Thread: 'We're a nation of immigrants' and other emotional propagand

Part 2 'We're a nation of immigrants' and other emotional propaganda
Don't be fooled by peddlers of ‘Immigration Reform’ Scams
By S. J. Miller

http://www.federalobserver.com/archive.php?aid=9290



~ Foreword ~


January 25, 2005 - I live in California and this place is getting more and more like Mexico daily. You can call it illegal immigration if you like to be politically correct.

Unfortunately, in the real world it is simply just an invasion. We as American citizens better put a stop to it soon or we are literally going to lose are country by merely being out numbered/overun systematically.

I am ashamed of Mr. Bush for many reasons, but the one element that is most disturbing is his unrelenting objective of giving are jobs, culture, and ultimately are country away to Mexico. Mexico is an outright enemy of the legal citizens of this country, unfortunately for us they are the amigos of the Bush administration. We may be in some serious trouble.
Ron Lingren, Huntington Beach, CA

{CLICK HERE for Series Overview}

Like the phrase in the title, much of what you'll hear about immigration is long on emotion and short on facts. The rhetroic may come from newspapers, TV, radio talk shows, public speeches, internet websites or from individuals, classroom teachers and professors.

You can reply to some (newspaper articles and editorials, radio talk show, individual comments) while not to others.

The list below includes those you're most likely to hear. Just as you learned with previous "buzz terms," recognizing them is a warning - you're being scammed.

If you're so inclined, reply to the rhetoric: send a letter to the editor of the newspaper, e-mail the author's website, or telephone your members of Congress. Share your comments with friends or family members.

If it's a speaker, ask questions. I've found it amusing to ask the speaker exactly what they mean. It's surprising how often they simply parrot what someone else said and have no idea what the phrases mean.

If you can't reply, let the phrase "ring a bell" for your experience. That means you're becoming informed!

Several axioms to remember:
The immigration issue is not a level playing field. Despite the hype about "poor, oppressed people of the world," the mass-immigration advocates get lots of money from US government funding, large corporations, private foundations, and even foreign governments.

The ordinary American citizen gets none of that. While citizens' activist groups are springing up all over the country, we're mostly shoestring operations. We don't get the public grants and corporate contributions that ethnic advocates receive. What we lack in money, we must make up for in perseverance, knowledge and guts.

Despite their advantage, these groups don't welcome public debate. Their choice is to persuade you with emotion and manipulation rather than with facts. They generally depend on emotion just for that reason - they can't find facts to support their case.

This is an issue that calls for reasoned and informed discussion, not inflammatory rhetoric and accusations, and you have every right to insist on facts. Clear, relevant facts. Truthful would be nice too.

If they can't or won't provide verifiable facts, they've proven how flimsy their position really is.

Don't take it personally if your insistence on facts gets you accused of being a "racist" or "bigot," because that tactic has been effective in the past. You aren't "racist" to insist that immigration policy be open to public discussion and debate, and that's what these groups really oppose. Recognize that they resent your participation and questions, and don't let them intimidate you.

But speaking of emotion, an Hispanic activist friend asked me to "plug" her personal hot-button immigration issue. It's actually true of many ethnic groups, but affects more Hispanic people just because of their greater US numbers.

Hispanic "community leaders" would have us believe that ALL Hispanics support illegal immigration. Newspapers, advocate groups and politicians also use terms like "Latino," "Hispanic," "immigrant," "illegal" interchangably, hoping we'll assume that all Hispanics are illegals and/or immigrants. Naturally, they want their influence to appear as powerful as possible. Haydee's objection is not only emotional, but furious:


"How about the lumping of American citzens of Hispanic descent with illegal aliens? The catch phrases are "The Hispanic Community" and "The Hispanic Vote." Both are big lies since American Hispanics are the least of Americans to want illegal aliens here to compete with them for jobs." "The tricky words are: "We must not be anti Hispanic." "Hispanics enrich our culture and they add to diversity." These are illegal aliens, and they have nothing to do with American Hispanics! Maybe you can work that in - I don't care how you put it as long as you make a point of it. It's time these "Hispanic community leaders stop forcing American Hispanics into the illegal immigration quagmire."

And talk about timing! As I prepared this column for submittal, the Arizona Republic published a letter with similar sentiments from Luis Martinez of Casa Grande, AZ:


"I just love the "indignation" of the so-called Hispanic leaders (I always wondered how you become a Hispanic leader; is there a test?) about a plan to ensure English remains state government's language.

What is wrong with requiring that the state's paperwork and forms be in English? This is a small step against the "balkanization" of America that others are so intent on.

