Comments on: The Ocular Proof: Othello and Birth Certificates http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/the-ocular-proof-othello-and-birth-certificates/ Informed reflection on the events of the day Wed, 15 Jul 2015 17:00:00 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.4.23 By: Mikee http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/the-ocular-proof-othello-and-birth-certificates/comment-page-1/#comment-6058 Sun, 01 May 2011 18:30:17 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=4768#comment-6058 RE: Scott

When Colin Powell flirted with a presidential campaign in 1995 as a Republican, not one single Democrat questioned his citizenship. Your thought experiment is interesting, but I think that because more liberals are intellectuals, any initial questions about a Republican Obama’s citizenship would have been quashed early and hard. Most conservatives have a more emotional response, which is why they can be afraid that Obama wasn’t born here even after the evidence is provided.

]]> By: Scott http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/2011/04/the-ocular-proof-othello-and-birth-certificates/comment-page-1/#comment-6033 Fri, 29 Apr 2011 16:39:02 +0000 http://www.deliberatelyconsidered.com/?p=4768#comment-6033 Unfortunately, this issue may never be truly laid to rest, but hopefully it has at least quieted those skeptics that want to be taken seriously- i.e. Donald Trump? Even after the release of the President’s long form birth certificate, Orly Tates (who will not be taken seriously anyway) has tried to perpetuate the controversy by claiming that in 1961 the “race” of Barack Obama’s father would have been listed as “Negro” not “African.” This only highlights the absurdity of the whole thing. As he was born in Africa, it might only make sense to list Obama’s father as an “African.” And as doubts were raised concerning John McCain’s place of birth in 2008, but quickly put to rest, we might insinuate that it was because he is white.

Although race is certainly a factor here, I would hesitate to call this racism however, but would rather refer to it as the politics of difference, where race is indeed a factor, but only one among many. Many Americans have a fear and distrust of those that are not like them, certainly do not want to acknowledge that the United States is not simply a “white” country. Yet as a thought experiment, I wonder how such a matter would have been dealt with if Obama were in fact Republican. Would a “birther movement” emerge from from the Left? If so, could we call it racism then? Indeed, the ways that “otherness” is constructed are many, race being only one marker; ideology and culture are also very important factors in this.

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