Can we ever really know what is true, what is real? I’m really beginning to wonder. Really.
It was pretty bad two weeks ago when Barack Obama, the President of the United States, felt that he had to present the “long form” of his birth certificate. I call it sad and humiliating, as well as outrageous. How did the “birther” movement get this far? This is the man who was fairly and squarely elected, after all.
Now, there are people who are saying that the “long form” certificate is a fake, that it isn’t real. They point out differences in font, paper, whatever.
Although a recent poll indicates that their numbers have dropped notably, there is still the question: What will it take to satisfy the “birthers,” who insist that Obama wasn’t born in the U.S and thus can’t be president? Nothing. This is the ultimate form of denial - to say that someone who is different or not liked not only isn’t qualified but also doesn’t exist to boot.
I thought it was crazy enough that there are people who say that global warming isn’t real. Talk about being in denial - denying that something bad or not liked exists.
There is a new twist to all of this: People who say that Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed and is still alive. These are the “deathers,” and they not only include some of his followers in the Middle East but also some here in the U.S (not wanting to have Obama, who really isn’t the president, to have this victory). It is true that the photographs of the dead bin Laden won’t convince these people, and that this was articulated by President Obama in deciding that the pictures won’t be released is an absolutely delicious irony.
In my last post, I implied that I wasn’t wowed by bin Laden’s death, that I didn’t buy into the cheering and hype. I will concede, however, that, as someone who also wasn't into the hype pointed out, this was a major bit of history we have lived through, but I will also admit that, in addition to not wanting to applaud a death and act of war and all that, for some time, I half wondered if Osama bin Laden - Osama been Forgotten, who was all over but no one could find - wasn’t real.
Flat Earth Society, anyone?
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Isn't it interesting that these birthers and deathers are grasping for the teeniest bit of untruthful rhetoric to attempt to deface our President. Meanwhile, when Bush was (s)elected President, millions of people had mountains of truth condemning GW (torture, unjustified wars, Patriot Act robbing us of rigths and freedoms)and nothing ever came of it. Other than the fact that Bush and his Master Cheney are deathly afraid to leave the country for fear of being put on trial for war crimes!
ReplyDeleteHey John! This old Claremonter celebrated ex-bin Laden being shit-canned by USA's Seals. As a matter of fact, I'm still celebrating! The worse thing that could have happened, IMO, was that Osama could have escaped capture long enough to die a natural death. I'm so happy. Now we can bring the troops home, right??????
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