ebrown_p wrote:Fishin,
I am saying it is racist to defame people (and by defame I mean to make false statements to increase fear or hatred of a targeted group). A great example of this is the people on A2K who claimed that 50% of inmates in California prisons are illegal immigrants. This is not only clearly false, the goal is to blame crime on illegal immigrants.
That is defamation because it is a lie directly intended to support a stereotype. If this statistic were true, it may be defensable. But the real number (only 10% of inmates are foreign born and some part of these are the illegal immigrants) isn't even close enough to be called an exagerration. It is a blatant lie.
So, if this is true as you claim (and I have no idea what the numbers are so I have no reason to doubt it) then why not just counter their arguments with facts that show what the numbers are?
To my knowledge "illegal immigrant" isn't a race by any standard used anywhere in the world. As a result, claiming that statements made one way or the other about "illegal immigrants" are racist, fails. I do find it interesting however that in your initial post you mentioned "
For example, the attacks on Americans who support their rights through La Raza. " and yet, by LaRaza's own admission, they ARE a racist organization. Their own WWW site says "The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) - the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States - works to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans."
Why do they only advocate to improve opportunities for Hispanic Americans? Why don't you label them as racists? "Hispanic" is certainly a much more racist term than "illegal immigrant" is. Is fighting racism with racism acceptable?
Quote:My point about conservatives is the amount of times they make a defamatory statement (like the one above) that is not only offensive to many Americans, but also patently false.
There is racism in the anti-ilegal immigrant side-- in fact it exists in much of the rhetoric coming from the most prominant leaders (i.e. Tancredo). There are claims that ethnic Americans aren't loyal. There are conspiracy theories that Hispanics want to bring down the country. There are continuing claims that this group or that group can't assimilate.
Conservative are always brushing aside racism and pretending it isn't a real problem When people including the Anti-Defamation league (a well respected organization set up to stop similar defamatory attacks on Jews) point out the racism in anti-illegal immigration rhetorics, conservatives are very likely to dodge the issue by saying (thats just the racist card).
This is playing the "racist card' card and is a convenient way to dodge the issue.
What you did however, was label ALL conservatives as racist. I would also point out that Liberals are just as quick to brush aside racism while using it to promote agendas.
Quote:The purpose of this thread is to distinguish between legitimate postions on immigration and racist a arguments.
There are conservatives who base their opinion on the legitimate point the illegal immigrants have broken the law. Brandon is an example of a conservative poster on A2k that, although I disagree with him, I respect his position.
But let's not deny that there are racists who are against illegal immigration, and let's not be afraid to question or challenge rhetoric, on this or any issue, that relies on stereotypes, falsehoods and defamation.
Ok, at the same time let's make the arguments based on facts instead of relying on stereotypes, falsehoods and defamation as your posts have done. All conservatives are not racist. All conservative are not against illegal immgration. There are liberals that are racist. There are liberals that are against illegal immigration.
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace