Article Surfing Archive

[...Continued from Part 1]

Over the years, every wave of immigration into the United States has faced fear and hostility, especially during times of economic hardship, political turmoil, or war:

-- In 1882, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act[1], one of America's first immigration laws, to keep out all people of Chinese origin.

-- During the "Red Scare"[2] of the 1920's, thousands of foreign-born people suspected of political radicalism were arrested and brutalized; many were deported without a hearing.

-- In 1942, 120,000 Americans of Japanese descent were interned in camps[3] until the end of World War II....Prompting the following: In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed legislation which apologized for the internment on behalf of the U.S. government. The legislation stated that government actions were based on "race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership," and beginning in 1990, the government paid reparations to surviving internees.

-- Today, immigrants especially those of Latino descent are being lambasted and labeled as thieves, crooks and illegal "disease carriers."

-- Even more disturbing is that some black Americans have joined the bandwagon of "Dixie White America" in incessantly using fear and misinformation, which instigates hate crimes against immigrants.

The "Immigrant" is almost as frightened as was the "Negro" during the peak years of racial segregation in America. Police raids are sending ripples of fear throughout immigrant communities all over the United States. Vigilantism by racist groups like the "Minutemen," is on the rise. Families are being torn apart haphazardly, and futures are being destroyed indiscriminately.

This anti-immigrant campaign is very similar to that conducted against Jews by Dr. Joseph Goebbels[4] ' "Minister for Public Enlightenment & Propaganda in Nazi Germany."

Consider the following scenarios:

1. In Nazi Germany Jews were scapegoated as the source of Germany's economic woes. In the United States, Lou Dobbs has insinuated repeatedly that the economic troubles of the "middle class" is a direct result of U.S. jobs being exported overseas and that immigrants are either stealing jobs from Americans and/or driving down wages. There is some truth in the "wage" element of this assertion, but without bothering to explain the "mechanics" of this claim, Lou's over simplification results in "uninformed" contempt by his viewers of immigrants in general.

2. In Nazi Germany, audiences were continually reminded of the struggle of the Nazi Party and Germany against foreign enemies and internal enemies, especially Jews. In the present United States, Lou Dobbs always reminds his audience, that millions of foreigners and criminal illegal immigrants are running rampant in the United States, quite contrary to official statistics. He often invites "white-supremacists"[5] and demagogue politicians from racially intolerant constituencies, as analysts and commentators in his shows -- while denouncing civil rights groups such as the ACLU and the Southern Poverty Law Center as "despicable" and "reprehensible." The few pro-immigrant guests invited to Mr. Dobbs' shows are routinely scolded and lambasted for their stance. To stir the pot further, Mr. Dobbs' always ends his TV shows with un-scientific impromptu polls, that are always skewed and probably doctored -- maliciously presented as the view of the majority.

3. Propagandists lauded Germany as the sole defender of what they called "Western European culture" against the "Bolshevist hordes(Russians)." In this town hall meeting and as in previous ones, the issue of English as an official language came up -- the fear that English will be "replaced," by the Spanish language [...a subliminal insinuation that the white Anglo-Saxon culture in being contaminated] has been used repeatedly by Lou Dobbs and co., to drive fear up the spines of Americans.

4. Jews in Nazi Germany were branded as disease carriers, contaminants of the pure German race -- recently Lou Dobbs and despite being confronted with undisputed evidence to the contrary, maintained his claim that there have been 7,000 new cases of leprosy[6] in the U.S. in recent years attributing the increase to "unscreened illegal immigrants." Such irresponsible utterances in mainstream media, only help to embolden hate groups -- who gather often to keep the 'Cradle of the Confederacy' safe from leprosy, pedophiles, Spanish and rampant godlessness[7].

In 2007, history is repeating itself.

Lou Dobbs together with a swarm of rabid right-wing pundits, buoyed by evil politicians like Congressman Tom Tancredo of Colorado and Duncan Hunter of California, are playing a major role in fomenting anti-immigrant hysteria -- stroking the fires of racist extremism and fueling a dramatic growth in hate groups.

This YouTube.com video[8] illustrates how inflammatory speech on public airwaves fosters hate and intolerance.

In the 1920's Nazi Science had just invented the "Magneto phone," the first tape recorder, which meant that their propaganda could be time-delayed, enabling them to tailor their message of hate for local consumption -- 87 years later, Lou Dobbs has access to CNN's state of art propaganda equipment -- I bet Dr. Goebbels is turning in his grave with admiration.

