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Barack Obama's Conspiracy Theory

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The controversial theory that President Barack Obama was born in Kenya surfaced in the media after he was elected president of the United States in 2008. There was also speculation that Barack Obama’s birth certificate was in fact forged and he was not born in Honolulu, Hawaii, but instead born in Kenya. This erratic conspiracy theory entails that Barack Obama’s position as the president of the United States should be voided because he is not a natural born United States citizen. In his conspiratorial articles, Paul Joseph Watson from Infowars.com, questions whether or not Barack Obama was surely born in Honolulu, Hawaii and not in Kenya. The conspiratorial nature of Watson’s articles lead to the conclusion that these articles have the characteristics …show more content…

According to the “The Conspiracy Theory Indicator” article, a conspiracy theory seeks to “commingle facts and speculations” and fails to distinguish its degree of possibility or factuality. (Shermer) In the article, “EVIDENCE OBAMA BORN IN KENYA GOES BEYOND 1991 BROCHURE”, Watson fails to include a reliable source of validity for any of his claims. The article uses quotes from imaginary people as evidence to support the theory that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. “Another source who met Sarah Obama told World Net daily…. A separate Kenyan government official agreed, stating…” (Watson) Who exactly is “another source who met Sarah Obama”, and what type of credibility do they have as a source? Who is this “separate Kenyan government official” and why is their name not included as valuable information? The article merely states its theory and then fails to offer some sort of factual support. The lack of credible sources in this article is a conspiratorial feature. This is a major characteristic of a conspiracy theory. According to the “Echoes of a Conspiracy: Birthers, Truthers, and the Cultivation of Extremism” article, conspiracy theories, “Fenster says‘…suffer from a lack of substantive proof, dizzying leaps of logic…’”(Warner and Neville-Shepard) The article uses words that show reluctant support of its theory. If the article is confident that the homeland

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