom as those who are alleged to BE racist are supposed to have done. The same applies to radical, conservative, Christian right. People are individuals, not classes, or groups, or labels and they deserve to be accorded the respect for their individuality. You wanna call me a racist...you are going to get an angry response....not because I am a racist...but because I hate being accused of things I know I am not....especially when the basis of the accusation is the standard devised by someone else. I am white...I am protestant.....I own guns.....I vote Republican..or Independent.....or if I am pissed off enough with the whole stupid mess...not at all. That is MY business and nobody else. Because I am white doesn't mean that its MY fault that we have slavery in the history of the US. I wasn't born then...my parents weren't born then...my grandparents weren't born then...and I can't change the past...nor can the folks who dwell on racism and "recriminations and reparations." You know what...it was wrong then..its wrong now...but we've enslaved lots of folks for many different reasons and find those reasons quite acceptable...unless you are black.....or liberal AND black...then the whole world is against you.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in one thing...what is happening right now...and what is about to happen tomorrow. I could not give a rat's patoot what color or sex are the people involved in anything.....it is immaterial. The only thing that matters are the choices that they make..or want to make....and that is where I may or may not disagree with them and or their choices. If I do...its honest and I will advocate strongly for my belief as long as I draw air. It is my right as a person...NOT as an American...and I really don't give a damn what the "founding fathers" said or thought. That was then..this is now.
By even discussing "differences" only encourages and intensifies those differences....there is no "right" and there is no "wrong." It just is and the foregoing labels only continue the stupidity.
And for the record, I don't care if Obama is green with pink dots on his butt....I think he is the most arrogant, pathologically narcissistic, and ineffectual president that this country has ever had.....and he is quite likely going to be the ONLY president that this country will ever have going forward....until old age catches up to him. He has very carefully gone about dismantling all of the checks and balances necessary for an opponent to challenge him....and his work is nearly done with the help of folks in the Congress and elsewhere. He is financed as no other candidate or President in history as been and as the saying goes....he who has the gold rules. Nobody will defeat a man who is backed by George Soros....and others....
I'm not denying anti-Democrat, anti-Muslim and anti-Chicago-Liberal biases as contributing to the Birther animus just as surely as racism. I am suggesting that I believe that racism contributes to the situation, too. Neal is correct that painting black and white pictures about large numbers of people never gets us anywhere. All these questions and personalities are too complex for that. However, denying a potential source for our opinions based on who we are is disingenuous. It's fair to say you can predict Red Sox / Yankees opinions based on geography. That's not to say there aren't Bostonian Yankee fans, just as surely as there aren't New York Red Sox fans. But to say that I dislike A-Rod without any regard for his being a Yankee is silly. I can dislike A-Rod for 1000 different extremely reasonable and relevant reasons, but it's still a fact that I believe those reasons more strongly because I own Red Sox caps and not Yankee caps.
ReplyDeleteI would say it is the same for Birthers. There is an element of the vehemence with which the refuse to accept clear evidence of their error that I attribute to race. I also attribute it to religion and many other things. But to deny race is a part of this is to want to believe in fairy tales.
First, I‘d like to discuss the notion of hate being repulsed by hate. Whatever passion fills me, as I reject racism, is not formed from hate. It is, rather, formed from love. Love of my country. Love for humanity. It is the power of this love that compels me to step on the neck of the racist. They are against what we all should hold dear. I will not apologize for working to crush their malice. I am obligated to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe correlation of “birthers” to “truthers” is intriguing. At first, I thought Cliff was stretching for so feeble false equivalency. But I think I get what he is laying down. Some folks are broken, unreachable. What grates my bunions is the efforts to cultivate more of this mindset. The active fertilization, the growth of a market sector. Boston Phoenix writer David Bernstein opines:
After the election, the anti-Obama marketplace remained hot, as evidenced by everything from book sales to FOX News ratings in 2009. We got web sites and radio hosts and books continuing to push the Manchurian-candidate in at least three directions: A) more allegations about his secret past, as in the crazy McCarthy and DeSouza books; B) claims that he really is deliberately destroying the country, via Chicago-style corruption, use of the economic crisis to impose socialism, and/or surrending to foreign countries; and C) claims that it only seems like Obama is not Manchurian because the lying liberal media keeps it from you. (Some, like Glenn Beck with his grand theory of the secret Soros-led international conspiracy, use all three.)
