“The Other”
Posted by Michelle Moquin on August 24th, 2010
On my blog we call “Other Than Whites” “OTWs”; he calls them “The Other”. The “He” I’m speaking of is Will Bunch, writer for the Huff Po and author of the book “The Backlash”. I haven’t read his book but when Bunch facebooked me, the title of his e-mail, “Backlashing against the Right-wing Backlash” intrigued me, so I clicked over and checked out his new FB page promoting his new book. Which led me to his write on the Huff Po. I liked it, so I decided to post it.
It’s Not About the Mosque! It’s America’s War on ‘the Other’
A few months ago, I spent a Sunday morning in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on Thomas Road in East Phoenix, just on the cusp of the immigration flare-up over racial profiling and Arizona’s repressive law called SB 1070. It was quieter then — a weathered 39-year-old Mexican in a wool cap with a New York Mets logo named Roberto Valdez told me of his trek across the desert to seek work in Phoenix as a day laborer. Weeks earlier, Mexican day laborers like Valdez had been harassed on the weekends by angry white nativists, but in March of 2010 the nativists had moved on. Many had joined the Tea Party, and some were campaigning for GOP anti-immigration zealot J.D. Hayworth for U.S. Senate. Why waste time on “the Other” Roberto Valdez, when America now had “the Other” daring to occupy the Oval Office in the person of Barack Obama.
Five months later, the American political debate — in a time of crushing 9.5-percent unemployment, record foreclosures and bankruptcies, and climate change linked to catastrophes from Moscow to Pakistan to Iowa — has been hijacked over the arcane question of whether to allow an Islamic cultural center in lower Manhattan. The controversy is stunning — but it should not be. The national brouhaha over the $100 million Muslim Park51/Cordoba House proposal is not an anomaly but rather the culmination of an alarming downturn in America’s mood, its discourse, and even our former ambitions as a beacon of religious and political tolerance. In 2010, a large swath of the American public — led by ratings-mad media mavens and immoral politicians like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin — had declared out all-out war on “the Other” in America in all its alleged forms, from immigrants to Muslims to non-white aides working in the West Wing of the White House, and of course the president himself.
And it is threatening to rip America apart in a way that we have not seen in 145 years.
Over the last year, I traveled across the country seeking the sources of right-wing outrage and anger in the Obama era as I researched my new book — The Backlash: Right-Wing Radicals, High-Def Hucksters and Paranoid Politics in the Age of Obama — that will be published at the end of the month. What I discovered was fear — some of it innate and much of it whipped up by high-def hucksters on TV and in talk radio and even in the corridors of political power in America. Much of that fear centered on one simple fact: that America is increasingly becoming a non-white-dominated country. While many Americans take no issue with that, the prospect of an America with an increasingly non-Caucasian face is a deeply disturbing one to millions of people — people for whom a unified and traditional culture is a source of solidarity and comfort, even — according to some sociologists — a bulkhead of immortality.
In the mid-2000s, an anti-immigration frenzy took root across right-wing talk radio. It seemed largely a matter of entertainment and most likely changing the subject, since the George W. Bush presidency was at low ebb because of Iraq and Katrina. The increasingly paranoid conversation about the threat from brown-skinned, Spanish-speaking people grew in a way that was completely disconnected from realities, that immigrants were growing the economy in places like Arizona and Nevada, that crime rates among immigrants were quite low, and that these arrivals were paying more in taxes than they received in services.
But the bottom line was that for many, reports that whites will be a minority of Americans by the year 2050 carried the shill ring of an alarm bell. But this concern about the submersion of a dominant white culture in America spiked prematurely in 2008 with the political rise of Obama. In researching the book, I spoke with many conservative voters who talked of their “discomfort” the first time they watched Obama speak on television, who said that in particular they were alarmed at the future president’s use of the specific word “transformation.” These voters were egged on by political “leaders” like vice presidential candidate Palin, who didn’t just voice traditional policies differences with the Democrat but accused him of “palling around with terrorists.”
It is no surprise that by mid-2009 I was hearing from the leader of the anti-Obama group, the Delaware 9-12 Patriots, that the 44th president of the United States “is absolutely not American” while his neighbors were screaming at town hall meetings: “I don’t want this flag to change. I want my country back!” These rank-and-file citizens were often echoing what they heard in a 24/7 right-wing media bubble of ratings-driven irresponsibility — outlandish neo-McCarthyite allegations that Obama had Commies and Maoists working in the West Wing, Glenn Beck’s notorious claim that the president has “a deep-seated hatred of white people” and, perhaps more tellingly, of “white culture,” and most recently radio’s Rush Limbaugh’s bizarre charge that Obama is probably the “best anti-American president the country’s ever had.”
In this paranoid environment, the president looked as much “the Other” as the day laborer Roberto Valdez in the Wal-Mart parking lot. High-employment and the destruction of the working class in America is increasingly demanding a scapegoat, and the right-wing media and an increasingly erratic GOP establishment is more than happy to direct people’s palpable anger down the economic ladder. The result is something like the most un-American piece of garbage legislation that most of us have seen in our lifetime — Arizona’s racial profiling law SB 1070, whose sponsors admit they were seeking to drive Mexican immigrants out of the Grand Canyon State in droves, which is exactly what is happening.
But the modern-day American Diaspora is only the beginning. Once the Pandora’s box of emotion and rage against “the Other” has been opened so wide, it is almost impossible to close. Now the backers of Arizona’s hideous law want to rip apart the 14th Amendment — the one that ended slavery, once a high point of American history, especially for the extinct brand of Republican that drafted it — in order to prevent children of Mexican immigrants from becoming American citizens. The xenophobia has reached the point where a U.S. congressman took to the House floor — with zero supporting evidence — to charge that terrorists had a scheme to breed future U.S.-citizen bombers in maternity wards here.
