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Originally Posted by onesnowyowl
I was waiting for your reply, abaya  |
Haha, I guess I have a reputation around here, huh? I think I'm gonna change my little subtitle to "Immigrant Lover" and make it official.
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Originally Posted by onesnowyowl
People like the one in the letter obviously have no real connection to the immigration issue.
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Exactly. What they do have a connection to is the fear that immigrants are somehow a threat to their identity, which is what makes immigration such an inflammatory topic... it's not about economics, welfare, language, or anything else (even though people try to advance their arguments that way, to hide their own fear). It's about IDENTITY.
People freak out about their own identity when someone different from them (especially if they look different, or look the same but are of a lower class) threatens it. Especially when those different people start to live in their neighborhoods, shop at their supermarkets, and speak a different language around them.
Suddenly those fearful people start thinking these others are talking about THEM (of course, because the world revolves around you?), and they can't be saying good things... and look at all those jobs they're taking, and crimes they're committing, and babies they're having, and taxes they're not paying, the signs at Lowe's that are all BILINGUAL now, "wtf! are they taking over??," (never mind that most of the West used to be Mexico; do people have no sense of karma?)... all of it based on interpretation, not on empirical science and statistical conclusions. And once it gets to an intolerable level (usually when one's neighborhood is over 20% minority, based on housing preference studies--e.g. Krysan 2002 in
Social Problems 49:4, pp. 521-543; Zubrinsky & Bobo 1996 in
Social Science Research 25:4, pp. 335-374), we have the West's oh-so-helpful reaction of White Flight, and the gap grows wider between people. Humans. All human. Illegal and legal. The goddamn gap just keeps on growing... and we forget that humanity thing.
And the fear becomes justified, somehow. And it just keeps right on going that way, until you get something like the conflagration in France last year, etc etc. And the hatred feeds and feeds on itself, swallowing fear and digesting it into policies that make no logical sense, but they sure as hell protect OUR FUCKING NATIONAL IDENTITY. Whatever the hell that is.
God, this whole issues gets me so riled up... better to stop now. But for crying out loud, people. Why you gotta be haters.