Birtherism thus continued to sell well in that market, which is why we saw it burst into public view in the summer of 2009. And it's sold well enough since then to sustain itself as a niche market, even as the broader anti-Obama ratings declined the further we got from the election.
But that marketplace is obviously going to heat back up as the 2012 Presidential election heats up. This latest flare-up was primarily a result of someone looking for media attention using an issue from that niche market to do it. And well done, Donald.
The newly released birth certificate won't shut down that market; they've got theories about dual-citizenship, and adoption, and even a secret radicalizing year abroad -- it's a market, and the competitive free economic marketplace really does perform very well in meeting the demand.
Does that demand for evidence of Obama's Manchurianness stem in part from racial prejudice? I suspect so. But I think it primarily stems from the same need to know that the Clintons were murderers, that Al Gore is a big fat liar, that John Kerry's war heroism was phony, and that Barney Frank caused the economic collapse.
First, I‘d like to discuss the notion of hate being repulsed by hate. Whatever passion fills me, as I reject racism, is not formed from hate. It is, rather, formed from love. Love of my country. Love for humanity. It is the power of this love that compels me to step on the neck of the racist. They are against what we all should hold dear. I will not apologize for working to crush their malice. I am obligated to do so.
ReplyDeleteThe correlation of “birthers” to “truthers” is intriguing. At first, I thought Cliff was stretching for some feeble false equivalency. But I think I get what he is laying down. Some folks are broken, unreachable. What grates my bunions is the efforts to cultivate more of this mindset. The active fertilization, the growth of a market sector. Boston Phoenix writer David Bernstein opines:
After the election, the anti-Obama marketplace remained hot, as evidenced by everything from book sales to FOX News ratings in 2009. We got web sites and radio hosts and books continuing to push the Manchurian-candidate in at least three directions: A) more allegations about his secret past, as in the crazy McCarthy and DeSouza books; B) claims that he really is deliberately destroying the country, via Chicago-style corruption, use of the economic crisis to impose socialism, and/or surrending to foreign countries; and C) claims that it only seems like Obama is not Manchurian because the lying liberal media keeps it from you. (Some, like Glenn Beck with his grand theory of the secret Soros-led international conspiracy, use all three.)
Birtherism thus continued to sell well in that market, which is why we saw it burst into public view in the summer of 2009. And it's sold well enough since then to sustain itself as a niche market, even as the broader anti-Obama ratings declined the further we got from the election.
But that marketplace is obviously going to heat back up as the 2012 Presidential election heats up. This latest flare-up was primarily a result of someone looking for media attention using an issue from that niche market to do it. And well done, Donald.
The newly released birth certificate won't shut down that market; they've got theories about dual-citizenship, and adoption, and even a secret radicalizing year abroad -- it's a market, and the competitive free economic marketplace really does perform very well in meeting the demand.
Does that demand for evidence of Obama's Manchurianness stem in part from racial prejudice? I suspect so. But I think it primarily stems from the same need to know that the Clintons were murderers, that Al Gore is a big fat liar, that John Kerry's war heroism was phony, and that Barney Frank caused the economic collapse.
The core problem is not race or anti-party sentiment. To be sure, there are as many anti-GOP, anti-conservative radicals out there as anti-liberal whatevers. Those are just means of acting out one's fears and perhaps in extreme cases, baseless prejudices.
ReplyDeleteWhat is actually being expressed however is a profound lack of trust in anything political, governmental, or business. Obama's long form BC could have just as easily been a forgery many will hold...and base that on the two years that it has taken to produce one. Hey....crooks do a great job with currency...what is a little BC to a pro? My own theory is that Obama has outsmarted the doubters....knowing that they don't trust him...he's used their distrust against them and in so doing, has now invalidated ANYTHING else his opponents pose as "truth." Why reveal a BC when it is a very clever and effective distraction for what you want to get done without a lot of attention or interference? And now, all of the right wingers are in a check position because if they claim anything else "bad" about Obama, all he needs to do is remind folks that they were wrong on the BC. People need to think.
And that is a huge problem for America today. What is TRUTH. If it is a columnist or a MSM talking head....we're toast. People listen to their favorite guru and consider everything said as gospel....and that is stupid beyond words. What is truth? Who is lying? Well...we've caught SO many politicians, businessmen, church leaders, judges, government big wigs in lies that nobody trusts anybody. When can you tell if a politician is lying? His/her lips are moving. "I never had sexual relations with that woman!"