Which brings us to the present crisis: Mosques in America. It should tell you something that the backlash against Muslims practicing their faith in America is far greater in 2010 than it was in the months immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. That’s because the political firestorm with its epicenter in lower Manhattan really has nothing to do with 9/11 or its aftermath and everything to do with “the Other,” and the awful forces and fears that have been unleashed in the last couple of years — fears that craven politicians like Gingrich, Palin and the formerly rational Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota are eager to surf into the White House in 2013. If the Manhattan mosque controversy were really about our 9/11 sensibilities, how does one explain the opposition to other Islamic houses of worship from Tennessee to California to Staten Island?
America, we are in for the bumpy political ride of a lifetime. It will take enormous courage for defenders of two centuries of religious freedom and tolerance toward both religious and economic refugees to stand firm in the face of the kind of raw public anger and emotion that have caused backbone-impaired politicians like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid or supposed progressive stalwart Howard Dean to wither in mere days. Our determined minority may be barely clinging to our cherished traditions — as best expressed by President George Washington in 1790 when he wrote: “the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens” — in the face of this onslaught for the next few years.
Let’s face it: This country has long had its Know-Nothings and its Birchers and its McCarthyites, but it never had gizmos like Fox News or Sarah Palin’s Twitter feed to fuel toxic ideas so far so fast. It’s time we admit these seemingly disconnected battles over “anchor babies,” mosques, and a black man in the Oval Office are all part of the same war against “the Other,” and that we are in the fight of a lifetime.
Readers: Starting this morning, I will be out of here super early on Tuesday mornings. Have anything to say? Say it here. Blog me.
Doug: Thank you!
Hey ZL!
Hullanta: If you stick here reading my blog, it is not easy to forget how cruel and evil some men can be. I, and many others, have a way of reminding my readers often. I wish that was not the case, but there are many articles that one can find on a daily basis that reminds us of the abuse and plight of women.
I have blogged many times about Congo. I did not see this one. Thank you for posting. I wish this mineral madness would end. People just aren’t aware. They need to become conscious and responsible when it comes to knowing the affect their buying power and need for consumption of the latest and greatest technologies has on the livelihood of others. PS. Believe in Madaline.
Lea, Peter, Anna, Jose, and all the Chamorros: I HOPE that this is the last of them.
Mike: I know you’re being rhetorical, but I can’t help but answer your question: No. What do you think of the book that I wrote about?
Ellen: You can thank Evelyn for that. And I like your little addition too.
Oscar: Courage comes in all sizes. Take small courageous little steps in support of women that you don’t normally do. Like writing your representatives – thank you for doing that. But don’t stop there. Did you read the article that I posted a few days ago? Sometimes it takes courage to just stand up to your friends, especially men who you see abuse women even in the slightest. Instead of turning a blind eye (which I am not saying that you do), say something….man up. Be courageous…and perhaps it will be contageous. :)
Got to run….
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my ‘loyal’(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
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August 24th, 2010 at 7:11 am
Supercharged Food Combinations: How to Get the Most from the Foods You Eat
Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD
New York University
Good nutrition depends not only on what you eat, but also on how well your body absorbs or uses vitamins and minerals in your food.
Some nutrients are best absorbed or utilized when consumed with certain other nutrients.
Here are easy dishes that combine complementary foods for a synergistic nutritional bonanza — and taste great.
To boost:
Beta-carotene, which
Provides antioxidants that protect cells from harmful free radicals
Enhances immune function
Eat with:
Polyunsaturated fat, which
Supports cognitive function
Fights inflammation
Easy steps:
For beta-carotene, steam sliced butternut squash or carrots just until soft… for polyunsaturated fat, serve the vegetables with tuna or herring.
For beta-carotene, bake a sweet potato or half an acorn squash… for polyunsaturated fat, drizzle with flaxseed oil.
To boost:
Calcium, which
Builds bones
Helps control blood pressure
Eat with:
Vitamin D, which
Strengthens bones and teeth
Protects against various cancers
Easy steps:
For calcium, toss together chopped fresh collard greens and shredded Swiss cheese… for vitamin D, stir into beaten eggs to make an omelet or a quiche.
For calcium, broil salmon or perch and serve on a bed of spinach or dandelion greens… for vitamin D, top with mushrooms.
To boost:
Folate, which
Reduces risk for Alzheimer’s disease
Protects against birth defects
Eat with:
Vitamin C, which
Neutralizes toxic by-products of fat metabolism
Improves absorption of iron, needed for red blood cells
Easy steps:
For folate, make a spinach and asparagus salad… for vitamin C, toss with orange slices, strawberries and lemon vinaigrette.
For folate, cook great northern beans or black-eyed peas… for vitamin C, stir in chopped tomatoes and red or orange bell peppers.
To boost:
Lutein, which
Protects eyesight
Combats skin cell damage
Eat with:
Monounsaturated fat, which
Lowers cholesterol and blood pressure
May combat cancer-causing cell damage
Easy steps:
For lutein, make a salad of romaine lettuce, green peas and hard-boiled egg… for monounsaturated fat, add avocado slices, shredded low-fat mozzarella and olive oil.
For lutein, mix up a fruit medley of sliced peaches, papaya and oranges… for monounsaturated fat, stir in chopped hazelnuts, slivered almonds and pumpkin seeds.