As far as I am concerned, any person who has lived in the United States for several years, has participated fully in the system, and has no felonious mis-deeds, belongs here and ought to be treated with some respect -- the firm stand -- "depot them all," "we are a nation of laws" -- is just a smokescreen for -- "we wish this good old USA was 100% lily white." ...a convenient tool for extortion. It is not only inhuman but also bigoted to the core.

The vicious and racist history of this country refers.

The U.S. Constitution does not give foreigners the right to enter the U.S. But once here, it protects them from discrimination based on race and national origin and from arbitrary treatment by the government.

Immigrants work and pay taxes; legal immigrants are subject to the military draft. Many immigrants have lived in this country for decades, married U.S. citizens, and raised their U.S.-citizen children. Laws that punish them violate their fundamental right to fair and equal treatment.

By "stroking and massaging" the dormant "hate genes" residing within the "nativists," Lou Dobbs and other right-wing demagogues are making the process of legislating the immigration issue immensely torturous, if not impossible.

It is therefore my opinion that, Lou Dobbs is a tactical propagandist worse than Dr. Joseph Goebbels[9] ' "Minister for Public Enlightenment & Propaganda in Nazi Germany." There may be no ovens or death camps to completely cement my comparison -- but the several elements of Nazism are abundantly clear.

When Lou Dobbs totally ignores the "positives" and instead inflames and distorts the "negatives," he is criminally inciting the population -- some of who are ready to physically eliminate anybody they can categorize as an "illegal immigrant."

In a country where racism is held back in check by a cordon of laws (which are not always uniformly and fairly applied), I submit that this "distortionist" adventure which CNN and Lou Dobbs are engaged in, is not only very dangerous, but negates any progress this country has made in race relations, and diminishes America's status as a symbol of justice worldwide.

This "town hall" gathering as far as I am concerned, was a "sanctioned hate meeting" -- cleverly woven into the fabric of mainstream media for profit and to promote racial division -- a trend perfected by Fox News, the "UnFair and Totally UnBalanced" garbage news channel.

There is a need to look at this issue intelligently, humanely and with fairness, for no one wants to be hit by Osama Bin Laden and his cohorts -- secure the borders, but let all those who have been living in the shadows come out and be counted. You can bet the criminal ones will continue hiding, but the hard working immigrants who have roots in this country must be allowed to fulfill their dreams.

Getting immigrants who are here unlawfully into the open is an essential process in the war against Terrorism. Scare tactics will drive them further underground -- making it harder to find and track the hard-core criminal ones, who I submit do not belong in any society.

America is a nation of immigrants -- the flow of immigrants must be controlled and regulated, but we must not allow the issue to be hijacked and used to transport the racist agenda of the "propagandist extortionists" like Lou Dobbs, right wing political demagogues and dangerous Neo-Nazi bigots to whom Lou Dobbs has become a hero.

The United States Senate has taken a bold first step, and I applaud them. Hopefully a reasoned and lasting comprehensive solution will be arrived at in due course.

END -- Part 2 of 2

[Sources Quoted in Article]

[1] -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_Exclusion_Act_(United_States)
[2] -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare
[3] -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_American_internment
[4] -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_propaganda
[5] -- http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=589
[6] -- http://www.politicalarticles.net/blog/2007/05/16/cnns-lou-dobbs-says-illegal-immigrants-are-infecting-the-us-with-leprosy/
[7] -- http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?aid=528
[8] -- http://www.youtube.com/v/TEumNAGVxhc
[9] -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Goebbels

References:

1. Nathan Thornburgh, Examines: The Case for Amnesty: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1630168,00.html

2. Just as Governor Wilson's anti-immigrant policies turned California into the bluest of Blue States, the angry, racist and xenophobic rhetoric emanating from the Republican right is turning the fastest-growing voting bloc in America against the GOP -- Writes Eleanor Clift: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18869677/site/newsweek/page/0/

3. Video -- Leslie Stahl grills Lou Dobbs on his Fear Mongering Distortions: http://www.cbsnews.com/sections/i_video/main500251.shtml?id=2765343n

4. America the Generous: A Lost Story of Citizenship. What a young, confident nation did for immigrants -- By Lawrence Downes: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/27/opinion/27sun4.html?ex=1337918400&en=d698819f4df25673&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

5. Spreading Hysteria -- CNN's Lou Dobbs spreads anti-immigrant lies: http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?aid=260

6. Truth, Fiction and Lou Dobbs: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/30/business/30leonhardt.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all