In that vein, fuck you News Corporation. $1 million donated to Republican governor's. I have one question for the people at News Corp., and that is, simply, how dare you? We were all aware of your fear-mongering bias before this, but to go so far as to openly compromise your journalistic integrity with a financial donation? This sort of behavior is unthinkable. This is all, of course, ignoring the objections I have to corporate interests being able to buy seats for politicians who will support them in kind. Do you understand what it means to be journalists, Fox? It means that you report the truth, no matter what it is, in the clearest way possible, rather than deliberately propagating fear and half-truths.
"Well, Obama isn't actually Muslim... but he sure seems to like them!" With tripe like this being bandied about on your shows, it's no wonder your viewers and commenters on your website think that Obama is secretly a Muslim. Not that it matters what religion the President is so long as he's doing a good job, but this kind of suggestion tactic generates fear, and you people at News Corp. know it. In fact, I suspect that's what you aim for as you deliberately attempt to engender dismay and distrust of our political system in your viewers under the ostensible banner of patriotism.
Yet this tactic doesn't seem isolated to conservative media outlets. Recent concerns about the 14th amendment expressed by Republican lawmakers are ridiculous, unjustifiable concerns directed at repealing one of the cornerstones of American freedom. Indeed, while Republicans and Fox will shout on and on about why these anchor babies are a problem, they simply gloss over or fail to mention the Equal Protection or Due Process clauses of the amendment, essential in Supreme Court decisions like Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. By sowing fear and only small trifles of information, these people whose responsibility is to lead and inform us instead attempt to keep us in the dark and to frighten us.
Of course, this is ignoring the simple logical inconsistency of their argument. The 14th amendment has been in place since 1868. We're told we'll see homegrown terrorists or terrorists with dual citizenship in 10-15 years, but that's been a possibility since the amendment was put in place. If this is such a gaping hole in our security, why hasn't anyone tried it before? And if it was because they hadn't thought of it, why'd you fucking tell 'em?
It's clear that this anchor baby furor is a xenophobic tactic to remove the chance of citizenship for immigrants, especially given the origins of most of its loudest supporters: Texas. Ultimately, halting the births of these "anchor babies" isn't going to hurt terrorists nearly as much as it will preclude the ability of illegal immigrants, a perceived threat to Texans, to remain in America. Why in the world should we target or fear immigrants, though, when they have been responsible for some of America's greatest successes: Irish immigrants provided much of the workforce on the Erie Canal. Irish and Chinese immigrants worked from both ends of the United States to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Yet still the bigoted and fearful attempt to isolate our nation from its fuel, the constant influx of new cultures and ideas that keep America so wonderfully diverse and full of success.
It's clear that this anchor baby furor is a xenophobic tactic to remove the chance of citizenship for immigrants, especially given the origins of most of its loudest supporters: Texas. Ultimately, halting the births of these "anchor babies" isn't going to hurt terrorists nearly as much as it will preclude the ability of illegal immigrants, a perceived threat to Texans, to remain in America. Why in the world should we target or fear immigrants, though, when they have been responsible for some of America's greatest successes: Irish immigrants provided much of the workforce on the Erie Canal. Irish and Chinese immigrants worked from both ends of the United States to build the Transcontinental Railroad. Yet still the bigoted and fearful attempt to isolate our nation from its fuel, the constant influx of new cultures and ideas that keep America so wonderfully diverse and full of success.
That the bigoted and fearful apparently coincide with our media and our politicians is terrifying, and this kind of irrational behavior is unacceptable for people with that kind of responsibility to the American people. Yet the past has shown, time and time again, that when given the choice between the truth and fear, Republican leaders and News Corporation will choose the latter. I can only hope that we will see continued decline in their demographics.