To boost:
Potassium, which
Promotes function of nerve and muscle cells
Maintains normal blood pressure and heart function
Eat with:
Magnesium, which
Regulates heartbeat and muscle contractions
Strengthens bones
Easy steps:
For potassium, combine lentils and lima beans… for magnesium, stir the legumes into quinoa or bulgur.
For potassium, toss together dried apricots and dried banana chips… for magnesium, add bran cereal, pumpkin seeds and Brazil nuts to make trail mix.
To boost:
Zinc, which
Strengthens the immune system
Speeds wound healing
Eat with:
Protein, which
Helps build and repair body tissues
Is needed to make hormones and other body chemicals
Easy steps:
For zinc, stir-fry diced chicken breast and chickpeas… for protein, sprinkle with chopped cashews.
For zinc, mix wheat germ into enriched breakfast cereal… for protein, top with low-fat yogurt.
Bottom Line/Women’s Health interviewed Lisa R. Young, PhD, RD, adjunct professor of nutrition at New York University and a dietitian in private practice, both in New York City. She is author of The Portion Teller Plan: The No Diet Reality Guide to Eating, Cheating and Losing Weight Permanently (Broadway), http://www.portionteller.com. She is a member of the Bottom Line/Women’s Health advisory board.
August 24th, 2010 at 9:55 am
Michelle;
This country hasn’t changed, much. For the most part it is still run by white men. That is the problem! They are about themselves. So, if they can use any issue to foment hate, or fear to ease in racism and bigotry they will use it.
Unfortunately white America is always a fear or scare away from their next act of abomination towards their fellow OTW Americans.
We are just beginning to witness what they are capable of as they foam up to commit some terrible act towards their OTW Muslim Americans.
White americans are so used to doing terrible things to their fellow OTW Americans and never being held accountable that they are surprised when some one strikes back. i.e. 9/11, Pearl Harbor.
They then blow the retaliation into something out of all proportion. i.e.
Shrines to Pearl Harbor where a few hundred of theirs were killed by the Japanese while never acknowledging the destruction of 2 Japanese cities where they killed hundreds of thousands and maimed millions.
Behaving as if only their feelings count is so natural to the white american psyche that there is no real debate about it.
They opened up the evil of the nuclear bombs by being the only race to use it against another race. Not once but twice to show the world that they were in charge.
Now, they foam up their race with the scare that someone will do to them what they did to others. We as fellow OTW Americans are only along for the ride.
White men in America introduce “Shock and Awe” to millions of innocent civilians, killing them indiscriminately by the hundreds of thousands, then weep uncontrollably when someone retaliates with a 9/11 towards them.
They build a shrine for their 9/11 while profiting from the murder of hundreds and maiming of millions from their act.
We, their fellow OTW Americans, are only along for the bodies that can die for their crimes. We get to send our sons and daughters to commit their acts of abomination and to mourn what white men tell us is their country’s loss.
Make no mistake about it they believe it is THEIR country. Hence the ease from which this mantra rolls from their lips “we want to take our country back.”
Any non white american who believes that that utterance includes him or her are deluding themselves. Yet, the white controlled media portrays this as a “grass roots” movement worthy of 24/7 sticking it in our faces.
One can hardly find a news channel without having to see a group of all white bigots proclaiming to be on a mission to “take our country back.”
White men in america are constantly playing the “anti-american” or “unpatriotic” or “anti-supportive of our troops” card.
Basically it works like this; if you don’t agree with what they want you to believe or what they want to do to someone, to some group or to some country you are labeled as one of those.
They roll out their media circus and 24/7 for about a month you are tarred and feathered as “unpatriotic,” “anti-american,” or you don’t support our troops.
White men organize small pockets of easy manipulated ignorant white morons. The rest of the country is told that these “grass roots” groups just naturally sprung up to show their support of the country, the troops, and whatever white men in America are pushing at the time.
Again the white media controlled machine follows along putting peer pressure upon the few who would have the courage to speak up. They use pundits to make the opposition look “unpatriotic,” or to drown them out by giving huge blocks of air time to those who expound the thing white men want to do to that someone, group, or country.
This tactic by white men in America has and still works so well because they have never been held historically accountable for the atrocities they have committed to their fellow OTW Americans.
American children never learn in their history books what american white men did to gain the power they have in this country.
Our children are fed lies about the sacredness of the US Constitution. Their history books feed them a pack of lies that it was a document formed to create individual and personal freedom for all.
A cursory reading of its preamble and the body of the original US Constitution leaves no doubt that the intention of the document was to create a utopia for WHITE MEN with property.
I defy anyone to say differently. It can’t be done. The “founding fathers’ were a bunch of self aggrandizing opportunists who like Goodyear accidentally invented a miracle.
Goodyear gave us the automobile tire. We don’t pretend that that is what Goodyear set out to invent, but we can honor the result and what it has done for his field and us.
The same should be true for the “founding fathers.” Although they did not set out to make those freedoms and “bill of rights” apply to all Americans, we can honor the result and what it has done for their country and us.
But the lies about the original purpose of the US Constitution have got to stop! White men know that they benefit from continuing to perpetuate the lies about the white “founding fathers.” They get to ask with phony sincerity “what were the founding fathers thinking when they wrote this or that into the Constitution?”
If we as a people accept that the “founding fathers” were only interested in what the Constitution could do for “white men with property,” we as a nation can fix their mess.
But then, white men would have to acknowledge that they did not set out to invent the automobile tire. They as white men, “founding fathers,” would no longer be “sacred.”
Then we would be able to examine their actions to see what was done in the name of “Liberty for All.”