Its not race, its not political party leaning....it is a total lack of trust that anyone "in charge" is telling the truth. Within moments of a Presidential utterance, you can count on an "expert" (pro or con) who will openly and convincingly refute what was said in such a way as it then becomes a lie, a ruse to do something else.....and people HATE being snookered. HATE it.
And that is more polarizing than any other factor that anyone can articulate....and it is so divisive that I fear that folks are going to choose up sides and take up arms.
It is THAT bad.
Jack
ReplyDeleteFrom your examples—well, writer David Bernstein's examples—hate seems to flow only one way.
But, a good quote.
Regards — Cliff
Cliff,
ReplyDeleteYes, Bernstein shows a leaning. It may be his own. Or it may be him spotlighting the inclination of GOP operatives to capitalize on these sociopaths.
I remember a phrase, "A fool and his money are soon parted." This is apparently the mantra of many shady GOP interests.
Although I don't associate such crud to you, I have noted an unwillingness by the more "stable" factions of the GOP to stomp this out.
I think there is cause for your tribe to be embarrassed. I can say that as a denouncer of MoveOn, et al.
"Since the former dictator's execution in December 2006, numerous conspiracy theories of the Elvis variety have percolated. And with precision timing on the eve of Mr. Hussein's birthday, a new YouTube video landed that depicted an actual recent phone call between a member of Iraq's Parliament and a man who claimed to be Mr. Hussein, whose voice and inflection so resembled that of the former dictator's that it even gave pause to those who are convinced that Mr. Hussein is dead."
ReplyDeleteAnd I concur with much of Neal's latest statement. Historically, hysteria was not uncommon and media was bogus. It does, however, zing around much faster and wider than ever before.
And I am tickled by the analysis that The One has a blanket for future criticisms.
The wellspring of my concern and my anger is that in a time that we need unity, BOTH political parties and their grassroots supporters are feverishly promoting polarization and that is going to be the death of us.
ReplyDeleteI heard a quote today on the radio that sums of the essence of what I am saying, it was an attempt at some dark humor, but in fact, very accurately reflects the mindset on BOTH sides....."The birthers have never wanted to see the birth certificate. They are much more interested in seeing the OTHER certificate at the OTHER end of the life journey." For the super radicals in that very small group, that is no doubt a truism. For the rest, perhaps a bit of comic relief before manning the bullhorns once more.
And at the other side, today's news featured a story that says that the WI union that has backed all the labor unrest there is now going to identify businesses that provided financial support to the current governor, and then launch a campaign to put them out of business any way possible....beginning with blacklisting. Interestingly, Obama has announced that they will publish and executive order compelling businesses AND their leadership to reveal their political donations and the amounts given. The AFL-CIO and other unions such as the SEIU are exempted....or so it goes.
Frankly whether they can do it and get away with it is moot. The fact that some obviously Democrat leaning union person WANTS to do and announces that the WILL do it only fans the flames higher.
Somebody HAS to step in and LEAD...and at the moment...NOBODY on either side is doing that. Its all about jockeying for position and using any trick in the book to do it....and the society is about to explode with anger, frustration, and distrust.
Today's news that Exxon is posting a nearly 70% profit increase over this time last year only makes matters worse. I am an MBA and a solid supporter of free market capitalism...but the numbers and the fact that THIS administration is no more effective (and arguably worse) that the previous one(s) only serves to make the public less confident...and less trusting.
Anyone can say almost anything and make it sound plausible. One idiot claims that Obama wants to drive up the price because he has friends who are profiting, and that he wants to push the electric car...and he wants to quickly get rid of carbon based fuels....and he wants to create a crisis and then just before Nov 12 2012, save the country from disaster.
Well.....BS you say?? Well....it IS plausible.....maybe not TRUE...but plausible.
Just look at the dirty tricks OTHER presidents have pulled off.....
SOMEBODY has to lead!!!!!
You can't lead those who follow a different drummer. This is not a party problem. It is a money problem.
ReplyDeleteabout fixcongressfirst.org
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This isn't a Democratic issue or a Republican issue—it's a fundamental question about what kind of democracy we want to have. As we've watched presidents in both parties fail to pass their agendas, it's become increasingly clear that elections are no longer where decisions are made in this country. A fortunate few, neither dependent on nor accountable to the people, control the direction of our government. That weakening of our democracy should frighten everyone equally, whether or not you support the people currently in power.
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