Yes, nothing so blatant as Diebold CEO Walden O’Dell sending a letter to Republicans saying “I am committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president.”
No, you didn’t, or least didn’t understand the point.
If Obama had been born in Kenya - he wasn’t, he was born in Hawaii - his mother was five months short of her 19th birthday and therefore Obama might not have been a citizen and would not therefore have been eligible to be President. As Velocity says, it wasn’t just because Obama was black. It was just something the nuts came up with to try to keep him from being President.
I suppose you could call it Islamophobia, but if a candidate claims to be Christian and born in Hawaii, but is really Muslim and born in Kenya, then that is something voters could legitimately consider when deciding whether or not to vote for him, and if he isn’t eligible to be President, then they shouldn’t be able to vote for him at all.
In case you missed, Obama is a Christian and a US citizen, and was eligible to run for President. There’s nothing to the Birtherism stuff - but neither was there anything to the Reagan or Bush conspiracy theories either. Presidential candidates and Presidents have silly things said about them. It isn’t any worse when those things are said about a black President than when said about a white one. It also isn’t any better, because there isn’t any difference. Silly conspiracy theories are silly.
Oswald killed Kennedy acting alone, James Earl Ray killed MLK Jr, the WTC towers fell down because Osama bin Laden convinced some people to crash airplanes into them, and the CIA* is not trying to control your mind with rays from the TV set.
Regards,
Shodan
*That would be shape shifting lizards from the fourth dimension. Cite.
Birtherism was a racist ploy by racists to keep a black man out of office. They used this ploy because if they had just said “We can’t have a black man as president” then Trump and all the others couldn’t have gotten behind this movement.
Can you name one other crazy conspiracy theory pusher that went on to be elected president, aside from the current one?
One of your crazy conspiracy theories is not like the other in that many many many people went along with it and later voted for the person behind it. Enough to make him president.
Birtherism wasn’t racism? That is about as believable as the fake quote from Saturday Night Live back when Chevy Chase was doing the news:
.
This reminds me of the common tactic of white people who deny that racism is a problem outside of the relatively few numbers of KKK and neo-Nazis who march in the streets.
1988: “There’s nothing racist about the Willie Horton ad. It could have just as easily been a white criminal in that ad!”
Then, years later: “Well, okay, Willie Horton was chosen for the ad in large part because he was black. But those days are over!”
1994: “Just because Newsweek darkened the skin of OJ Simpson on the cover of the magazine doesn’t mean that they were trying to scare the public with a black-er man. I’m sure white people have their skin color tinkered with for these photos all the time!”
Then, years later: “Well, okay, OJ Simpson was made to look scarier to white people. But those days are over!”
2019, sadly: “Just because Trump and others accused Obama of being a seekrit Muslim doesn’t mean there is anything racial going on here. It could happen to any presidential candidate!”
I predict we will see someone soon tell us that those days of birtherism are behind us.
“Yes, Donald Trump was Birther, but he isn’t one anymore! He’s moved on, so why can’t ya’ll just let it go?”
- conservatives, probably
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Not to interrupt your hurt feelings or anything, but white people talking to white people about racism isn’t really “whitesplaining”.
A conciliatory, soothing tone is sometimes useful when talking to white people about racism because of the abovementioned “white fragility”: i.e., a lot of white people get really defensive and touchy when the subject of racism is brought up, and try to deflect the discussion in various ways, as mentioned in the article.
John McCain was a white US Presidential candidate who was born in Panama. If there “isn’t any difference” on the basis of race, why weren’t there any silly “birtherist” conspiracy theories about his eligibility to be President?
Well, because a white American man born outside of the US is considered to be a trustworthy “regular American”, whereas a black American man born within the US to a black foreign Muslim father is considered to be a suspect “other” whose status as a “regular American” is intrinsically far less credible.
Sorry, this still sounds like the birthersim lie was specifically designed to prey on racism and islamophobia in equal measure.
It depends on where they live. In South Africa, he used to be illegal. In the US, he’s black.
No, that’s included. Perhaps you missed the “full time”.
At least I know the meaning of common terms.
There there, Kimstu - don’t get so triggered. I know this is hard. But we aren’t going to get anywhere until you settle down, and listen.
No one is blaming you. It’s just that the system is set up wrong, and you don’t see that. It’s not your fault, and you can’t help it. You can’t even see it. Fortunately, I’m here to set you straight. Now stop being so defensive, and accept what you are told, and things will go much better for everyone.
Regards,
Shodan
Exactly – and both conclusions make no sense except if seen through the lens of racism.
So when people say there’s no such thing as race, it is a commentary on how race is a social rather than scientific concept.
Wikipedia says:
During the four years Obama worked as a full-time lawyer at the firm, he was involved in 30 cases and accrued 3,723 billable hours.
Is that wrong?
Yep; perhaps, as has been pointed many, many times before, several conservatives should get better sources or unfriend some [del]fiends[/del] friends in their social media.
Problems being, one, they say it in a way that’s confusing. They don’t say “race is a social concept” or “race and ancestry are two different concepts, race is a social construct whereas ancestry is biological”. They say “race does not exist”. Denying the existence of something is not the same as pointing out its origins.
And two, many of them, when you say “that race is a social construct doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist”, respond “no, no, I mean it doesn’t exist!” A lot of them are being absolutely literal.
Yes, the issue should be explained better. But people who insist that race exists usually imply that it has a scientific basis, so these people ought to either clean up their language as well, or be corrected on their error.
That is because race is an imprecise proxy for the relationship between ancestry and genetics.
There wasa controversyother whether McCain was eligible to be President.
There were also controversies about Chester A Arthur, Charles Evans Hughes, Barry Goldwater, and Ted Cruz.
If Obama had been white, would people have been against him, or are black candidates the only ones who face opposition?