QUESTION: Why are white folks more mad about the Birtherism than all the other racist shit

[uponit7771]

This discussion thread was locked by JustAnotherGen (a host of the African American group).

... that Benedict Donald has done!?!?!

Don't understand why this issue gets white people more animated than not renting apartments to black and Hispanic people or tRump saying he doesn't want black people to touch his money or the Mexican judge thing.

EDIT: I'm talking about whites being pissed off at tRump now (my anectdotal observation from 24 hr news channels) why is the birther thing the last straw or the step too far?

Thx in advance for any input

[SHRED]

1. Really?

You've taken a poll of all "white people"?

[uponit7771]

4. Nope, just my observation

[misterhighwasted]

8. Suppose Trump judged human beings by the size of their feet?

Trump can speak for Trump, but never for me.

Why is this even a question.

[enough]

2. It seemed the congressional black caucus was pretty unusually pissed today too. (nt)

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

3. Because they bought into it.

Trump gave them cover. By constantly arguing, "...but Donald Trump said it. He sent investigators (or maybe not) to Hawaii and proved it," they could claim, "But, of course, I'm not racist."

Now that they've all crawled out from under their rocks, Trump just took away the cover they've had for five years.

Just like Trump, now they have no choice but to publicly admit their years of spreading the race-baiting nonsense. Or continue to blabber and look even more like stoopid morans.

[uponit7771]

7. Thx, that explains the ones that want cover but not the ones it seems (to me) that let everything

... else go (or even normalized) and haven't been this animated about all the other racist shit tRump has done.

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

17. The birther meme

was always one tiny step away from direct racism and direct personal criticism. One could claim his/her hands were clean. Even though the intent was personal to demonize the President and the office of the presidency, they were talking about a "thing," not a person. Horrible logic, but I know several random people who have tried to justify this non-logic. And now their cover is blown.

"Lying" Hillary, "Pocahontas" Elizabeth, and similar more recent overt childish name-calling from Donald Trump are aimed more directly at individual people and not some thing like a birth certificate. The people I know who believe Trump have a harder time repeating the name-calling.

Thanks for posting. No scientific analysis on my part. Just what I've experienced with right-wing acquaintances.

[uponit7771]

18. thx, sounds similar to being able to relate to the person who's the victim of something...

... I'm serious, I know wingers who's done with tRump over birtherism...

Yeah, if the person who's being discriminated against is someone people know then it gets more personal vs someone calling some random person they don't know all to well racist names

[IllinoisBirdWatcher]

20. Just caught Rachel Maddow's piece on the Alt-Right secret DC press conference

related to this discussion. Interesting to hear their views on coming out from under their rocks. Presumably there will be a tape.

[uponit7771]

21. omfg... saw that too... sKeered shitless... I've been posting tRump is a text book white supremacist

... and thought he's denigrated every other non white ethnicity in America except Asians

and what did the alt right guy say about Asians!??!

they have the highest IQs !!!

WTF!!

This dude is KKK straight up

[brer cat]

24. Good point, IBW.

You can hear the "I'm not a racist, but..." when they express their "concern" that our President is not legitimate. Indeed, their cover has now been blown. I haven't run into any of my birther acquaintances since Trump's admission, but I am very curious to see whether they are squirming now.

[uponit7771]

25. +1

[misterhighwasted]

5. Because it insults all "white people".

Not all white people are racist.

Its like Trump saying all blue eyed people in America are beneath brown eyed people. Its stupid and its a lie. It is devisive, arrogant and he does not speak for all brown eyed people nor blue eyed people. He speaks only for himself.

[uponit7771]

10. True, I agree... just not seen this much vitriol towards tRump regarding all the other racist and...

... sexist and bigoted shit he's said.

Birtherism seems a step too far for talking heads... Chris Hayes jus went up side someones head with their own face book post... like whoa... dude was literally sweating.

Don't know why this issue vs all the other fucked up shit he's said has got people animated

thx in advance

[misterhighwasted]

14. That's a question for the media then. As for regular non-media "white folks"

..the racial & mysoginist bigotry & insults have been opposed. We're only hearing about it on the Newz now because Trump played the reporters into filming a free infomercial for his hotel.

But we'll have to wait & see how long their ire lasts.

[uponit7771]

15. right... I have a feeling their execs will be telling em to lay of Benedict Donald to get some ratin

[misterhighwasted]

16. News cycle will keep moving. It is Friday afterall and the NRA just shored up

..$15 Million for 2nd ammendment attack ads. Note the subtle mention of guns showing up in the conversation today also.

And Trump is ready to roll out his anti-abortion campaign with the announcement of his new anti Abortion Team.