Our history books will now have to bring in the tens of thousands of American Indians left from the holocaust they suffered at the hands of those white men which murdered 12 million of their race and forced the rest into concentration camps that stood as examples for Hitler and his cohorts.
Our history books would have to reflect the bringing over hundreds of thousands of Chinese to build the white man’s railroads and then exporting, murdering, and forcing them into ghettos which too served as examples for Hilter and his cohorts to mimic.
Our history books would have to reflect the phony wars started to steal the mid west from Mexico there by adding from Texas, to California to “Our Manifest Destiny.”
Our history books would have to reflect the spirit, courage, and sacrifice of the millions of hispanic and latino Americans that participated in partnership along side the white men in America to achieve this land “from sea to shining sea.”
Our history books would have to reflect the actions of those white men who benefited form their sacrifices and then forced them into leaving or be denied equal rights to owning property or access to the promise the US Constitution gave to its white men. They too were forced into ghettos.
Our history books would have to reflect the white man making the white woman a from of property called “Chattel.” This prevented her from benefiting from those “inalienable rights” often sighted as made by our sacred “founding fathers.”
The testament to how effective the white man’s historical propaganda has been is how often you see white women expounding on the “founding father’s” intentions when they wrote this or that into the Constitution.
They say this without understanding how ludicrous they sound worshiping men who never intended for them as women to benefit from any of those incertions.
Only american white men benefit from the lies they portray as true history.
They get to ignore the contributions of anyone but the white man. And they get to portray the white man’s actions as altruistic when it was actually self-serving in every instance and he accidentally invented the automobile tire.
So the truth is the US Constitution serves as a model for all the world as an accident of discovery no different from Goodyear’s achievement.
The main difference is that the OTWS and white women have had to fight for every benefit the US Constitution has to offer. Today they continue to have to fight for what the white man has taken for granted since its inception.
We make it easy for the american white man to continue his unearned place atop the privilege pile in America by allowing him to continue to perpetrate his lies about the “founding fathers,” and the US Constitution.
The US Constitution didn’t really become a model for other nations to emulate until after the Civil Rights Era. It was then that the US Constitution began to be interpreted as a document that granted its “inalienable rights” to ALL Americans.
Minority right, women’s rights, children’s rights, animal rights, environmental rights all came after the Civil Rights Era. If left to the white men, none of those things would be available today.
Yet, his propaganda portrays these as his contribution. As in Goodyears accidental discovery, the Constitution was a raw form of what was truly needed to make this a great country for ALL its citizens.
The fact that we as a nation can debate whether a gay couple should have the right to marry is a testament to the idiocy of maintaining the nobility of the Constitution. It is a document that is constantly evolving to include what those self aggrandizing white men wrote to benefit themselves only.
They only true great thing about the writhing of the document is that because white men knew how evil they could be if given an opening they tried to protect themselves from themselves by writing in strict and distinct protections against their own conniving evil ways.
Now they protest when their fellow OTWS and white women attempt to use those safe guards to keep white men from oppressing them. Oh, the arrogance of it!
The fight has just begun, though. Because for every step forward, the white man in American uses fear to move the ignorant white majority into a box where they reflexively vote as he tells them.
As the american white man convinced the rest of the country to kill on sight the “savages,” or be killed by them.
As the american white man convinced the rest of the country to accept putting fellow american citizen into concentration camps
As the american white male convinced the rest of the country to protect the american woman from herself so that she could be deprived of equal opportunities given to men
As the american white man convinced the rest of the country that black americans were inferior mentally so that they could be herded into ghettos to provide them with cheap labor, bodies to serve in their war, servants, and a means of sexual exploitation and other sensual entertainment.
White men in America have never acknowledged their abominations toward the rest of their fellow Americans much less apologized. They are too busy trying to continue the status quo to consider that one day accountablilty will come.
But today isn’t that day. Today we are continuing to play by their rules. So we debate the wisdom of putting a “mosque” in “ground Zero.”
Today we debate whether a gay couple should be able to marry.
Today we debate whether Obama is a socialist.
Today we debate whose american and whose not.
Today we measure the patriotism of a fellow american by how committed to those things the white american male tells us that we should do to this person, group or country.
White men if America today is still your day.
But look over your shoulder, something or someone may be gaining. A non white man got into the White House.
What could follow?
Robert
August 24th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Correction to this paragraph.
They only true great thing about the writhing of the document is that because white men knew how evil they could be if given an opening they tried to protect themselves from themselves by writing in strict and distinct protections against their own conniving evil ways.
It should read – The only true great thing about the writing of the US Constitution is that white men knew how evil they could be if given an opening to exploit the rights of another.
So they tried to protect themselves from themselves by writing in strict and distinct protections against their own conniving evil ways.
================
Also this line White men if America today is still your day.
Should read – White men in America today is still your day.
August 24th, 2010 at 10:59 am
I could not have said it better Robert.
August 24th, 2010 at 11:07 am
Thanks Michelle for inquiring about me. Nice article Robert.
My girls love cereals so this was maddening.
===========================
Tainted cereal laced with known carcinogens
Ah, the sweet taste of mothballs and toilet deodorants in the morning.
Sounds crazy, I know… but it’s not far from the truth with one batch of contaminated cereals. Some 28 million boxes of Froot Loops, Apple Jacks, Corn Pops and Honey Smacks were recalled due to a strange smell and taste that was making people sick.
And no, it wasn’t the usual strange taste in these cereals. It turns out they were contaminated with 2- methylnaphthalene, probably when something went wrong during the packaging process.
And 2-methylnaphthalene is related to naphthalene, a known carcinogen used in those mothballs and toilet deodorants.
