Thread: Transcript, Beck on ABSOLUT

BECK: Hello, America.

You know, you see ads every day. I mean, I think the number is like 5,000 ads the average person sees every day, so it`s understandable. Advertisers are doing everything they can to be as compelling and as provocative as possible. Oh, yes. Doesn`t this look luxurious?

They want your attention. Usually, they try sex to sell us stuff, but one company has decided to use sovereignty instead. Not ours, but Mexico`s. Absolut vodka ran an ad south of the border with the slogan "In an Absolut World." There it is. It`s featuring a map of the United States, a little redrawn, giving, you know, the American southwest back to Mexico.

So here`s "The Point" tonight. This movement is real. It`s called Reconquista. Its goal is alive and well, and it is absolute insanity, and here`s how I got there.

Hey, Mexico, how about this idea? How about Jack Daniels redraws an ad, and they`ve got a map of Mexico, but Mexico is all California. How would you like that? OK, actually, that`s a bad idea, because you probably would.

According to an Absolut, spokesperson their ad, quote, "Harkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal." More ideal? Really? Well, considering that Mexicans can`t seem to leave your country fast enough -- half a million a year sneak into the U.S. -- it doesn`t really make a lot of sense, at least not to me.

The truth is that many Mexicans -- and there are plenty of sympathizers here in America -- feel that the southwest was stolen from Mexico and should be returned. They advocate a reconquest of that territory. They want to reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Hispanic folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Texas.

So tonight, America, here`s what you need to know. At the end of the Mexican-American War, I`m pretty sure that we won, and we ended up with a bunch of their land. That`s how it works. Sucks to be you, doesn`t it? If you want it back, Mexico, come and get it. I just don`t see that happening. So pipe down and get over it. The war has been over for a very long time.

As for Absolut, their spokesperson stated that this ad was explicitly created with a Mexican sensibility. Well, let me ask you this. How about we start doing ads, you know, and redrop -- redraw the map of Europe to include 1940 Nazi Germany? You know, to appeal to the German sensibility. Doesn`t really sound like a good ad, does it, Absolut?

Mark Krikorian is at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Mark, their apology -- I love this -- it says this particular ad was based on historical perspectives and created with a Mexican sensibility, hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal. Do you think Absolut would do an ad where there is no Israel? It`s just Palestinian land?

No, I don`t see that happening or, like you said, Absolut Germany, you know, including France and Poland. That sort of thing.

BECK: Why -- do why do they think they can get away with it with America?

MARK KRIKORIAN, CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES: We`ve taught them that you can get away with it. You teach people how to treat you, and we have made very clear through not just immigration policy but all kinds of other policies that we won`t do anything when Mexico pushes its sovereignty into the United States.

The problem here isn`t that Mexico is going to take Texas back. That`s never going to happen. It`s that this kind of ad just illustrates a mindset that our sovereignty, that American sovereignty, is kind of questionable. It`s up for grabs.

BECK: Well, Reconquista is absolutely a real movement. Here it`s still fringe, but it`s growing here in America. Here it`s still fringe, but this map is a real point of view and a strong point of view in Mexico. Is it not?

KRIKORIAN: Sure. It`s part of the discussion -- part of the background music of Mexican politics, is that all of their problems are due to the fact that they lost half of their territory, empty territory. They`d only ruled it for 20 years anyway. To us 150 years ago.

And what that really leads to, like I said, is not any kind of effort, any meaningful effort to take Texas back or California, although there are parts of California maybe we would like to have them take back.

BECK: San Francisco in a minute. Yes. You can have it.

KRIKORIAN: But, more importantly, what we`re seeing is a real thing with Mexico`s sovereignty overflowing into the United States where Mexican consulates are involved in local politics and governance. And they work with city councils and sheriffs telling them what to do. It`s outrageous. That`s the real sovereignty problem we`re facing.

BECK: It`s not just -- I guess it`s not just that. I mean, we were just showing them pictures of these rallies and these big movements that have happened. Those pictures are from the United States. You see these Mexican flags everywhere.

And it really, truly amazes me that no one seems to value assimilation anymore. Nobody seems to say, "You know what? America is a great place to be, and it`s a great place to be because it`s different." And they don`t assimilate. They just want to bring their crap here and just whatever. It was good there. It`s good here. You accept us the way we are.

KRIKORIAN: And the problem here, Glenn, is not really that the immigrants today are bringing different views or values from 100 years ago. It`s that when they get here, they encounter different expectations.

BECK: Right.

KRIKORIAN: My mom was the daughter of immigrants. She went to public school, Medford, Massachusetts, and they memorized the Gettysburg Address and the whole thing. What are the kids of Mexican immigrants in the L.A. Unified School District learning?

BECK: Right.

KRIKORIAN: The problem is not the immigrants themselves. It`s that we have lost our own self-confidence, basically.

BECK: Sure. We don`t -- we don`t believe that we`re worth anything anymore, and everything is -- everything is equal.

KRIKORIAN: And changing that is something that has to happen before we have these kind of huge levels of immigration. I mean, that`s a very difficult thing to change. Immigration is something that comparatively is a lot easier to fix.

BECK: OK, Mark, thanks a lot.


http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/ ... gb.01.html

KRIKORIAN: Sure. It`s part of the discussion -- part of the background music of Mexican politics, is that all of their problems are due to the fact that they lost half of their territory, empty territory. They`d only ruled it for 20 years anyway.

Hey Mark actually it's "pretended to rule it", the American Indians actually were the rulers at the time.

The word "humble" is not a part of the Aztec or Reconquista vocabulary.