The birther issue is no more about race than was the hatred of George W. Bush. It's pretty obvious in our culture that for many people disagreement is deeply personal. We can't seem to have a conversation involving choices without making the person with an opposing view into a demon.
The percentage of people who think Obama was not born in the U.S. is actually lower than the percentage of people who think W. knew about the 9/11 attack ahead of time (the truthers.) All this tells us is that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to believe the worst about someone with whom they disagree.
I think the bottom line for both the truthers and the birthers, is that there are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason, choose not to think too deeply about issues. They don't do the research, they don't read widely, they just know they don't like that guy. He's wrong, he's a bad guy. Why? Well, he knew about 9/11 before it happened and didn't do anything about it because he wanted us to get into a war, blah, blah, blah. Or he wasn't born here, so he shouldn't even BE president, yada, yada, yada.
And that's as far as they choose to think about it. Dancing with the stars is on, after all.
It's more interesting to think about why we now need an explanation for the harsh words about Obama, but we never seemed to need to look at the "reason" for the hatred for George W. Bush. I don't recall many mainstream media discussions on the Sunday morning talk shows or on the editorial pages of the newspapers of the roots of the anger and opposition to Bush.
Back then, dissent was expected, encouraged and celebrated. Now it's racism. I don't understand why there has to be a "root" cause for disagreement with Obama?
Is there really anyone out there who still doesn't believe most of the media is biased? Come on, reporters and columnists, if you agree with a politician, defend the ideas. Don't demonize the people who disagree with you.
I'm looking at you right now, liberals. Do you really believe that EVERYONE who wants to reform Medicare wants grandma to be thrown in the snow? Is that a rational concept? That half of the people in the country are just mean-hearted, evil people?
I don't know how we make progress like this.
The percentage of people who think Obama was not born in the U.S. is actually lower than the percentage of people who think W. knew about the 9/11 attack ahead of time (the truthers.) All this tells us is that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to believe the worst about someone with whom they disagree.
I think the bottom line for both the truthers and the birthers, is that there are a lot of people out there who, for whatever reason, choose not to think too deeply about issues. They don't do the research, they don't read widely, they just know they don't like that guy. He's wrong, he's a bad guy. Why? Well, he knew about 9/11 before it happened and didn't do anything about it because he wanted us to get into a war, blah, blah, blah. Or he wasn't born here, so he shouldn't even BE president, yada, yada, yada.
And that's as far as they choose to think about it. Dancing with the stars is on, after all.
It's more interesting to think about why we now need an explanation for the harsh words about Obama, but we never seemed to need to look at the "reason" for the hatred for George W. Bush. I don't recall many mainstream media discussions on the Sunday morning talk shows or on the editorial pages of the newspapers of the roots of the anger and opposition to Bush.
Back then, dissent was expected, encouraged and celebrated. Now it's racism. I don't understand why there has to be a "root" cause for disagreement with Obama?
Is there really anyone out there who still doesn't believe most of the media is biased? Come on, reporters and columnists, if you agree with a politician, defend the ideas. Don't demonize the people who disagree with you.
I'm looking at you right now, liberals. Do you really believe that EVERYONE who wants to reform Medicare wants grandma to be thrown in the snow? Is that a rational concept? That half of the people in the country are just mean-hearted, evil people?
I don't know how we make progress like this.