Not exactly what I like with my coffee!
Kellogg says don’t worry–the bad cereal could cause nausea and diarrhea, but it’s only temporary.
Gee, thanks.
But what’s even more amazing about this is not what we know… it’s what we don’t.
You see, we don’t know much about 2-methylnaphthalene, how safe it is, or what happens when you ingest it.
We don’t know… because the chemical companies that make it don’t have to tell us.
As a matter of fact, they only have to tell the feds when they learn that any of their chemicals are unsafe.
That means there’s actually a twisted incentive in the law to NOT study the chemicals.
What you don’t learn, you don’t have to report!
According to the Washington Post, the EPA has been asking for data on 2-methylnaphthalene for 16 years now.
And they’ve been ignored the whole time… because the industry doesn’t have to respond.
And now, people are eating this stuff for breakfast.
The newspaper says the one agency that does have some information on 2-methylnaphthalene isn’t exactly helpful.
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry says it doesn’t really know what would happen if this chemical got into food, but we shouldn’t worry about it–because “you are not likely to be exposed . . . eating foods or drinking beverages.”
Looks like someone at Kellogg didn’t get that memo.
There’s a larger problem here, and it goes far beyond 2- methylnaphthalene in the cereal. According to the Post, the poorly named Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 exempts 62,000 chemicals in use at the time of its passage, and chemicals invented since then.
You might ask what toxic substances this act does control!
Answer: None, really… because the companies are expected to do that themselves. In essence, it’s an honor system.
And you know how well that works when millions and even billions of dollars are at stake.
======================
What is a mother to do?
August 24th, 2010 at 11:27 am
Nicely said, Robert, but to play devils advocate it seems to me that men of all colors are capable of violence in the name of whatever war they’re fighting…is it usually white men who start it and will it get worst, yes and yes, and it will get worst, by 2030 the popluation of whites (and the men wilol be freaking out!) will be lower than OTW’s everywhere, what else can they do but rant about wanting their shit back and that’ll be their country, their women, etc…
On the flip, and I know I’ll catch shit for this, don’t care, I blogged about it over a year ago, teh fourteenth amendment could use a revamping, another ‘founding fathers’ moment – that has passed – when you have a term like ‘anchor baby’ used so commonly it means it’s a bit out of control, and white or OTW we have pregnant women coming here to have an anchor baby, then can we deport mama, hell no who in their right mind is going to separate mother and child, I wouldn’t…I think it needs amending.
In Singapore, whatever country your from, you go there to Sg and have a baby and they give you 30 days to get to your embassy and register your child as a citizen of your country of origin. I’m for that model, I don’t mind supporting anyone who comes here – I really don’t but do it above board, anchor babies are a shameful way to slide on in…what do I say about illegals, Mexican or otherwise…they’re here so let’s help them get legal, if they’re paying into the system, they should get to use it. I’m for diversity, I’m not for white trash or OTW trash behaving badly, this countries citizens could use some lessons in manners and graciousness, including how to leave public places (picked up just like it was when you arrived) it’s just getting worst amongst kids/tweenies/teens with their poor manners and eating skills etc…, am I sounding old, too bad : ) I’m not, though we (Americans) look like neanderthals compared to other cultures in a lot of ways…I could rant all day but I’m going to go do some tanning and then some working, so have a groovy day : )
Luv, Zen Lill
August 24th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Robert
How astute of you to make the assertion that the white media conspires to protect its own. Duh!
What would you expect those in power to do? The rest of the white media know that Fox news is a propaganda arm for the Republican party. But since the republican party is the mouth piece of the white male, they look the other way.
Presently Fox news is putting down a mosque builder named Imam Raul. They say follow the money trail to see that he is a terrorist or terrorist sympathizer.
Yet, the entire media knows that the second largest share holder of Fox after the owner Murdox himself is a Saudi Prince named Al-Waleed bin Talal.
The white main stream media know that the guy, Imam Raul, who Fox news is telling its viewers to follow to its money source is Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal. They understand why Fox news refuses to reveal his name because people may google it and find out that He is the second largest owner of Fox news.
But has anyone in the main news media told the America people that the second largest holder of Fox is the same man who funds all kinds of causes that spout evil intentions towards americans.
Does any one in the media question why the most influential news source in America is owned by two foreigners?
NO1 and no, and NO!.
So you hear it here. Google it. That is what Robert is talking about the white boy in America is about himself. He will not blow the whistle on a fellow white boy unless it is bucks lots of bucks in his pocket.
That also what Robert means when he calls them morons. They are claiming to be fighting to “take by our country.” While supporting two foreigns in their efforts to divide the country for profit and hate. Go figure. Who are these ignorant fools who march in lock step for Fox news that is owned by a guy who funds any organization that hates america.
The white boy in power will always look the other way at hypocrisy, out right lies, racism, and bigotry practiced by his fellow white boy . The public right to know be damned.
This is about white boy power.
Balvina
August 24th, 2010 at 1:06 pm
ZL,
I would state that to RE-address the 14th on that argument is opening a can of worms that statistically is not enough to merit the argument. Although, the right propaganda machine will certainly make it seem that it is an outlandish percentage that MUST be dealt with of this ‘anchor baby’ issue by opening the 14th in order to amend it is dangerous and being used as a sidestep for a much larger quest once the floodgates are opened. The fear and propagation of racial bias using this as a platform is dangerous. There are other means of dealing with the issue you are raising, however, to amend the 14th is NOT the best approach I would suggest to dealing with this specific issue.
August 24th, 2010 at 2:14 pm
Zen Lill
I don’t think anyone should give you shit for voicing your opinion. I do think that it should be put into perspective.
