racial scapegoating
Sep. 6th, 2006 04:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sophiaserpentiaI just spent the better part of an hour listening to Tom Ashbrook's interview with Pat Buchanan (thanks to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pangaia93 for the link). Last year, as Buchanan criticized the Iraq war, i thought it was surreal to find myself agreeing with him. But now, he's back in true form, fresh with a new book sounding the alarm about an invasion of America by Hispanics.
During the summer the heads of the GOP became suddenly very silent about gay marriage. The Chaliban continued to bleat on about it from their pulpits, but after the marriage amendment fight, and poll numbers starting to favor gay rights, there were no more policy proposals. Instead, the new issue became illegal immigration and fears that white American women have stopped having precious white babies.
Is it possible for authoritarians to achieve any kind of popular victory without bashing someone in the process? I do not think so: i think the ascendancy of imperialism depends on racism, on sexism, on homophobia, on religious normativism.
So, if you can stand it, i think it is important to listen to this, and understand what it is that Buchanan's saying and implying. This is the present direction of American politics, and it is ugly, bleak and terrifying.
And i'm shocked -- not so much by Buchanan and his comparison of Hispanic immigration to the Goth invasions of the Roman Empire, by his idea of "Christian and Western culture" that doesn't include Latin society -- but by the callers-in who buy this racist crap hook, line, and sinker.
Does the average American really think their wages have stagnated because of illegal immigration?
Does the average American really think their medical bills have gone up because of those omigosh Spanish-speaking people next to them in the emergency room (who would probably have gone to a primary-care doctor instead if they could get effective healthcare)?
Does the average American really think their 17-year-old son can't get a job because he doesn't speak Spanish?
Does the average American really possess the total inability to see scapegoating and racial baiting for what it is? Are they really so unwilling to investigate the exploitation they suffer at the hands of the aristocrats?
There is so much work to do. So, so much work.
pangaia93 for the link). Last year, as Buchanan criticized the Iraq war, i thought it was surreal to find myself agreeing with him. But now, he's back in true form, fresh with a new book sounding the alarm about an invasion of America by Hispanics.During the summer the heads of the GOP became suddenly very silent about gay marriage. The Chaliban continued to bleat on about it from their pulpits, but after the marriage amendment fight, and poll numbers starting to favor gay rights, there were no more policy proposals. Instead, the new issue became illegal immigration and fears that white American women have stopped having precious white babies.
Is it possible for authoritarians to achieve any kind of popular victory without bashing someone in the process? I do not think so: i think the ascendancy of imperialism depends on racism, on sexism, on homophobia, on religious normativism.
So, if you can stand it, i think it is important to listen to this, and understand what it is that Buchanan's saying and implying. This is the present direction of American politics, and it is ugly, bleak and terrifying.
And i'm shocked -- not so much by Buchanan and his comparison of Hispanic immigration to the Goth invasions of the Roman Empire, by his idea of "Christian and Western culture" that doesn't include Latin society -- but by the callers-in who buy this racist crap hook, line, and sinker.
Does the average American really think their wages have stagnated because of illegal immigration?
Does the average American really think their medical bills have gone up because of those omigosh Spanish-speaking people next to them in the emergency room (who would probably have gone to a primary-care doctor instead if they could get effective healthcare)?
Does the average American really think their 17-year-old son can't get a job because he doesn't speak Spanish?
Does the average American really possess the total inability to see scapegoating and racial baiting for what it is? Are they really so unwilling to investigate the exploitation they suffer at the hands of the aristocrats?
There is so much work to do. So, so much work.
