If one asked me to describe the American populace, I’d just sigh. A country that was originally built on hard work and the thought that anything is possible if you work your hardest has turned into a country filled with people who only care about their selfish selves. On top of that, the American population is becoming increasingly ignorant and uncaring about world affairs. The Barack Obama birth certificate “crisis” exemplifies this perfectly.
Since his election in 2008, vast quantities of citizens have demanded to see the President’s birth certificate. Three years later, President Barack Obama produced the long sought birth certificate. Personally, I commend the president for ignoring the foolishness of some of America’s citizens for so long. It shocks and disturbs me that, simply because our president isn’t white, he is automatically a foreigner and a terrorist.
For the first time in American history, a sizeable amount of people in America want to see the birth certificate of our president. Is it a coincidence that the first black president is frequently asked about the whereabouts of his birth certificate? More ridiculous than people legitimately thinking that our president is from another country is that those who make these accusations insist that they aren’t being racist. Simply and ignorantly saying, “I’m just curious as to why our president didn’t show us his birth certificate,” is a ludicrous statement. I don’t recall anyone asking for president Bush’s birth certificate or any of the leaders of our country before him. It is rather commendable that the president has done his best to ignore the sheer stupidity that so many Americans feel they need to express.
At the end of the day, the ignorance of the American populace is just depressing. While our country still has plenty of hard-working, intelligent people, the blatant absurdity of some Americans is appalling. The only silver lining to this cloud of ignorance is that our President can now more easily identify the rude, ignorant attacks of one sphere of America’s population who will shirk all virtue and responsibility to senselessly attack someone with different viewpoints.
The Tiger Times 
James M. Smith
June 3, 2011
I feel the anger in the tone of this article. Yet, as it chastises America’s ‘populace’ for “senselessly attack[ing] someone with different viewpoints,” it seems to succumb to its own criticisms. Isn’t it just as “ridiculous,” “ludicrous,” “ignorant,” and “stupid” to conclude that every “birther” has as his or her true motive, the furtherance of racism. How can we call ourselves tolerant when using words such as “ridiculous”, “ludicrous”, “ignorant”, and “stupid” in describing another with an opposing view unless, of course, the view is entirely irrational? The birthers made a simple, legitimate request, legal in nature, which they have a perfect right to do, based on a longstanding cornerstone of American law and jurisprudence in which every citizen has the right to challenge the fundamental jurisdiction of a legal authority.
For all the anger this article directs at the American populace, I submit that most of it should be, instead, directed to the President for having allowed this issue to fester among and divide us, as evidenced by this very article and its angry, condesending tone. The President made a calculated decision to ignore the birthers’ collective request, and to spend an enormous amount of money and energy in actively defending the requests in court, which served no purpose but to feed the suspicion of the “birthers” and the “American populace.” Personally – not considering myself a birther – I kept wondering, “If there is a birth certificate, why won’t he simply authorize its production and dispel the suspicisions, so that we can get on with it?”
This article ridicules birthers for doing what little they could to confirm their suspicions, but offers nothing but praise for the leader of this nation for allowing to develop – indeed feeding – the issue for nearly three years by failing to do what was easily within his power to dispel it and, by doing so, bring our collective focus back from the distraction.
I agree with the author’s complaint that we, the American populace, need to be more tolerant. But what has historically made us a great people is our recognition that this “American populace” includes the one I call “me.”