First the numbers claimed to be doing “anchor babies.” is an outright lie. Vastly inflated numbers set up to “scare” white folk into believing they could lose their voting strength at the polls because of the great influx of OTW children that will become citizens.
Secondly that a situation such as you described actually exists. To put it bluntly, it doesn’t.
There is no law, 14th Amendment or any other that gives a temporary or illegal alien the right to remain in this country simply because they had a baby born in this country.
Nor does the child, American citizen thought he/she may be, have the right to petition for any relatives to come to this country until he/she is 21.
Unlike white Americans that can be easily scared into believing otherwise. Most illegal aliens know they have no such right.
Interesting isn’t it that before this scare of possibly losing they’re voting strength in numbers, “anchor babies” was not an issue.
Actually it was one of the ways the country grew. Remember “Send me your poor…… etc.” so prominently displayed on our Statute of Liberty.
No like most things, they only become an issue if someone other than a white boy in American could benefit from them.
Ignorance also plays a part. Please do not misunderstand me Zen Lill. I am not calling a lady who contributes as astutely as you do on a regular basis ignorant.
I am just pointing out that the Right is very good at manipulating the facts and half truths to suit their agenda.
Here they want to focus on the influx of OTWS into America. No such alarm was raised as we brought in millions of Russians, Baltic’s and other whites from the former USSR. One can hardly go anywhere without hearing russian or some baltic language being spoken.
They came in by the millions for years and no Zen Lill to promote the idea that we need to fix the 14th amendment. Not because you may not have thought that way but because no one had brought it up to you in a way that made you arrive at your present day conclusion.
Think about it Zen Lill. It wasn’t a problem then. Why is it such a problem now?
I’ll make a small wager that if you google that problem you will find that it is so non an issue that before the republican party began telling you it was a problem, it never concerned the US Immigration Department.
Go a step father and google how many times your scenario of “anchor babies” occur. You really can’t find a 1,000 a year. And by the way the US has always had the power to export the non American parents of American children.
One of the major complaints of OTW foreign parents of children born to them in America is how often they are forced out and given a choice to leave their children behind in America or leave with them.
If you had been excited about “anchor babies” before the Right brought it to your attention in a way that made it seem like it was such a problem, you would have been armed with that fact.
It is a question of degree. To what degree has the Right made you feel uncomfortable about a problem that doesn’t exist? And how were they able to con the savvy Zen Lill?
Do not feel bad Zen Lill, You are not the only one who has been conned by the experts at emotional manipulation and telling a lie without hesitation.
But to give you a second opinion and to allow you to discover that the US Immigration Department has NEVER thought that “anchor babies” were or is a problem.
Here is a excerpt from Wikipedia – “Anchor baby” is a term used by immigration reductionists in the United States to describe a child born in the U.S. to illegal aliens.
It is generally used as a derogatory reference to the supposed role of the child, who as a U.S. citizen through the legal principle of jus soli, may facilitate immigration for relatives through family reunification.[1][2][3][4][5][3] Family reunification, or family-based immigration, in the USA is a lengthy process and limited to categories prescribed by provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965.[1]
The term “anchor baby” is a misnomer to the extent that it implies that by having a baby in the US, temporary or illegal immigrants can “anchor” themselves in the US.
In fact, a US citizen child cannot file for a US visa for its parents until the child is 21 years of age, and upon reaching that age the child must also be earning at least 125% of the US poverty threshold to be able to apply.[citation needed]
Thus, temporary or illegal immigrants who have babies in the US have no means of remaining legally in the US; they must return home and wait until the child reaches age 21.
==========================
If you check the law, 14 Amendment or any other, you will discover that having a baby in the US gives the mother no right to stay even one day after the baby is born. She can take her baby with her but she has no right to stay in the US with the baby.
Hence your statement using the racist term “anchor baby” benignly given to you, shows that you are ignorant of the law and merely espousing a point given to you by someone who purports to know the law.
Your statement: we have pregnant women coming here to have an anchor baby, then can we deport mama, hell no who in their right mind is going to separate mother and child, I wouldn’t…I think it needs amending.
=================================
Check your immigration stats. Hundreds are deported every day. You can probably guess what the race of most of the mothers who are forced out are.
But in the end the law states and the officials have no problem, even in their right mind, forcing mothers to get out with or without their babies.
Honestly, Zen Lill do you actually believe that a country of white men who put a bounty on the scalps of Indian women and children would feel a twinge of sympathy for a mother being forced out of this country. At least she can go with her scalp.
Zen Lill we are talking about a country that went to war to keep other human beings slaves. And the children of those animals insist on flying a flag that signifies their delight in doing it before the children of those slaves.
You honestly believe that those people wouldn’t, even in their right minds force an OTW mother to leave the country without her baby?
Do you read the blog that you contribute to so perceptively?
I think that, you with you keen insight, after reading WIKIPEDIA and some of the sources cited in their article, will come away with the conclusion that you were duped into believing that their was this “anchor baby” problem.
It is just another red herring to disguise the intentions of the Right. That would be to scare the good little white folk into believing that they’re voting monopoly could be diluted by the potential influx of OTWS caused by illegals who get to stay because of their “anchor babies.”
Hence they better get behind white republicans who propose a 14th amendment to fix a problem that DOES NOT exist, except to enable white folk to feel comfortable about supporting a bigot running for office.
Oh, and Zen Lill, we are not Singapore. We are more than a thousand times its size. We have more Singaporeans in America than any place besides Singapore. We can probably say that about many countries.
