Birthing a notion

It floats around like swarms of mosquitoes that annoy and annoy. It’s seems like such a minor thing but it just doesn’t go away and to kill it takes a lot of effort. I’m talking about the “birth controversy” regarding Obama.

There is a segment of the population that contends that Obama wasn’t born in the US and therefore can’t be the President. The controversy is fanned various groups all over the internet and on TV by many including Lou Dobbs, who was thought to be a reasonable reporter. Despite the evidence of a live birth certificate issued by Hawaii and newspaper clippings announcing his birth, the "birthers" continue their rant. What we are dealing with here is not that Obama wasn’t born in Hawaii (he was) but that the belief of him not being born in the US is kept alive by those who cling to that belief despite the evidence.

It’s a classic case of intractable belief. You’ve seen cases like this before. There are those who contend that the attacks of 9/11was the work of the US government to get us to go war in Iraq. Or that the crash of TWA flight 800 off Long Island on July 17, 1996 was caused by a missile fired by a military jet or an onboard terrorist. Once a notion or belief is created and held by an individual, no amount of contrary evidence will do.

The same is true of those who hold a religious belief. No amount of discussion will change the mind of the believer. The more you talk to them the more their view gets entrenched. As Carol Tarvis and Elliot Aronson point out in their book “ Mistakes were made (but not by me)”, “the brain comes packaged with other self-serving habits that allow us to justify our own perceptions and beliefs as being accurate, realistic, and unbiased.”

So the “birthers” will continue to rant until they tire but the religious believers go on forever inflicting their nonsense on us. I would say "Jesus help us!" but he seems to be a slacker of late.