Ken Burns: Birther Movement Is 'Politer Way Of Saying The N-Word'

[DonViejo]

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns said on CBS's "Face The Nation" on Sunday that the birther movement, popularized by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, is a essentially a "more sophisticated" way of using the N-word.

"The birther movement — of which Donald Trump is one of the author's of — is another politer way of saying the N-word. It's just more sophisticated and a little bit more clever," Burns told CBS. "He's other, he's different. What's other and different about him? It turns out it's the same old thing: It's the color of his skin."

America is not a post-racial society because of President Barack Obama's election, he said.

"All of these tensions have been in place since the very beginning, even before the beginning, but we also notice that race is always there," Burns said. "We pretend with the election of Barack Obama that we're in some post-racial society. And of course, you know, we're not."

Burns also set the record straight on what started the Civil War, pushing back against the notion that it was about "state's rights." He pointed to South Carolina's Articles of Secession. (South Carolina was the first state to secede.)

-snip-

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ken-burns-birther-movement-confederate

[merrily]

1. It's a fucking dog whistle that started during the 2008 primary.

Origins of the claims

During the Democratic Party's 2008 presidential primaries, anonymous e-mails from supporters of Hillary Clinton surfaced that questioned Obama's citizenship in an attempt to revive Clinton's faltering primary election campaign. These and numerous other chain e-mails during the subsequent presidential election circulated false rumors about Obama's origin, religion and birth certificate. [26] [27]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barack_Obama_citizenship_conspiracy_theories

[HFRN]

2. it might be a form of racism, but it isn't 'a form of saying the N-word'

someone is either using a word, or they're not

I don't believe in putting words in other people's mouths, no matter who does it or what their motivations might be

I don't want to see that become accepted practice

[LanternWaste]

4. Allusion and implication are often lost on the under-educated.

Allusion and direct implication are valid literary mechanisms often lost on the under-educated.

[Stinky The Clown]

10. As proven above.

[Raster]

15. Touche!

Bravo, Stinky, bravo!

[7962]

3. Oh Horseshit.

[geek tragedy]

5. go on, explain why birtherism isn't per se racism nt

[Kingofalldems]

8. Good one. I'd like to see the poster explain himself.

[lib87]

14. *Waits*

[7962]

16. Easy. Because many of them say Rubio & Cruz, etc. arent eligible. Same dumb reasons too.

And when was the last time an idiot "birther" statement was in the mainstream news? Cant use Trump; he hasnt mentioned it since his dog and pony show started.
Here are a couple stories about these fools. This is one of many about Rubio not being eligible:
http://www.rightwingwatch.org/content/return-rubio-birthers

Here, the idiots say not only Rubio and Cruz, but Jindal & even Santorum may not be eligible:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/muckraker/rubio-jindal-cruz-santorum-birthers

Most of the birthers are just fools who want their way and whine and cry when they dont get it.

[geek tragedy]

17. so your claim is that the origin of birtherism was not a response to

Barack Obama's race, and that Rubio birtherism is as prominent as Obama birtherism?

[7962]

19. I just showed you how its NOT another way of using the n-word.

Its just a stupid comparison to equate a ridiculous argument that Obama isnt eligible with calling him the n-word. If it was based on race they wouldnt also be talking about these other candidates. The birthers think Rubio is a "RINO" and will make the same complaints with him; they think they're "strict constitutionalists" when they're just whiners & old news.

[Liberal Veteran]

23. Really? You think it was all just a bitterness thing?

[7962]

25. Yes, for the most part.

Hes a "Muslin" (my favorite)
"back to kenya", where they say he was born.
And of course there are some racists in the mix. Its easy to find these silly signs just like you could find people calling for W to be hanged when he was president. A lot of people were against Bush who DIDNT want him to hang! But you could find some pretty bad signs at some of their rallies too.

[ieoeja]

21. It's not racism because it is also being used against Hispanics? n/t

[7962]

22. Its certainly not the N-word, which was the subject.

Now you're changing it to blanket racism. Hell, they're even tossing Santorum into the mix.
Why must everything ALWAYS be connected to racism? We've got people counting the number of blacks at a Bernie Sanders rally, for God's sake. Its getting beyond ridiculous.
Why cant we just look at them for what they are; fools?

[Orrex]

6. Cogent!

[DonViejo]

12. I have more than a few Black friends who have believed that birtherism is just

a nice way of using the "n" word ever since it began; I'll side with them, thank you. I know even more people who believe racism was the primary motivation behind Orly Taitz's entire campaign. Spend some time reading her stuff, I'm sure you'll change your "bull shit" theory.

[7962]

18. Read my response, #16

A lot of people think ANY criticism of Obama is "code word" for one thing or another, just like we see some saying criticism of Hillary is "misogyny". Last week a post told someone who posted about Hillary being "chicken" was SEXIST!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251530211#post8
Birther idiots just wanted obama out. Had Hillary won, they'd be doing the same thing just using a different tactic. I'm sure some of them ARE certainly against Obama because he's 1/2 black, but I believe more so that he's just not THEIR guy.

[DonViejo]

20. It's a smoke screen....

but, keep in mind, Jindal is an ethnic Indian; Santorum is Sicilian; Cruz and Castro are Cuban. I look forward to you telling Black folks their feelings of racism being thrown at the President aren't really racism, just politics.

