Some rumors are older than we think

[astroprisoner]

First off: I am not a "birther." I believe that President Obama was born in the United States. (Ironically, I find the fact that there is still unreleased information actually to be the strongest indication that the information proves his citizenship. Why? Because somewhere in the Hawaii department of records there has got to be at least one person

Comments

[maineshark]

It's a compelling belief, for many.

If they can pretend that the problem is just that he's the wrong guy to be President, and that's why he's abusing power this way, they don't have to question the system which allows the Feds to so blatantly overstep even the minimal limits imposed by the Constitution. "The system is great; it's just that this guy got in there, who shouldn't have!"

Questioning why the Feds can ban lightbulbs, or tell you how much water your toilet can use, or how much fuel your car can use, or how your children must be educated, or a million other things, is just too scary. Better to imagine that the system is not broken, and it just needs the right guy sitting behind that desk, to work perfectly.

IAWTC

[polyanarch]

[astroprisoner]

What you've said is actually very similar to my feelings about people who believe in elaborate conspiracies that concern long-running plans and giant secretive cabals who are controlling world events.

The underlying theme here is that if we could only find these people and stop what they are doing, if we could only shatter the conspiracy, then the world would return to a "natural state" where everything is fine, all nations are at peace, the economy is always stable and growing, and prices are low.

People believe in the conspiracies because the alternative thought (that the world we live in has managed to become screwed up on its own) is really too frightening to contemplate.

[maineshark]

Yup. The most fervent believers I've found in these conspiracy theories are those who once believed strongly in "the system," and then "woke up." While most of my interactions are with liberty-types who woke up to the evils of Statism, the same applies in many other areas (for example, some chemist working for a major corporation, who then becomes an environmentalist

[cutelildrow]

you know, given that there are a number of old articles (pre-election) floating around that cite Obama having been born in a different country, I wonder sometimes if Obama liked to TELL people that he wasn't born in the US. You know, build up his image and egopuffery like that.

I've a cousin who's like that, likes to make shit up to make him sound more interesting and awesome... and Obama's been reminding me of him and vice versa for a long while now.

[astroprisoner]

I had the exact same thought when I read this article. It had never crossed my mind before, but it would explain a lot. He may not even have ever had to say "I was born in Kenya" or "I was born in Indonesia." All he has to say is something like "I grew up in Indonesia," let his listener come to a conclusion, and never correct it. "My parents moved from Hawaii to Indonesia when I was a kid, I grew up there" is a lot clearer, just somewhat less exotic.

Which is too bad, it's also as interesting as "I grew up in Indonesia" but he may not have seen that.

[cutelildrow]

See the thing is, even whe I say "I grew up in Germany," most people will ask "Oh, you were born there?" I correct them at that point. Most people similarly assume that my youngest brother, having been born in East Germany, has East German citizenship (which would have been kinda awesome in hindsight), but being born to a diplomatic father, this is not the case (this may have been the case for McCain, as he was born to military parents - the children of diplomats are not, for the purposes of citizenship, automatically assigned the citizenship of the land they're born into, regardless of existing laws that extend to the normal visiting populace. Thus, had my brother been born in the US had my father been theoretically assigned there, he would not have automatically received US citizenship. I think. I may be going out on a limb here but this might also be the case in military families