Those who are objecting to this are the same "leaders" who always object to anything that will prevent illegal immigration. I am afraid they forget which country they live in and which flag waves overhead.

Memo to state Rep. Steve Gallardo, D-Phoenix: As a Hispanic, I am neither insulted by nor upset about this measure. Please take your phony indignation elsewhere."

And now for the list, representing the input of more than 400 e-mail friends who were gracious enough to share their experience and their replies. The purpose is introducing you to the various phrases so you'll recognize them as scams when you hear them in speeches and in the media. Other columns in the series contain more overworked mantras where they best apply. Rebuttal is also included to demonstrate how ludicrous the political hype really is. Whether or not you ever use the rebuttals yourself, your recognizing them shows the list has fulfilled its purpose.

A. The Factoid (Pseudo-fact) Collection
We're expected to believe they're true just because they've been repeated so often.

�They're otherwise law-abiding people" and "...they're unlawful aliens but otherwise lawful citizens" (from Attorney General nominee Alberto Gonzales in testimony to Congress).
Say what? Is this the opinion of a would-be US Attorney General? Is it too much to ask of President Bush that he limit his nominees to people who both understand AND obey ALL US laws (including immigration laws)?

"Unlawful aliens" is just another euphemism for "illegal alien," about which we read in Chapter I. USC Title 8, Chapter 12, subchapter I, section 1101 makes mincemeat of this gabble: how can an alien also be a citizen?

The laws they've broken just by being an illegal alien include illegal entry to the US, obtaining false or fraudulent documents (needed to "work hard to make a better life"), obtaining employment with false or fraudulent documents, and likely identity theft(more about that in Chapter 9). Quite a rap sheet for "otherwise law-abiding people."

�Borders are artificial lines in the sand," "human migration is natural" and "There are no boundaries in nature" (Mother Jones)
We're people, not Arctic caribou, lemmings or Canada geese. There's an important difference (although in some cases there's room for doubt). "No boundaries in nature?" Has Mother Jones ever heard of the Amazon River, the Pacific Ocean or the Gobi Desert?

�The US-Mexican border is the largest violation of human rights"
This baloney is from the Mexican government, no less! The Mexican government doesn't feel the same about their sourthern border; it's highly fortified and guarded, requiring laser ID cards. Very representative of the Mexican government's hypocrisy regarding borders and immigration.

�Enforcement of immigration laws by local police destroys the 'trust' that has been established within the 'immigrant community. "
Of course the "immigrant community" has established rapport with law enforcement - they're law-abiding people who are in the US legally. But this mantra speaks of the "illegal alien community," and as commented by the assistant to a police chief, "If the illegal community is so cooperative, why does 3/4 of our violent crime occur there?"

B. The Boo-Hoo Collection
(designed to exploit Americans' sympathy for those less fortunate).


MEET YOUR NEW NEIGHBORS - John Slagle
�We're a nation of immigrants"
Remember the definition of "immigrant" from Column 1. We are a nation of immigrants, all of whom received legal permission to enter and permanently reside in the US. We're NOT a nation of illegal aliens.

�Immigrants built this country"
Again, IMMIGRANTS built the country; illegal aliens did not.

�How can we call ourselves a great nation of freedom and equality if we treat our fellow immigrants like animals?� and "Immigrants are hunted like animals by the Border Patrol"
"fellow-immigrants?" I'm not an immigrant.

"...like animals?" Why the need for the Border Patrol to hunt immigrants down at all, let alone "like animals" when "Immigrants" voluntarily arrive at designated entry points with documented proof of prior permission to enter the US. This makes even less sense than their usual gabble.

The phrase "the Border Patrol hunts immigrants" recalls the pictures we've all seen of circa-1900 people sailing into New York Harbor with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Contrast that with the visual image conveyed by the phrase "The Border Patrol hunts illegal aliens" and you'll recognize the attempts to manipulate you by exploiting your sympathy.

�We're all God's Children," "No one is illegal in the eyes of God"and “We claim to be a nation of Christian values, yet we treat the poor immigrant like garbage…"
God's children? A nation of Christian values? Not according to the ACLU, we're not! Not only are we not God's children nor does the nation espouse Christian values, but the suggestion itself sends the ACLU into hissy-fits and violates the "establishment" clause of the First Constitutional Amendment providing "separation of church and state.

A perfect example that "the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing." The various "hate America" groups should really get together and coordinate their PR hype. Lies are so much more believable if they're at least consistent.

�There's no such thing as an illegal human being"
The author of this clearly hasn't read Title 8, Chapter 12 of the United States Code.

