Among the dwindling number of active web sites promoting the birther line is Dr. Kate’s View. The site is a general mixture of right-wing politics, religion, anti-Muslim/anti-Jewish commentary, and conspiracism (including classic Obama eligibility conspiracies, New World Order, Agenda 21). What makes it distinct is its coverage of HAARP conspiracies (changing weather, mind control, earthquakes) and chemtrails conspiracies. While not a pure birther play, Dr. Kate’s View is solidly in the birther camp (see photo right of her “Usurpathon” in DC courtesy of the Cowgirl blog) with such articles as this from 2013: “He’s still ineligible” and this February 2014 entry: “Trouble for Birther Obama” that says:
Well, more people keep dying by Obama’s multi-million dollar effort to buy off or threaten judges, to create the standing barrier against Americans challenging his eligibility, and to continue to wreak havoc on America as only a foreign agent can.
The site is a bit kinder and gentler than some of its rivals like Gerbil Report™ perhaps because of the larger proportion of female commenters. Still it has been a good source for examples of extreme nonsense and bigotry that can be used to ridicule the birthers. But now, we may not have Dr. Kate’s View to kick around any more. Starting January 1, 2015 a reader poll appeared asking whether the site should go private, viewable only by registered members.
Dr. Kate’s View has somewhere around 75 individuals that comment there (depending on how one defines active membership) and I suppose that community could continue for a while to exist closed. In the few comment threads I’ve read, they don’t seem to have problems with hecklers, so I’m not sure what the benefit of going private is (it’s not explained in the article). If she thinks that her extreme views can be hidden, I offer two words: “Wayback Machine.”
One reason that birthers exist is that they congregate on birther forums and get all their information from other birthers, avoiding contact with the reality-based community. They reinforce each other’s nonsensical beliefs that wouldn’t fly outside. Going private would be more step away from any chance at critical thinking on that blog. That’s my view.
[Update: The site did not go private.]
I rarely go to drkate’s site anymore. When I do, the only thing I find different than when I frequented it is that it only gets more crazy.
One can lost a lot of brain cells reading their tripe on HAARP, chemtrails, and Jews who are not really Jews, and the like. And let’s not forget drkate’s water with memory.
I doubt going private would change the activity there. I suspect the same 5-6 devoted commenters would sign up and would continue to post their nonsense there.
There are no hecklers because the comments are tightly moderated. If you’re not of like-mind, your comments will not be posted.
I think that the reason kate would like the blog to go hidden is because of the publicity it receives. Here’s a recent post at Montana Cowgirl:
http://mtcowgirl.com/2015/01/14/troubled-waters/
All those years kate representated the Northern Arapaho tribe. Then she was fired. She blames that on Valerie Jarrett and Obama. So now she fights against the cause she used to fight for. :/ Yeah, she used to fight for water rights of Indian tribes.
I notice two of the three picks in the poll are to go private. Who cares? Only a handful of nuts read her blog any longer. What about her radio show on Blog Talk? She rarely if ever has new shows. Every time I have checked she is playing an old show.
Thanks for the link. I have updated my article to be a little more edgy.
What did she mean by “go private”? Require logging in to post/view? paid membership? posting contact info? personally reviewing apps for membership?
Simply requiring a login isn’t much of a hassle. But much beyond that is a sure sign of doubling down, adding another shell on the echo chamber.
For the safety of the members, I am glad these cults are online and their extremism exists only in their mind.
Love the “Usurpathon” picture. That was Kate’s greatest victory. LOL
There is one other pic, IIRC, which shows another person or two. I remember the Usurpathon became defined as 3, which was the attendance at this “event”.
I’m all for her closing her blog to the public, that’s the same as a site going dark, as far as I’m concerned.
That blog entry by Montana Cow Girl was picked up by The Daily Kos yesterday:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/01/17/1357841/-This-week-in-progressive-state-blogs-death-in-custody-in-CA-Frankenmedia-in-OH-taxes-in-MI
I assume she means registration to view.
It is entirely coincidental that Loren Collins’ quote of the day:
ran on the same day as the Dr. Kate article with the usurpathon picture, an event where reportedly 2 people showed up.
The Collins quote was scheduled a couple of days ago, before I had visited Dr. Kate’s blog and found out about the poll.
Dr. Kate? There’re so many Doctors among the birthers! Dr. Corsi, Dr. Taitz, Dr. Kate… good thing we have Dr. Conspiracy to even up the odds a little bit!
I agree, and voted for it going private.
And a Punchmaster General! 😉
I don’t frequent Dr Kate’s blog any more, but I have a couple comments based on the older stuff I read.
1. To anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish you can add anti-Catholic. Example: she published an article suggesting that Islam was created by the Vatican.
2. As noted above, dissenting views are eradicated. Not out of the ordinary for a whack-job blog, but Dr Kate once described this practice as keeping her blog a safe place for people to comment. I found that comment… oh, I don’t know. Suggestive that she sees being disagreed with as a form of violation?
Perhaps the poll was a ploy, something to use to shut up any readers complaining about contrary posters pointing out annoying realities.