No sooner had President Obama released his long-form birth certificate than Orly Taitz, the doyenne of the “birther” movement, found reason to doubt it.
PULPIT Donald Trump took credit for the release of the president's birth certificate.
In Trying to Debunk a Theory, the News Media Extended Its Life (April 28, 2011)
“A step in the right direction,” she said, even though it was precisely the document that many birthers had been demanding of the president. And then she argued that it was still subject to authentication.
Donald Trump, similarly bouffant, blond and politically inclined, likewise breezed past the new evidence of Mr. Obama’s citizenship, pausing only to take credit for forcing the release of the document before suggesting that the president was hiding something else — bad grades.
So much for Mr. Obama’s hopes of stopping the “silliness.”
To many, those who doubt Mr. Obama’s citizenship are driven simply by racial prejudice; they are unwilling to allow that America’s first black president could hold the office legitimately.
Many scholars of conspiracy theory agree. But they also note that such theories are hardly unique to Mr. Obama; they have a long history in the United States and elsewhere, coming from left and right, covering all sorts of subjects, political and otherworldly (the twin towers were not hit by airplanes; Paul is dead). And those who doubt Mr. Obama’s citizenship fit the mold of other conspiracy theorists: they don’t loose their grip on their beliefs easily, if at all.
“It almost becomes an article of faith, and as with any theological belief, you can’t confront it with facts,” said Kenneth D. Kitts, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke who has written extensively about presidential commissions that looked into events that have generated some of the biggest conspiracy theories of the last century — the attack on Pearl Harbor and the assassination of John F. Kennedy, among others.
The fact that many Americans — and many Republicans in particular — have told pollsters that they doubt the president’s citizenship is less surprising when you consider the sizable percentages of Americans who subscribe to other conspiracy theories, said Robert Alan Goldberg, a history professor at the University of Utah and the author of “Enemies Within: The Culture of Conspiracy in Modern America.”
Eighty percent of Americans, he said, believe that President Kennedy was killed by a conspiracy, rather than a lone gunman, as a government commission affirmed. Thirty percent believe that the government covered up aliens’ landing in Roswell, N.M., and a third of American blacks believe that government scientists created AIDS as a weapon of black genocide. Sept. 11, of course, has inspired conspiracy theories — it was plotted, variously, by “the Jews,” the Bush administration or Saddam Hussein.
By definition, Professor Goldberg said, a conspiracy theory is a belief that cunning forces are seeking to bend history to their will, provoking terror attacks or economic calamity to move the world in the direction they wish.
“I look at this birther conspiracy as a typical example,” he said. “This is far beyond the issue of whether this is a legitimate president. The real issue for them is this belief that this is a ploy by this hidden group to get power, to move Americans toward socialism or globalism or multiculturalism using Barack Obama as a pawn.”
Evidence that disproves a conspiracy is then scrubbed to provide new evidence — as with the Obama doubters who quickly claimed that the administration had used computer manipulation to create a false birth certificate. Of course the government says the conspiracy doesn’t exist, the doubters argue, because the government is complicit in the conspiracy.
The Dreyfus affair is a concise example of the damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t nature of conspiracy theories. Alfred Dreyfus, a young Jewish artilleryman, was wrongly imprisoned in France in 1894 on accusations of treason.
Military officers argued that his handwriting appeared on incriminating documents, writes Louis Begley in a book on the subject. When one expert doubted the handwritings’ similarity, the government produced another to argue that dissimilarity was proof of his guilt — Dreyfus had altered his writing to throw people off his trail.
In a way, it is human nature to want to construct a narrative to resolve anxieties, to be drawn to mystery or the perception of it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/weeki … ntemail1=y
OLY, you need to get out of the log cabin and smell some flowers or something.
Why don't you chase a real conspiracy that matters, like exposing the real national debt of $100 trillion dollars and the shadow banking sector derivatives of $600 trillion.
