This is a classic example of people looking at a document with a conclusion already in mind, and mistakenly assuming that the document they are looking at supports their preconceived conclusion solely because of some superficial characteristic which may not actually be relevant. In this case the logical fallacy is the assumption that if President Obama is keeping records secret those records must relate to his birth certificate or school records because you already believe those things to be falsifications which he would want to cover up.
This is an example of the Existential fallacy or Vacuous Truth fallacy which is often demonstrated in the classic False Antecedent Syllogism. In this case:
To those already inclined to belief this may sound good, but in fact there is no proven foundation for the first assertion and no actual causal link between the second premise and the conclusion. It's a compound logical error originating with that unproven assumption which the evidence introduced doesn't actually support despite all claims..
This problem of misreading documents which have some superficial elements that can be misconstrued by those inclined to look for nefarious meanings is remarkably common. It becomes even worse when the documents deal with legal terms or concepts which the readers are unfamiliar with, or when they use foreign phrases, usually in Latin, which can be easily mistranslated to produce nonsensical or self-serving results.
Entire pyramids of conspiracy theory are built on this kind of illogic, and their delusional adherents will cling to them relentlessly so that their entire delusional world view isn't brought crashing down by pointing out their foundational error.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ruvy
Nice job burning up a straw man, Dave. Would you like me to toss in a match to your fire, or would that be a "foreign flame that had not been commanded"?
2 - Sam Sewell
Well you are right about the Executive Order!
It is inappropriate to use the phrase "Birther fringe" It is not irrational or "fringe" to want information include Obama's missing history including his birth certificate. The facts, not theories, of the issue are clear and uncontested.
Obama is keeping the best available evidence secret. That is established fact, not theory. Let's just add suppression of evidence to the other charges of election fraud, campaign finance violations and filing fraudulent documents in all 50 states.
No matter what you might think there is no escaping that AKA Obama is not practicing the virtue of full disclosure.
In 1961, the Public Health Services, U. S Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Division published the "Vital Statistics of the United States
Here is a blank copy of the Standard Certificate of Live Birth used by all states including Hawaii. This is the information being hidden by Obama.
Plus read the article that is included with the blank copy.
Here is what a real Hawaiian Birth Certificate looks like.
If you are not suspicious of a man who hides his history I have a bridge in the desert I want to sell you.
If you are unwilling to call for an investigation of a man who attempts to sell you a bridge in the desert I have some beach front property in Florida at the intersection of I75 and Florida # 29 that I want you to buy.
If you place a down payment on a contract for the bridge in the desert and the beach front property in the swamp I would conclude that you voted for Obama
Do you really think AKA Obama would have won the election if all the things he is hiding were made known?
Do you really think AKA Obama will be able to finish his first term if all the things he is hiding are made known?
The only conspiracy is the media and the obots who suppress the revelation of AKA Obama's history.
Obama “I have nothing to hide but I’m hiding it.”
3 - Glenn Contrarian
Wow. I do so enjoy real surprises, things I truly didn't expect. Good on you, Dave - it takes courage to stand up for what is right...and this is especially true considering your position within the Republican Liberty Caucus, and when many (and perhaps most) of those who sympathize with the Tea Party are either birthers or who claim to be unsure about the issue.
You skillfully stood up for what is right against many of your own who (like you) strongly oppose the president. That took real courage, Dave. That took guts. Bravo Zulu to you!
4 - Glenn Contrarian
Sam -
Were you aware that in 1999, Hawaii decided to save taxpayer money by getting rid of the hard-copy paper files of millions of birth certificates and digitalized all of them? The digitalization of such records is safer and more secure than keeping the hard copy (except in case of EMP). THAT, sir, is why Obama doesn't have an original. What he does have - like the majority of other kama'aina who don't have an original locked away in a safe deposit box - is a birth certificate that looks precisely like the birth certificate of my son who was born in Tripler Army Medical Center on O'ahu.
BUT if you'll go back to the microfiche archives of the Honolulu Advertiser from August 4th, 1961, you'll find the name of Barack H. Obama in the list of birth announcements. In fact, here and here are links to scans of that particular issue of the Honolulu Advertiser.
So either you'll see just wrong the 'birther' argument is and courageously join Dave Nalle in trying to bring a measure of common sense to your Tea Party...