Birthers are on board with Trump no matter what he says. He now moves on to gather the anti abortion voters and the golden ticket to the Oval Office: the 2nd ammendment gun huggers..because doncha know Hillary will take all the gunz away...Be prepared for next week's Newz. It won't be about birthers anymore.

[Bok_Tukalo]

6. Are you asking so-called "white folks"?

For my part I think it is because it is immediate. It is right now.

And I disagree on the judge. There was a great deal of consternation exhibited by "white folks."

[uponit7771]

9. The judge was new, the bitherism seemed like a disqualifier from the start... its just talking heads

... seem way more pissed at the bitherism thing than the rest (MHO)

Chris Hayes just went up someones head with their own facebook birther shit...

[raging moderate]

11. We're not.

I can only speak for myself, of course. I think you may be hearing some white people pounce on it because it is so laughably easy to refute. It's like comic relief, amid all the dark nasty horror these people inflict. It is actually one of the silliest things the white supremacists have done.

[unblock]

12. my guess is that it's because a lot of white people voted for obama

therefore they feel they have a direct, personal stake in that particular issue. moreover, we know the victim. he's a very visible, public figure. hey donnie, are you saying that *my* choice for president isn't legitimate? screw you, donnie!

whereas, his other forms of racism don't directly affect white people in the same way. you have to have awareness and empathy in order to find your outrage for those issues. plus, the victims are usually people we don't otherwise know.

[uponit7771]

13. Makes sense ... thank you, empathy plays a huge part of when peoples claws come out on an issue

... this makes a lot of sense.

People know him
Support him
Understand its roots are in racist views

[mercuryblues]

19. Timing

Yesterday his son referred to the media as a Nazi gas chamber. Today they were made fools (again) over his 7 second press conference on the issue. They are now taking that issue and hitting him over the head with it. I hope they go all weekend exposing Trump lies and illegal campaign donations to avoid being arrested for fraud.

By Monday we will know if we have a press corps or a press corpse

[murielm99]

22. I am a white person.

From what I can tell, it is just "one more thing." By that, I mean birtherism has gotten on peoples' last nerve. They have heard it all, and it's, "Okay, now he's done it. I don't want any more shit."

But I don't think ordinary Democrats are reacting this way. I went to a fundraising event this evening, in northern Illinois. There were mostly white people there, only a few black people. This birther issue was not making anyone any more angry than all the rest of the stuff. I heard just as much anger over what Trump and all the other Republicans want to do to ordinary working Americans. Birtherism seemed to be just part of the package of complaints.

When I was phone banking this week, I heard real fear from people. They are worried about jobs, housing, and Trump getting us all killed in a nuclear holocaust. I'm pretty sure I was talking mostly to white people.

Maybe you should ask some white people IRL. See if they will be honest with you. I think most of them will be more honest than the 24 hour news channels! They will explode with anger over any Trump lie, but at the root of that anger is fear of a Trump Presidency.

Trump and his supporters have gone after anyone who is Other, like Muslims, black people, Hispanics, the physically challenged. Birtherism fits right in there with all the other bigotry. They have gone after anyone they perceive as weaker, like women.

After awhile, who will be left to persecute? How long before they turn on each other? This is the unspoken fear of any strongman or wannabe strongman. I think the anger is more about fear than anything else.

[The Polack MSgt]

23. My thought

Its because we get mad when something that was widely believed is shown to be racist and we have no counter argument.

SO we would rather it got swept under the rug or dropped in the memory hole - having to revisit and face how screwed up it was hurts our fee fees.

That's when the super deluxe moral outrage of compensation takes over.

Just my theory mind you. Birtherism was always obviously racist, but the press played it a like a real issue for years. They are mad that it still comes up and reminds everyone how complicit they were

[Uponthegears]

26. Because it's easy

Birtherism is so ridiculous that white folks can say "Damn, those Deplorables are a bunch of racist" and never even consider why they themselves are so worried about white folks' "free speech" when universities want to establish safe zones, or why they never question why the black folks who said they saw Wilson murder Michael Brown are "incredible" or why they secretly detest the term "white privilege" or why the only things they care about in Chicago are guns.

[uponit7771]

32. Seems to be a consensus that bitherism is easy so there's little excuse not to be upset about it

[apcalc]

27. the press is particularly animated about this.

As a white person, let me say that the all the racist, sexist, homophobic shit ALL gets me pissed off. Continually. And the rabid Trumpers ARE deplorable.

[Jarqui]

28. I haven't read the thread yet

I do not quite know where to start.

The fact that this rampantly racist and ignorant pig is a candidate for the highest office in the land makes my head spin. How could someone like that get this far? Rhetorical question because obviously, there are a bunch of folks who must feel similarly or at the very least, certainly are much more tolerant of that ignorance, discrimination and hatred than I and many others are.