Here's more: Orly Taitz's husband stands to lose a lot of money if Universal Healthcare were to pass.
Bibi Netanyahu started the birther issue as a means to pressure Pres. Obama.
George Bush senior is a Nazi from Germany, who was sent here to undermine the United States.
Reagan didn't like HW Bush, didn't trust him.
Some say the cabal had Reagan shot--turns out Reagan was not fond of the Federal Reserve either!
Nor were Kennedy's 1 and 2.
Just yesterday, it was revealed that Sirhan Sirhan was under hypnosis..that's why he doesn't remember anything...never did. MK Ultra.
Mark David Chapman...same thing. Under mind-control.
We know NOTHING about what goes on behind the scenes...that is no conspiracy,. that's the truth!!
I'm a large scale historical conspiracy believer in some cases. Please don't ever lump me into the mix with the small minds of the birthers.
Thank you! Just becasue the Birthers suck wind, doesn't mean they all do.
by rhamson 13 years ago
With all the birther and socialist conspiracy theories surrounding this administration, was it wise to not produce a body? The distrust of the government in general is enough to warrant suspicion. The baby boomer generation grew up with Viet Nam and Johnson's lies and then there was...
by AnnCee 14 years ago
Hawaii won't release Obama birth infoJanuary 22, 2011 1:49 AMTHE ASSOCIATED PRESSHONOLULU Democratic Gov. Neil Abercrombie will end his quest to prove President Barack Obama was born in Hawaii because it's against state law to release private documents, his office said Friday.State Attorney...
by Allen Donald 13 years ago
Now that President Obama has produced his full birth certificate, should the issue of his birthplace be over?
by yankeeintexas 13 years ago
Do you think that President Obama should produce his birth certificate, and end the arguing that...has been going on over his citizenship?
by OLYHOOCH 13 years ago
HOT DOG, NOW I HOPE THIS ISSUE IS OVER.BREAKING NEWS:WASHINGTON — Saying he has long been “bemused” and “puzzled” over the fascination the controversy surrounding his birth certificate, President Obama on Wednesday released a copy of the long-form version of the document, saying the country does...
by Keith Ham 11 years ago
I've heard it all a thousand times and more. The this, the that, the whatever, the evil organizations. In fact, just moments ago I received a comment on how FB was invented by the CIA, isn't that crazy? I know some of you do believe this stuff and I don't mean to offend, I know there is conspiracy...
Copyright © 2025 The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers on this website. HubPages® is a registered trademark of The Arena Platform, Inc. Other product and company names shown may be trademarks of their respective owners. The Arena Media Brands, LLC and respective content providers to this website may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website.
Copyright © 2025 Maven Media Brands, LLC and respective owners.
As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.
For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy
Show DetailsNecessary | |
---|---|
HubPages Device ID | This is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons. |
Login | This is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service. |
Google Recaptcha | This is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy) |
Akismet | This is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Google Analytics | This is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy) |
HubPages Traffic Pixel | This is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized. |
Amazon Web Services | This is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy) |
Cloudflare | This is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Hosted Libraries | Javascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy) |
Features | |
---|---|
Google Custom Search | This is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Maps | Some articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Google Charts | This is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy) |
Google AdSense Host API | This service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Google YouTube | Some articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Vimeo | Some articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy) |
Paypal | This is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Login | You can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy) |
Maven | This supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy) |
Marketing | |
---|---|
Google AdSense | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Google DoubleClick | Google provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Index Exchange | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Sovrn | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Facebook Ads | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Unified Ad Marketplace | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
AppNexus | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Openx | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Rubicon Project | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
TripleLift | This is an ad network. (Privacy Policy) |
Say Media | We partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy) |
Remarketing Pixels | We may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites. |
Conversion Tracking Pixels | We may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service. |
Statistics | |
---|---|
Author Google Analytics | This is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy) |
Comscore | ComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy) |
Amazon Tracking Pixel | Some articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy) |
Clicksco | This is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy) |