America was founded as a bastion for the white males with property. But it occasionally stands for the principle that it is the home to any would come to seek freedom from persecution.
America, love Her, and respect Her and She will protect you and offer you an equal opportunity to “Truth and Justice for All” or so says my Superman magazine.
I believe it!
And I will fight for all Americans to have that right. Not just those who look like me, or think like me.
Robert
PS: Zen Lill, Athough the thought of you playing devil’s advocate on this hot San Francisco day is exciting, I must admit, I am aware of the accuracy of your statement that men are prone to atrocities when warring for a cause.
I would like to think that if am faced with the option that I will not only not participate but, I will act with whatever violence is appropriate to prevent others from suffering needlessly.
But having not been tested in the arena of combat, I can only emulate Anonz verbally.
Eh, Zen Lill did you notice how Wikipedia, being a white run media export, followed the usual pattern of excusing or white washing the bigotry of their fellow white racists or bigots?
They help the bigots by lending a bit of legitimacy to their racism by calling them “immigration reductionists.” Nice title for a racist if he can get it.
August 24th, 2010 at 2:23 pm
Doug
I agree with you. This is not about changing the 14th amendment. It is more about gaining support for their campaign against illegal aliens.
Lies, piled upon more lies; whatever it takes to motivate a bloc of people to vote their ticket.
August 24th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
They got me too Zen Lill, I have to admit that you Robert are pretty smart.
However, I find it uncomfortable, being white listening to your lectures.
Not all whites feel like the Right. Zen Lill and I were just mislead. For you to assume that we are just waiting to be racists is almost as sick as they are.
Sarah
August 24th, 2010 at 2:30 pm
After the christening of his baby brother in church,
Jason sobbed all the way home in the back seat of the car.
His father asked him three times what was wrong.
Finally, the boy replied, ’That preacher said he wanted us brought up in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you guys.’
August 24th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I am white and your comments don’t make me uncomfortable. I think you are a person who is very aware of his surroundings. I don’t think Zen Lill will mind sparring with you. She can give as good as she gets.
If you really live in SF, we are having a MENSA meeting at Pier 23 after 10 a.m. this Saturday. Love to see you there. The first round is on me.
Lisa
August 24th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
Michelle
I enjoyed the read. I am getting the book. I, also, noticed the OTW or his OThers choice. I suppose that there will be many things your blog will contribute to the lexicon and psyche of America.
Mr. Bunch seems to have done his homework quite well. He touched on the phony “anchor baby” issue as deftly as Mr. Robert did.
What can I say? You seem to always have your hand on the pulse of the politics of this country. These are scary times. I hope you and your blog can make a difference.
It seems that a lot of whites will be voting color come the next elections. They are bent on making the same mistakes the whites in South Africa did. They will do whatever they can to hold on to power for as long as they can.
There will be no attempt to build good will by sharing power. They will continue to pit each minority race or faction against each other and as many whites against the rest as possible.
From Mr. Bunch’s writings it seems they have been very successful. Reading Zen Lill’s honest belief that there really is an “anchor baby” problem shows how easy it is to plant a false idea in the thinking white person’s mind.
Reading Doug’s attempt to reason with Zen Lill shows that even he was not fully aware that there really isn’t an immigration problem involving mothers being allowed to stay because of having had a baby on US soil.
Logic would dictate that if this was a problem it would have arisen somewhere in history before now. But logic flies out the window when we whites fear losing our majority. I’ll let Robert explain that, he seems to enjoy doing it.
But I see a problem coming to us soon. Voting for color over your commonsense, over your personal safety, your financial security, and the general welfare for all is lunacy.
But according to Mr. Bunch’s research that is what is gripping the country. Scarred whites rushing to the polls to vote for the white candidate over the OTW(Other). Or supporting the white candidate who will promise to protect the whites from losing their numerical superiority in this country.
“Take our country back” to every white person with a brain, whether he or she agrees with the sentiment, means giving back to us the power to decide who wins at the polls by our superior numbers as citizens in America.
White America will not sit idly by while some other race attempts to breed its way into parity at the polls.
The battle lines are being drawn right now. The election will be about who is whitest.
Mike
August 24th, 2010 at 7:19 pm
Mike
The “anchor baby” thing is so a non issue. Just about every temporary worker and every alien has been informed by pamphlets or word of mouth that the US will allow no one to stay in the US just because they have a baby born in the US.
It seems that only americans who know next to nothing about their own laws could be fooled by this obvious race bating issue.
It was plainly stated by the author of the book that Michelle the anchor baby thing was a lie. Yet we still have dumb ass whites who buy it.
Where is their logic on these issues? I’m not white but I can sense when some politician is trying to use a racial scare tactic to get me to side with them.
Amelia
August 24th, 2010 at 7:33 pm
Amelia
The key point you made is that you are not white. I am from Athens and I visit my American greek cousins 3 or 4 times a year.
They are always preoccupied by the minorities in their country. I think it is because they secretly feel that one day their minorities will rise up and punish them for the bad things they have done to them.
Americans treat their minorities as servants. They tell us when we as outsiders come to their country that we are better than their minority Americans because we are white.
In most of Europe that is not true. Seldom will you hear a white european telling a white american that he will be favored over a fellow countryman because that countryman is not white.
But in America that is the rule. WHITE is everything. I am ashamed of my American cousins when I am around other non white americans.
Kacey
August 24th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
When I first came to America, I was told that I was a brown white person. It was strange to hear that. Then I found out what it meant to be white in America.
I could get interviews that black and spanish americans could not. My dark skin was not an impediment as long as my potential employer knew that I was not a black american.