...or you must then believe that this 'grand conspiracy' started in August of 1961 with commie Kenyan secret agents forcing the editor of the Honolulu Advertiser at gunpoint to insert the name "Barack H. Obama" on the list of births so they would someday have a Manchurian Candidate of their own, and that They Knew that half a century later their grand scheme would come to fruition and the child they had hidden in secret back in Nairobi would someday have his trigger finger on the American Nuclear Stockpile!!!!!!
It's your choice, Sam - sanity, or insanity. Sometimes sanity takes more courage than one might expect.
Nairobi - nice city when you're downtown, but the slums aren't so nice. The airport is at least as nice as the one in Jackson, the capital of the state of Mississippi.
5 - STM
Obama doesn't have a Kenyan birth certificate, especially not if it's the one the birthers were touting around on the internet.
The form they used is wrong, for a start; it's a copy of an Australian birth certificate issued by the State of South Australia, with the names changed and the "Republic of Kenya" stamp on it.
For a start, not all birth certificates in the British Commonwealth are alike. They vary from state to state in Australia, for instance, and all are totally different to the British certificates, which are "long" rather than "deep".
The Kenyan certificate had one really glaring error, however. At the time it was supposedly issued and stamped with the Republic of Kenya stamp, it wasn't a republic. It was independent, but as a Dominion, like Canada ... not a republic. That didn't happen until a year later.
It helps to know this stuff, and to do your homework if you're going to whack fake Kenyan certificates out there on the net.
What Gleen says is true, too ... and well documented. All Hawaiians now seeking a birth certificate get a printout taken from the digital records.
Obama's does, however, list his place of birth: Hawaii. Even Hawaiian republicans are embarrassed by the birther thing, because they know the truth.
6 - STM
And don't be too surprised by Dave's position here Glenn ... he's no fan of conspiracy nuts, except for the fun to be had while we all have a good giggle at their expense.
Dave's political views might not always jell with yours (or mine), but they're at least rooted in sanity and reality.
He has a great website: idiotwars. Check it out ... there's hours of fun in there.
7 - Dave Nalle
STM, it's not just Hawaiians. A lot of states went to digital birth certificates as part of a general effort to reduce physical paperwork in the 1990s. It's not even particularly unusual.
And Glenn, liberty is founded in truth and reason. You can't be free if you let yourself be ruled by fear and delusion. The same reasons I oppose the statist oppression of the left leads me to oppose the oppression of ignorance and delusion. Two sides of the same coin.
As for the Birther delusion, it's actually mostly a fantasy of a small crazy minority and those who express doubt on a poll are just not well informed because our media sucks so much. The main originators of the Birther idiocy are actually Democrats and politically quite far left.
Dave
8 - Doug Hunter
Good article, I enjoy the occasional area where I can agree with people across the political spectrum. This has crossed far, far into hyperconspiracy foolishness.
First of all, I don't see the need for or agree with the 'natural born' requirement and believe it has outlived it's purpose as the country has matured. Secondly, Obama was born in Hawaii making the whole argument pointless.
The time for this, if there ever was one, has long passed. President Obama has been elected and if you truly want to see him out of office my advice would be to quit alienating rational people with this sick conspiratorial obsession.
9 - Baronius
I didn't even know that birthers were still out there.
10 - ksdb
Glenn, the 1961 newspaper announcements don't show a place of birth. So far the state of Hawaii has refused to say that Obama's alleged COLB is real. Factlack dot org took some photos of the alleged document that contain a certificate number that according to Hawaii policies and procedures and other known certificates, can't be genuine. When asked to authenticate the number, despite having statutory authority under Hawaii Revised Statute 388-18 (d), they refuse. Furthermore, DOH director Chiyome Fukino said that Obama's original birth certificate was not sufficient to prove Obama's place of birth and had to rely on unnamed documents, which have no guarantee of accuracy. Obama's own wife said that Kenya is his home country (where he was born). If his own wife is a crazy birther, then she probably knows what's up.
11 - ksdb
Just a quick correction: That should say 338-18(d) (not 388). That is the statute on Index Data for vital records which CAN be released to the public. Certificate numbers are permissible information to release according to a 1990 opinion letter posted here:
http://hawaii.gov/oip/opinionletters/opinion%2090-23.pdf
Nothing in the current law prohibits the release of the number. It would be the quickest, easiest and legal way for Hawaii to confirm that Obama's alleged COLB is real, but the DOH refuses.
12 - Dr Dreadful
the 1961 newspaper announcements don't show a place of birth.
Still doesn't explain why Obama's parents (or whoever) would go to the lengths of placing the birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper on the off-chance that their son would one day want to run for president.
