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NFL Player & HuffPuffer: Conspiracists Finally Lost Me; Obama Antichrist From From Kenya!?
Birther Report
12/2/2014
Excerpt:
NFL Player & Huffington Post Writer: Conspiracists Finally Lost Me; Obama Antichrist From From Kenya!?
HuffPuff writer, & free agent NFL player, Donté Stallworth, explains why he no longer buys into conspiracy theories.
Excerpts via Stallworth @ HuffPuff: Here's Why 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Still Thrive In America
[...]
A young senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama had been making international headlines, winning the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary. I was pleased to see someone of color running for the nation's highest office. Although he was affable, well educated and an exceptional orator, I never imagined he had a chance to actually win -- until he actually started winning. I wanted to learn more about his background.
So I turned to YouTube. An unguided journey through the bowels of YouTube can lead to some awfully strange places, as it did for me that day. Somewhere amid my research of Obama, I stumbled across a few videos claiming that individuals within the United States government had conspired with Osama bin Laden decades ago.
My first thought about a bin Laden alliance was, yeah right, but I clicked on the link anyway, out of curiosity. It turned out the claim was true -- and thus began my journey down the rabbit hole.
[...]
If I'd been so wrong about the alliance with bin Laden, what else was I wrong about? What else was the government hiding? This, for me at least, is how the door opened. My journey into and out of conspiracy land, however embarrassing it was for me when a recent pile-on began ---- is useful to think about, because I am by no means alone. And we ignore or ridicule conspiracy thinking at our peril.
Conspiracy theories are not a recent phenomenon in America, said history professor Robert Goldberg, director of the Tanner Humanities Center and co-director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, but they have changed in one fundamental way: Before the second half of the 20th century, conspiracy theories focused on people who were seen as outsiders -- Jews, Catholics, Communists. Today's conspiracies focus on insiders -- the government, Wall Street and the military. (Given the intertwined history of anti-Semitism and conspiracism, one constant appears to be Jews.)
[...]
"I think the moment the conspiracists finally lost me came when they started proclaiming that President Obama was the Antichrist, essentially sent to America, presumably from Kenya, by an evil cabal to destroy U.S. sovereignty and establish a global government. Obama has done plenty that I've disagreed with, as my Twitter feed will attest, but the Antichrist?" [...] Huffington Post.
Aside from the Antichrist label, I'd say the other Obama references are bearing out to be fact... not theories...
Sports Illustrated noted the following about Stallworth earlier this year: Inviting the Nightmare
[...]
In Cleveland, he’d blast Frank Sinatra from the stereo in his locker as teammates rolled their eyes. In Washington, he advised teammates to examine Obama’s politics, and not to vote for him just because he’s black. He’d share political conspiracy theories during lulls in the workday, or buy a dozen copies of the latest government-related book he’d read and hand them out among teammates and staffers.
“He was always trying to make guys more aware of what was going on in the world and trying to get people to ask questions,” says former Browns director of communications Amy Palcic, who remains close with Stallworth.
[...] Sports Illustrated.
View the complete Birther Report presentation at:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/12...piracists.html
Birther Report
12/2/2014
Excerpt:
NFL Player & Huffington Post Writer: Conspiracists Finally Lost Me; Obama Antichrist From From Kenya!?
HuffPuff writer, & free agent NFL player, Donté Stallworth, explains why he no longer buys into conspiracy theories.
Excerpts via Stallworth @ HuffPuff: Here's Why 9/11 Conspiracy Theories Still Thrive In America
[...]
A young senator from Illinois by the name of Barack Obama had been making international headlines, winning the Iowa caucuses and the South Carolina primary. I was pleased to see someone of color running for the nation's highest office. Although he was affable, well educated and an exceptional orator, I never imagined he had a chance to actually win -- until he actually started winning. I wanted to learn more about his background.
So I turned to YouTube. An unguided journey through the bowels of YouTube can lead to some awfully strange places, as it did for me that day. Somewhere amid my research of Obama, I stumbled across a few videos claiming that individuals within the United States government had conspired with Osama bin Laden decades ago.
My first thought about a bin Laden alliance was, yeah right, but I clicked on the link anyway, out of curiosity. It turned out the claim was true -- and thus began my journey down the rabbit hole.
[...]
If I'd been so wrong about the alliance with bin Laden, what else was I wrong about? What else was the government hiding? This, for me at least, is how the door opened. My journey into and out of conspiracy land, however embarrassing it was for me when a recent pile-on began ---- is useful to think about, because I am by no means alone. And we ignore or ridicule conspiracy thinking at our peril.
Conspiracy theories are not a recent phenomenon in America, said history professor Robert Goldberg, director of the Tanner Humanities Center and co-director of the Middle East Center at the University of Utah, but they have changed in one fundamental way: Before the second half of the 20th century, conspiracy theories focused on people who were seen as outsiders -- Jews, Catholics, Communists. Today's conspiracies focus on insiders -- the government, Wall Street and the military. (Given the intertwined history of anti-Semitism and conspiracism, one constant appears to be Jews.)
[...]
"I think the moment the conspiracists finally lost me came when they started proclaiming that President Obama was the Antichrist, essentially sent to America, presumably from Kenya, by an evil cabal to destroy U.S. sovereignty and establish a global government. Obama has done plenty that I've disagreed with, as my Twitter feed will attest, but the Antichrist?" [...] Huffington Post.
Aside from the Antichrist label, I'd say the other Obama references are bearing out to be fact... not theories...
Sports Illustrated noted the following about Stallworth earlier this year: Inviting the Nightmare
[...]
In Cleveland, he’d blast Frank Sinatra from the stereo in his locker as teammates rolled their eyes. In Washington, he advised teammates to examine Obama’s politics, and not to vote for him just because he’s black. He’d share political conspiracy theories during lulls in the workday, or buy a dozen copies of the latest government-related book he’d read and hand them out among teammates and staffers.
“He was always trying to make guys more aware of what was going on in the world and trying to get people to ask questions,” says former Browns director of communications Amy Palcic, who remains close with Stallworth.
[...] Sports Illustrated.
View the complete Birther Report presentation at:
http://www.birtherreport.com/2014/12...piracists.html