[7962]

24. They can "feel" whatever they like. This OP was about the n-word

I showed that they seem to be equal opportunity idiots. We all have an ethnicity of some sort in our backround.
As I said in another post, now we have people counting how many blacks are at a Sanders rally. Its just gotten ridiculous.
Just like Hillary supporters are seeing "sexism" in any criticism of her.
Let everyone have their pity party, I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon.

[DonViejo]

26. I just love it when a DU'er shows their true colors. Thanks!

[7962]

28. You're welcome!

All the best in finding that racist behind every tree! I'm satisfied with calling a fool a fool and leaving it at that without trying so hard to make it something else.

[lewebley3]

7. Agreed

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[HughBeaumont]

11. DURRRRRRRRRRRR.

I've always said that birthers are nothing but a bunch of paranoid white supremacist "President Ni##er" people who are never ever EVER going to reconcile a black man in THEIR office and invent some ball-up of a narrative and run with it no matter how absurdist it is. What the hell other reason IS there?

[font size="3"]The Kenyan birth certificate[/font]

Apparently, one attention whore, thought they had found the "jackpot" - Obama's Kenyan birth certificate. WorldNetNutDaily made big news about it plastering it all over the front page.[7] However, many people from reality have pointed out some major flaws in the birth certificate,[8][9] as it's quite unusual for a Kenyan birth certificate to be issued in Australia.[10] It happens that an unknown blogger was responsible for the forged document and "punked" the birthers.[11][12] Orly Taitz claims that it is up to the courts to determine whether it is real or not.[13] Some people have gone as far as to claim that the Kenyan birth certificate is real and the "torn-up" pictures are fake.[14]

[font size="3"]Obama's grandmother[/font]

Much has been made of the supposed "fact" that Obama's grandmother says he was born in Kenya. Others have claimed that she has made a "sworn deposition" saying that he was born in Kenya.

This claim is false from beginning to end. There is most certainly no "sworn deposition" but there is a slightly confusing telephone conversation in which the clearest fact is that his family - grandmother included - insist he was born in the USA. Listen to the conversation itself and decide. If this conversation is evidence of anything, it's evidence:
1.That Obama was born in the USA.
2.Of the lengths to which Obama's detractors will go to in order to distort the facts.
3.Mrs. Obama was present at the birth of her son. (Yes, the caller asks that question.)

[font size="3"]Birth announcements[/font]

Obama's birth was announced in the local press in Hawaii as can be seen here. Despite this corroboration of his Hawaiian birth, the birthers are still not convinced. While WorldNetDaily dismiss it as merely indicating that the birth had been registered in Hawaii, as the newspaper receives the announcement from the Department of Health Vital Statistics System, and they claim that it was issued with the certificate of live birth, which they have already decided is unacceptable to them.[15] People on the more nutty end of the scale claim the newspaper clipping is, in fact, a plant.[16] Apparently, Obama's parents wanted to make sure he was a "natural-born citizen" more than 47 years ago, in case he ran for President. Naturally, this argument requires a massive stretch of the imagination to even think that the idea is plausible - these people begin to make the 9/11 Truth Movement look positively sane and respectable at this point, and, of course, just like the moon landing hoax, it would probably have been easier and simpler for Obama's family to take the honest route rather than the conspiracy route. Even Chuck Norris finds this hard to believe.[17]

[Liberal Veteran]

13. It may be uncomfortable to some people, but a lot the smears and labels basically boil down to...

....."There's an n-word in the Oval Office".

Of course, it isn't considered proper to say THAT out loud, so people find more, dare I say, "politically correct" ways of saying exactly that without using the word itself.

There may be some birthers that honestly don't care about his racial ancestry, but I'd be willing to bet a good majority them are extremely uncomfortable with a person of color in the White House.

[rocktivity]

27. Candidate for this year's "You Call This NEWS?" Award

Posted by Rocktivity in 2012:

Saying that you shouldn't vote for Obama because he's black is not an option because it's as irrational as it is racist.

Saying that you shouldn't vote for Obama because he's a communist is not an option, either -- it's too obvious that you're saying it simply because you can't say that you shouldn't vote for Obama because he's black.

Calling him a socialist, however, splits the difference perfectly -- it gives you all the advantages of calling him both the N-word AND the C-word without actually using them. The S-word provides just the right touch of "reasonable doubt." And the mainstream media is either too chicken or profit-hungry to call anyone it -- after all, controversy sells.

rocktivity

[DinahMoeHum]

29. BTW, Ken Burns also produced "The Central Park Five"

about the Central Park jogger assault case in 1989.
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/centralparkfive/


Donald Trump took out a full-page ad in the New York Daily News, practically calling for the lynching of whoever did it.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1838466.1403324800!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_400/trump21n-1-web.jpg

Turned out, the 5 teenagers who eventually went to prison were wholly innocent of the crime.

Last year, Trump screamed like a crybaby denouncing the settlement between NYC and the 5 young men.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/donald-trump-central-park-settlement-disgrace-article-1.1838467

http://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/donald-trump-and-the-central-park-five

[Omaha Steve]

30. K&R!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

31. But, it seems to me that States Rights is often used to reject the Feds proposed measures to outlaw

institutionalized racism. Like the appalling, decades long fight to stop enactment of the Federal anti-lynching bill.