In the face of that, how could the polls be even remotely close? But they are .. for the same reason - just reaffirming the above. Obviously, there is this clandestine hatred flourishing in America. They know it's wrong because they hide it but their basic deep seeded hatred overwhelms the notion that all men are created equal, fairness, good will to all men and decency, etc.

This:
"I'm talking about whites being pissed off at tRump now "
is a drop in the bucket. Doesn't mean much to me.

How do you make sense of such ignorance or hatred in the first place - before getting down to what little thing might have ticked them off recently? It doesn't matter what flavor it comes in, racism, based upon minds full of maggots of hate and the disease of ignorance, doesn't taste good.

[uponit7771]

30. My understanding is the media has normalized the stupid, like in Germany when 1 person owned or

... controlled 50% of the papers or media and that person wanted to be involved in the control of Germany. So Hitlers Jewish hate talk became the norm and people either ignored it, because it wasn't them who would suffer, or supported it because they're really stupid. Then the media HID his intentions in France and Russia which among the population made no real sense seeing neither one of those countries were a direct threat to the racial populous of Germany.

At first the outcries against the "wins" in France and Russia were tampered by calling people unpatriotic the bombing of the German cities is when folk woke up but it was too late, they felt their were a done nation.

Here in America

Instead of the media calling tRump an out and out white supremacist (cause he hasn't denigrated white supremacist or Asians and TRMS outed the reason why Asians are off the table) they talk about him in either condescending factor or like he's a normal mammal which he isn't... he's sleaze.

The media here is after ratings in Germany it was one person controlling everything...

The media here now in America is worse

[Jarqui]

33. I certainly agree to a significant extent

If the media wasn't playing along, this thing wouldn't be nearly so close. They have to keep it close to maintain ratings/interest. So money is involved and they're playing us, etc. Much of the rest of the world looks on in jaw dropping disbelief.

But it really shouldn't matter what the media do because this guy is a pompous, ignorant pig who shouldn't be anywhere near any levers of government much less the nuclear football. You do not need a lot of media to figure out this guy is a dangerous, dishonest, unethical, fascist asshole. (and I could add many more derogatory adjectives)

I came into this campaign willing to give Hillary a second chance. She ticked me off with more of the same from 2008. So Bernie got my support. After the primaries, for a while, I couldn't support either of them. But this guy is right out of his friggin' mind. Why more people can't see that, in spite of how much they may dislike Hillary and the media coverage toying with them, I don't know.

He's by far the worst presidential candidate of my lifetime and I was born in the early Eisenhower years.

I was thinking that as long as he isn't successful in his campaign, he's actually doing some good. He's putting an ugly, unpopular face to what being a disgusting racist looks like - pushing it further back into the dark closet within the nations conscience - making it harder for it to continue to exist. On that front, I hope he's really successful.

[Worktodo]

29. All the things people hate about Trump

Well it's all the things people hate about Trump-- he presents himself as a God-like figure who knows more than me and you (and everyone else). The part that really roils me is where he congratulates himself for "settling the controversy". Not just because that's false (it is) but because it's arrogant and presumptuous. But who am I to say anything-- he's the media's cash cow and the Republican's standard bearer. In November we'll either get Hillary (who will be great) or Trump. Quite possibly we'll never know who actually won and whether it was the result of fairness, voter suppression, or Russian hacking. The 21st century is completely off the rails and Birtherism really encapsulates all of that nicely.

[uponit7771]

31. +1, seems like that's a conscensus also; the stupid of birtherism is easy and encapsulates the wrong

... in what's happening in one side of US politics

[Coolest Ranger]

34. Why did you feel the need

to post this in the African American group? This needs to go to General Discussion not here

[uponit7771]

35. I feel safer posting this here than in GD, I wanted an answer from a black perspective

... also and don't feel I'd get that in GD

[LWolf]

36. I'm not.

Of course, I only speak for myself, not all of the rest of the white folks.

I'm not really "mad" about Donald Trump. He's despicable, and I've known that all along. What's to be mad about? Well, there are plenty of things to be mad about, but Trump being Trump is a drop in the bucket, and business as usual. If I'm "mad" about anything related to him, it's the pus-filled underbelly of the racist, xenophobic, hateful American public that he's feeding, and that is feeding his candidacy. Maybe it's a good thing that he rips off the covers and brings it to the surface to be dealt with? One way or another, we can't stuff it back under the rug to hide; we, and by we I mean all of us, including and especially the white folks, need to confront it, to deal with it, to eradicate the hate like the disease it is no matter what happens in November.

I'm mad about a whole bunch of other things that DU as a whole doesn't much care about, but that's business as usual, too.

[JustAnotherGen]

37. Locking Off Topic

Discussion/conjecture about white Americans thoughts/feelings to Af/Am