President Obama spoke at the White House yesterday to deal with the conspiracy theory regarding his birthplace. His frustration was all too familiar to anyone who follows AIDS Denialism. Here is a sample...
"As many of you have been briefed, we provided additional information today about the site of my birth. Now, this issue has been going on for two, two and a half years now. I think it started during the campaign. And I have to say that over the last two and a half years I have watched with bemusement, I've been puzzled at the degree to which this thing just kept on going. We've had every official in Hawaii, Democrat and Republican, every news outlet that has investigated this, confirm that, yes, in fact, I was born in Hawaii, August 4, 1961, in Kapiolani Hospital.
We've posted the certification that is given by the state of Hawaii on the Internet for everybody to see. People have provided affidavits that they, in fact, have seen this birth certificate. And yet this thing just keeps on going.
We’re not going to be able to do it if we just make stuff up and pretend that facts are not facts. We’re not going to be able to solve our problems if we get distracted by sideshows and carnival barkers.
I know that there’s going to be a segment of people for which, no matter what we put out, this issue will not be put to rest. "
It has been a couple years since the rumor started that our President is not an American.
The so called Birthers first demanded that his birth certificate be released. It was.
Then they demanded that independent proof and witnesses be found. And they were.
And then came demands for the long form birth certificate. And now we have that too.
Anyone who expects the Birthers to go away does not understand the mindset of conspiracy theorists and denialists.
They will not go away.
If you do not know much about the Birthers, just watch Stephen Colbert for a quick rundown.
So what is the President to do? Ignore them? As he said, he tried that...
"Now, normally I would not comment on something like this, because obviously there’s a lot of stuff swirling in the press on at any given day and I've got other things to do."
Ignoring them did not work, so he addressed them head on, again.
Once a conspiracy theory becomes rooted online and enters the mainstream it is very hard to reverse.
Watching all of this Birther stuff is mind boggling.
The Birthers do make me grateful that AIDS denialism has not yet attracted a high profile 'carnival barker'. Let's just hope it stays that way.
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