13 - Dave Nalle
Ok, everything kdsb says in his first post is untrue. Each of those points is directly refuted at snopes.com.
Dave
14 - Glenn Contrarian
Baronius -
I didn't even know that birthers were still out there.
I really do wonder if you're being sarcastic...but in case you aren't, here's some more facts that you believe I'm so given to misinterpreting:
The above reference is concerning a Louis Harris poll from the third week of March which found that:
45% of Republicans believe that President Obama was "not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president."
57% of Republicans believe that President Obama is a Muslim.
67% of Republicans believe Obama is a socialist.
38% of Republicans believe that Obama is "doing many things Hitler did."
24% of Republicans agree that Obama "may be the antiChrist."
The poll also found that voters lacking a college education are much more likely to agree with more extreme myths and rumors about the 44th president.
But I'm sure this is just another case of my 'misinterpreting the facts'.
15 - handyguy
...liberty is founded in truth and reason. You can't be free if you let yourself be ruled by fear and delusion.
I applaud Dave for this article, even though as you can see it is already drawing conspiracy crazies like honey draws flies.
I also hope he will keep his own quotation above in mind the next time he is tempted to use intemperate words or praise the outlandish rhetoric of others; or use distorted, partial or made-up "facts" to spread pernicious propaganda about issues and individuals, most recently of course the health reform bill.
If he would indeed do that, the general atmosphere around here would improve several hundred per cent.
16 - ksdb
Dr. Dreadful, you're premise is dreadful. Obama's maternal grandparents were Kansans and would have wanted to make sure their grandchild was an American citizen. If the child was born outside of the United States, the best way to ensure this would be by registering the birth locally. There's no reason to assume there was some long-term nefarious plan to make this kid a politician, just a U.S. citizen. The Dunham's daughter was too young to impart U.S. citizenship by giving birth abroad, unless it was out of wedlock. Even then, they still probably would have wanted to claim him locally. The standard of proof in Hawaii for births is very low. HRS 338-6 says:
"If neither parent of the newborn child whose birth is unattended as provided in section 338-5 is able to prepare a birth certificate, the local agent of the department of health shall secure the necessary information from any person having knowledge of the birth and prepare and file the certificate."
17 - Dr Dreadful
ksdb, HRS 338-6 has nothing to do with the standard of proof. It concerns the registration of births in cases where the parents are unavailable or incapable. That wasn't the case with the Obamas.
18 - ksdb
Dave Nalle, you're being lazy. Don't rely on incompetent, amateur fact checkers to cloud your judgement. You look at each claim I made point by point and tell me what the actual evidence shows:
1) What place of birth is listed in the 1961 birth announcements. Give the name of the city and/or hospital.
2) Find ANY direct statement by ANY official in Hawaii that says the jpg posted by Obama is genuine.
3) Find ANY direct quote from ANY official in Hawaii that confirms that certificate number 151 1961 010641 belongs to Obama.
4) From Chiyome Fukino's July 2009 statement, tell me the names of the specific documents that were cited to support that Obama was born in Hawaii ... direct statements.
5) Michelle Obama said, "Barack has led by example. When we took our trip to Africa and visited his home country in Kenya, ..."
The clip is on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=proi6NFdKVs
19 - ksdb
Dr. Dreadful, tell me what documentary evidence you have to show how Obama's birth was registered. The only thing I've seen is a jpg that the state of Hawaii refuses to confirm as genuine. It doesn't show whether the parents were available to sign the original certificate. Please provide some real evidence.
20 - handyguy
ksdb: is this all you do, all day, every day?
My deepest sympathies to you and anyone who cares about you.
21 - ksdb
handy, expect better of yourself. Feel free to refute anything I've posted.
22 - handyguy
Mr. K: Pray enlighten us. Why is this issue so important to you? Have you ever questioned any previous president's bona fides?
What are your opinions about the president's policies? Do you vote? Are there actual issues that interest you?
Do you also have fascinating tidbits to share about, oh, say, 9/11, or the JFK assassination, or alien autopsies? Is Paul dead? What's your moon sign?
We're all waiting with baited breath, since you obviously are the repository of much wisdom.
23 - ksdb
handy, focus. The story being discussed is about Obama's attempt to conceal the truth about his nativity. While he isn't doing that with the executive order, he is certainly hiding it through other means.
24 - Baronius
Lemme beat Clavos on this one: "bated breath". It's Shakespearean. Otherwise, carry on, Handy.
25 - doug m
This explains why my cuckoo clock isn't working