Amid a "firestorm" of controversy, President Obama finally released the long form version of his birth certificate, proving that he is---gasp!---in fact, an American citizen! Dumbass attention hog Donald Trump trumpeted his self-gratification and pride at having "accomplished something nobody else has accomplished...I am really honored to have played such a big role in hopefully getting rid of this issue." You the fuckin' man. Please, please, please run for president---the GOP needs you!
In a recent Associated Press article, Charles Babington cited a new New York Times-ABC News poll in which 2/3 of adult Republicans "either embrace or are open to" the false claim that Obama is a foreigner. ABC News pollster Gary Langer thinks that the real reason some people polled claimed that they believed in the birther issue is because "Some people who strongly oppose a person...will take virtually any opportunity to express that antipathy." I do see what Langer is saying. I know some people who don't like Obama, not only for his politics, but also because the man himself makes them uncomfortable, as if having a man of color in the highest public office in the nation makes some white people feel as if they're "losing ground" and need to regain this ground at any cost.
In a roundtable discussion Easter Sunday on This Week, ABC reporter Cokie Roberts and a team of panelists had, what I like to call "A Jerry McGuire Moment"---that is, they said what many people think, but do not have the balls to say, because once you say it, you get neutered. So, what was their "Jerry McGuire Moment"? It was that people's objection to Obama is often times a reflection of deep-seeded or even just-under-the-surface racism and xenophobia. Panelist Steven Roberts said during the discussion that: "The word Muslim is a code word, and it's a metaphor. It's a metaphor for racism. It's a metaphor for he's different from us, he's not like us, he's got this funny name, which he says all the time. And it is - and he's an alien on some level...there has always been a strain of America that wants to exclude the other. Exclude someone who's different..." Cokie Roberts added: "But...the bad part about this is that...it's acceptable to say that he's a Muslim...because the same people won't - won't say, 'I don't like him cause he's black.' "
Now pause a second to listen for the gasps and outcries of shock and admonition. Then wait a bit longer for the predictable network reproaches and apologies, accompanied by statements of remorse by the panelists in question. Finally, take a step back and take a look at yourself and think about the people you've encountered in your life. Think about all of the times you yourself have held a bias against someone because of some perceived or real difference. Maybe you or people around you teased someone in your school days because that person was obese, very tall, very short, too white, too dark, had a speech impediment, wore the wrong clothes, had a strange name, was very poor or rich, etc. People are devisive. People take note of differences, and some people are uncomfortable with those who are not like them. Being able to tell the difference between things and people is a necessary survival skill, like knowing to eat those berries, but not those other berries because they're poisonous. But being that we are endowed with the ability to "reason", the perception of those differences between people can be skewed to fit that person's perception of the world. As they say, "perception is reality".
So, let's not get all huffy-puffy about what was said in the program "This Week". This birther issue, along with the Christian-or-Muslim issue, are just a reflection of the larger issue of fear/hate of "the other". Noel Sheppard, who writes for "Newsbusters" (whose byline reads: "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias"), wrote in response to the "This Week" discussion: "Calling Americans racist, despite there being an African-American in the White House, is acceptable on Easter Sunday. I doubt I'm the only one that felt this was highly inappropriate on such a holy day." Some play "the race card", some play the "religious holier-than-thou card"---I prefer to throw down the "truth hurts card". No, not that all Americans are racist---that wasn't what they were saying. But, having watched enough videos from the 2008 election in which people at McCain-Palin rallies spewed racist and xenophobic slurs about Obama, and having seen videos of Tea Party rallies where like comments were also in abundance, in addition to national polls (such as the aforementioned one) which reveal pervasive and persistent adherence to falsehoods, even in the clear light of the truth, it is then accurate to say that some Americans are, in fact, afraid of those who are not like them, and sometimes for those Americans, it goes far beyond simple politics.
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