I was a foreigner given access to the best jobs because I was not a minority american. It was both strange and wonderful. I wrote home to my family and told this story to them.
They wrote back and demanded I return from such an evil land. We Pakistani have no respect for America. It is a pit of greed. Designed to pit one american against another so that the whites can stay on top.
They do not care about peace in the world if they do not care about peace within their own borders.
They lie to us and then to India. They want us at each others madness. It serves their purpose of being the big protector.
But we see through their lies.
Uzma
August 24th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
America is the land of promise that becomes a place of hate as soon as their politics begin.
They white politicians mostly appeal to racial issues. They know their voters. They know that every state has a majority of white voters.
So if they want to win all they have to do is pick our a minority race and use it to scare white people into coming out and voting.
They are without shame when it comes to what they will say to bring white people to the poles. I would be shameful, but it works so well.
Why we people of the other countries as ourselves? The answer is simply their are so many white people in america who refuse to give others the same opportunities they take for granted,
I studied law there. At first I thought they had the greatest justice system in the world. That was until I began reading their news papers and watching their news programs.
Then I discovered that their was two systems of justice in America. They one based on their constitution for the whites and the other for the rest of america.
I graduated from their law school and left in disgust.
Manjari
August 24th, 2010 at 7:59 pm
I am from Haiti. I was traveling in your country. As we passed through a town in Texas we were pulled over for having a dirty tail light.
The two policemen immediately began asking how much cash we were carrying. We had 4100 dollars in cash. The men with badges who called themselves cops took our money because they said it was drug money.
We sued to get it back. The US government told us that they would help because all across the state of Texas were badge carrying men who’s sole mission was to steal money from innocent motorist traveling on highways passing through Texas.
We won our case and the texas town settled by paying us and addition 102 thousand dollars. But no one went to jail.
We were later told the town made up the in a few days by hijacking latinos passing through their states for their money.
America where is the beautiful in that? You are a country of legalized thieves.
Guy
August 24th, 2010 at 8:10 pm
I was stopped in east texas by thugs with badges and my money was taken. I was told that if I protested I would be charged with money laundering and I would spend time in jail awaiting trail.
I was also told that it would cost me way more that the 34 hundred dollars that I had on me to defend myself. So I gave them my money.
I had worked all summer for that money but I had to return home empty handed.
Since then I take pleasure in making the lives of policemen and their families as miserable as I can.
Carlos
August 24th, 2010 at 11:33 pm
Zen Lill
Just because a term is used often doesn’t mean it has any real meaning. It could be a talking point established to push a group’s idea as if it was mainstream. Or it could be a plant to make one think the negative concept it represents is “out of control.”
When the term “anchor baby” comes up it almost always by someone accusing a group of trying to stay in the US illegally.
But you have never heard the Immigration Department use the term to describe that type of behavior. So who is using it so much?
I think you have been conned as the people were in that James Garner/Doris day movie called “Pillow Talk.” It is the one where the advertiser James Garner invented the Widget.
He had the name spread everywhere. Pretty soon the people were so excited about getting a widget that they didn’t bother to ask anything about it, they just wanted one.
Here you haven’t bothered to check whether there is a problem with illegal aliens using babies to stay in the US. You have merely assumed that since you hear the term bandied about so often there must be a problem.
Hello, as most every foreigner knows, a baby can not get you one extra day in the US. You have been officially bogusly frightened by the deceitful Right into believing that there is a problem that only their side is willing to acknowledge and do something about.
You have been deceived into being one of those repeating the lie so that some other unsuspecting person with arrive at the conclusion that you did. Namely they keep hearing the term “anchor baby,” and by Zen Lill yet so that “it means it’s a bit out of control.”
Anchor babies must be enabling thousands if not millions of OTWs to stay in our country illegally. I’ve got to vote for the party who is going to stop it by changing the 14th amendment.
Yeah, right!
They will just use your vote to get in office and then promptly begin to sell out to the big business interest that paid for the campaign to launch “Operation Anchor Baby.”
You’ve been scammed.
Wendy
August 24th, 2010 at 11:42 pm
Hi Robert, not to challenge any of you but clearly ammending the 14th or revising the ‘illegal alien’ laws is opening a Pandora’s box, and I never said I was nervous about the ‘numbers’ (obviously it ain’t in droves) I simply stated that I don’t think it’s a fair thing to do, though now that having to be 21 and proving they can hold their own financially (somewhat, a step above poverty level…hmmm) is thrown in the mix, I’d say that it’s reasonable. I thought they could come back and attend school here once they are an American child, I’ll admit that I guess I was mistaken…
I have friends from all around the globe who have been illegal and married Americans, so I get it about being illegal and even wanting to have an anchor baby. Sigh, I don’t ahve time these days for a long sparring or to adddress you point for point nor am I feeling the need : )though I will say that the term anchor baby has been known for quite some time and if you’d like to believe I’ve been spoon fed the idea by the right, well Robert – you are giving them a whole lot of credit for nada, I’m an independent, always have been, no amount of bullshit form either side throws me.
Clearly I once again need to be more clear when I comment, or maybe just not do it in brief form or on subjects that will inflame or result in a six paragraph polite retort that I cannot possibly stand a chance against, you being who you are and all : )
Look, Robert, it’s pretty straightforward that I am not a racist/bigot, is it not?
Had a long day today and tomorrow is looking no different so I will bid you all a good night : )
Luv, Zen Lill
August 25th, 2010 at 9:48 am
[...] on my bed and read the comments of the day. Screed it was not; interesting it was. And as much as Robert’s rap (nice write Robert) about the 14th Amendment was at the helm, I kept going back to another [...]