�Forced to live in the shadows" and "Living in a climate of fear. "
This isn't true, but it should be. Anyone who breaks the law SHOULD fear apprehension and punishment. Without fear of swift and certain punishment, civilized society reverts to anarchy.

Anyone who believes these two is so removed from reality to need sequestering from sharp objects. Illegal aliens blatantly make public speeches, demonstrate for their "rights," speak openly to news reporters, and enter federal buildings with their phony Mexican "matricula consular ID." They know their chances of apprehension and deportation are minimal.

"They have such a hard trip north"
After researching how my ancestors arrived from Europe, this impresses me NOT. Six weeks of bouncing around the Atlantic in the hold of a ship, arriving in Castle Garden or Ellis Island with fears of being rejected and sent back? Then after being "processed" and emerging to the streets outside, facing the gauntlets of pickpockets and swindlers that awaited arrivals of "greenhorns." My great-grandmother even gave birth aboard ship! And these were true immigrants, who entered legally!

My neighbor expressed even more contempt. "My ancestors came from Africa in the hold of a slave ship. That was no walk in the park."

Remember that illegals CHOSE the "hard trip north" when they CHOSE to come illegally. They had the option of obeying the law as millions have done before them, and CHOSE not to take it. The illegal choice should always be more inconvenient and difficult than the legal one. Immigration is one of the few examples where that's still true, and it should remain that way.

C. The Perry Mason Collection
("Objection Your Honor, assumes facts not in evidence.") The idea here is to hang you with a personal guilt trip for things someone else did or that never even happened in the first place. Remember that all their attempts to rewrite history don't change the facts.

“Why Mexicans and not other immigrants….� “Why are we singling them out?� Who's singling out Mexicans? The law applies to ALL illegal aliens. Mexicans seem to be those demanding special preference over everyone else; that's why the 'M' in MALDEF. “We’re just like Nazis in how they treated the Jews.�

Again, facts not in evidence. Illegal aliens are ejected from the US after the crime of illegal entry into the country; most Holocaust Jews were native born citizens of Germany and Nazi-occupied countries.

Nazi death-camp survivors are outraged at this comparison. It's especially hypocritical considering MEChA's alliance with Palestinian terrorists and other anti-Semitic groups who claim the Holocaust never even happened. Again, they hope you don't notice that they contradict their own propaganda.

�This is a racist policy of the (conservative) right!�
Americans and/or conservatives are no more uniform in views than Hispanics. Not all conservatives favor immigration law enforcement; those in "cheap labor businesses" encourage illegal immigration. Nor are all its' supporters conservatives; insistence on immigration law enforcement and opposition to amnesty crosses US political party lines. The 80%+ of Americans who oppose illegal alien amnesty and want immigration laws enforced far exceeds those in the so-called "conservative right."

"This is a fiscal policy of thrifty taxpayers" would be accurate.

This was once our land! Why shouldn’t we have a right to settle in it?� or "The gringos stole the land from us, and we have a right to be here." That land I currently own once belonged to someone else doesn't give the former owners the option of arbitrarily cancelling their purchase agreement at their whim and resuming occupancy. Land wasn't stolen from Mexico by the US, no matter how much the "reconquistas" (reconquerors) try to rewrite history. Mexicans lost the so-called "right to settle in it" when their government accepted $28 million in pre-Civil War (1848-1852) sales payments. A lawful land transaction was duly recorded and remains intact today.

Every nation is a nation of immigrants. Wether you belive in the threory of intelligent design, or evolution, we all came from one place, and moved to another. Evolution, says Africa, creationists, say the Mid EAST.

Mexico will not allow a foreigner to buy a house there...that's what I've heard.

It seems foreign countries have rules to follow and and no one seems to care, but when Americans try to stop the flow of immigrants, every foreign nation rants about it.

WE ARE NOT IN NATION BUILDING ANYMORE! The new legal or illegal do not join in our society, they little Cuba, little Russia, little this, little that...now we have Mid-Easterns that have their "little". They are trying their best to change our culture, our schools and our way of life.

Either you come here legal, make a better life and make America stronger, or stay home. We do not want to be an Islamic, Voodoo, Buddist, or anything else type of country....we like it the way it was.

Political correct, I'm not.

Can you imagine happening here what is happening in England? Africans are bringing in illegal African children and performing sacrifices on them due to their voodoo!!! England is finding so many boys missing, or finding them floating in the rivers, dismembered.

Cultures don't always mix, and our politicians should get down to the real people and find out.

And by the way, I am sick of seeing graffitti all over our buildings, walls, etc.!