You Gotta Believe - birthers, truthers and creationists take us back to the future

“Barack Obama won’t show us his birth certificate,” says Steve, a Connecticut resident and small-business owner, while he’s shoveling his walk. “He’s a Muslim terrorist. And you know what really bothers me? He is doing exactly what Hitler did.”

Steve has plenty of other opinions relating to the American president, culture, and society. He can rattle off the prized talking points of this country’s culture of belief without missing a beat: The moon landing was a hoax; the world is ending in 2012; 9/11 was an inside job; creationism is valid science.

A hardworking fellow and family man in a postindustrial factory town of a blue state, Steve does not come across as fanatical. Yet his adherence to raw belief—a position unassailable by factual counter-data—is more than an inherently dangerous American mind-set. It is a deadly challenge to the aim of humanism.

The “belief” mind-set is pretty common in the news these days. Much of the believers’ ire seems directed at the current presidential administration, and it’s now getting legal attention: The U.S. Army is set to court-martial a soldier who refused deployment to Afghanistan because the soldier—Lieutenant Colonel Terry Lakin—shares with Steve the belief that President Obama is not a U.S. citizen. Neither Lakin nor Steve nor thousands of other “birthers” can put forth any evidence, documentation, or data that withstands the test of scrutiny. They just, well, believe it.

Read more: http://www.utne.com/Spirituality/Culture-of-Belief-Irrational-America.aspx#ixzz1ANZr50dx

Many idiots now believe that belief is equal to facts. And when a fact shows their belief is incorrect, they discard the fact and hold more tightly to the belief.

Which is why this country and the world are fucked.

And it still ain't good for democracy!

fundie church.

at one time if you wanted to make a accusation you had to have some sort of proof, but it seems lately that notion has gone out of "style".

who, early on, stated the importance of journalism to the practice of democracy. After he was President, a friend asked him which newspapers he took, to which he replied: "None. They're all liars."(or something to that effect).

Nowhere in the article does the author even begin to try and explain WHY so many America believe such nonsense and fervently believe things that are factually untrue even when presented with the facts. He simply throws up his hands and offers that ALL of these beliefs are the same and this phenomena has been with us as part of the human condition for eons. While that is somewhat true, there are major distinctions in the case of our modern America. For example, the effect of right-wing media on America's beliefs today is truly astounding. One can easily draw a line from the insane beliefs that swirl around us today to right-wing media in all its forms. In short, a great deal of what is happening in America in regard to these issues is a direct result of a massive campaign by right-wing, corporate media. The techniques honed to sell cars and diapers by Madison Avenue over the last decades are now being aimed squarely at Americans to get us to accept and "believe" complete nonsense as truth!

...but I doubt the 911 lunatics are regulars at the right wing media outlets, or the Lunatic-landers for that matter.

racism, whether or not admitted to self or others.

is just a chicken shit punk who fears being deployed to a combat zone. After all he signed up because the uniform makes his wife hot.