I got it from a friend of mine, and even at this point I'm not totally sure how she feels about it, or how she expected me to react.
Subject line: Fwd: Fwd: A 36 second video. You won't believe what you hear
Oooh... sounds good so far, yeah? Intriguing.
First response (from my friend):
OK - REALLY?!!! Exciting, but I still don't even know what its about.
From the person prior to my friend:
A sign of things to come....... Ah, a harbinger. But of what? Sorrow? Victory? Tell me more!
And before that:
Grrrrrrrrrrr !!!!!!!!! We need to revolt !!!! A growl, a call for revolution, and 13 exclamation points! Allright... this is sounding better and better. Let's get to the clip and see what all the fuss is about, shall we? I'm dying to know.
Ah, fuck. Not this shit again.
So - being me - I had to respond. I hate my drive to do this to my friends, since they're not really the Windmills I want to tilt at, but in situations like this I only have the one outlet. So I sent the following email:
I respectfully decline to comment at this time, as there are not enough hours in the day to explain why that channels broadcasting privileges should be revoked.
To which she responded:
Dost thou knowest something of this channel in particular which the rest of us are unaware?? (I don't even know what channel it was...)
First of all, no she doesn't really talk like that. Its a long story... we're weird.
But to not know what network had ellicited the above responses and caused her to forward their drivel to her address book? Unacceptable. The logo is right there throughout the entire clip. Can I pray that people will check their sources before blindly sending me shit? Agree with it or not, but please know from whence it came. What if it was from the Charles Manson, David Koresh or Tim McVeigh collection? Would you have passed it on? Apparently.
So, once again - I had to respond:
Just a sec... need to step up onto my soapbox... Okay, here goes:
Rupert Murdoch's FoxNEWS... entertainment and opinion masquerading as journalism.
That extremely biased/one-sided clip is a perfect example. Starts off with the admission that there is "urgent need" for firefighters due to "2 dozen MAJOR wildfires".
Ignoring the Volunteer (by which I mean they're the ones who've stepped-up, not that they're working for free) aspect of the "new recruits", the "report" becomes a biased op-ed on foreigners costing American jobs. Only slight allusion is made to the fact that crew bosses are being laid-off or demoted - not fired. It ignores the fact that this is likely a temporary situation, steps taken to get through the current crisis.
The report completely ignores the fact that these firefighters are willing to run into the most dangerous type of fire, risking their lives in the process. I guess only American-born firefighters are worthy of the title of hero, huh?
Why not require the workers to speak English? DUH!!! There is an urgent NEED (see above) for firefighters to battle 2 dozen major wildfires!!
If your house was in the path of one of those fires, would you be worried about what language the guys with the hoses were speaking? Or would you just be thankful they were there?
Virtually every story on that network can be picked apart in much the same way. Adding insult to injury is the fact that their tag-line is "fair and balanced". Nothing could be further from the truth. If they're going to call themselves a News channel, they should be required to practice actual journalism. Otherwise, they should be categorized as what they are: an entertainment channel pandering to the neo-con agenda and the politics of fear. Or their broadcasting license should be rescinded.
My .02.
<---- off soapbox.
Which I thought was a fairly even-handed response that succinctly described my feelings about FNC and the immigration debate.
She likes to fan my flames though, so she sent me this:
Oooh... While I agree with you fully that we should make whatever adjustments are necessary to meet an urgent need, I think this might the part where I respectfully decline to suggest that ALL of the other "news" channels sway to the left? Just an instinct... I DO love a well-informed and eloquent opinion, though!! Have I thy permission to forward your rebut to he who sent the original to me? (Yet another highly-opinioned Irish man named Kevin...)
I admit to being a little blindsided by the "I agree..." line. I still feel that if she really did, she wouldn't have been forwarding that clip, but now the whole "left wing conspiracy" angle had been proposed. Likely her fanning my flames again, but it opened a floodgate that resulted in the email I sent this evening:
I happen to disagree with the notion that most media outlets are left-leaning, since we only hear that from neo-cons and the radical right, but okay... lets say they are. Leaning in one direction is one thing... being at the farthest reaches of that direction is another. One can lean to one side and still offer unbiased reporting. To be clear... it isn't the fact that Fox is to the extreme right that bothers me. It is the fact that they pretend to be otherwise. And most of their target demographic can't be bothered to look elsewhere to recognize the difference. For example; Limbaugh's fans (I know he's not on Fox, but it's the same demographic) are called "Dittoheads" for a reason. They just parrot everything he says without a moment's reflection or comparitive research. They're sheep. Scary and sad at the same time.
An example of a left-leaning but fair network is MSNBC. Which employs pundits from both sides of the aisle. Sometimes they report, sometimes they opine. What I like about them is that they are clear about which they are doing at a given moment, and everyone is allowed to have their say. Unlike O'Reilly on Fox who will shout down a dissenting guest, or even have their mic shut off if they're making too much sense. MSNBC as a whole is more lefty, for sure. I'm not claiming otherwise. Just that they have actual GOP members and conservatives on-staff. Fox has Colmes... panty-waist token Dem who only serves as Hannity's whipping boy. Its a joke.
If you fully agree with me that drastic times call for drastic measures... I'm wondering why you sent the clip? Not being smarmy, actually curious.
Sure, you can send my rantings along to Mr. Kevin if you wish. If he sent the original out of a sense of outrage akin to the pulse of the clip, you might want to send him this one, as well. If he sent it (as I can only hope and pray) to say: "Look at the BS Fox is pandering now." This one will be mere preaching to the choir.
Not sure I want to get into another debate about immigration though.
First, as a descendant of Irish immigrants - I know well the stories of how they were treated when they first came to this country. "No Irish Need Apply" and so on. Maybe I have a soft-spot for immigrants, shouldn't we all? Ever go to an Irish of our parent's or grand-parent's generation and ask them how they feel about the word Paddy? If you ever try it, make sure you take a few steps back first. Second, I wrote a research paper on immigration about a year ago and the actual facts of the matter are startlingly different than what most people believe them to be. Third, I've lived and worked with immigrants my whole life, both legal and illegal. The majority of the time, it is a myth that even illegal immigrants are working for substantially less money than their American counterparts. The reason they get hired (especially Mexican immigrants, in my experience) is that they work harder, longer and with a smile. They lac k the nauseating sense of entitlement that most of us Americans have.
Give a Mexican worker a shovel, point to a spot on the ground and tell him to dig. He will dig until you come back and tell him to stop. The American will come find you every 5 minutes to ask: "Uh... is this deep enough?" And then sigh dejectedly and shuffle back toward the slight impression he's created when you say no. If you're the boss and are offering both workers the same wage, which one are you going to keep and which one are you going to fire? And what do you suppose the lazy-ass you fired is going to tell his friends and family? That he lost his job to a more talented, more dedicated, more loyal worker? Hell no. He's going to say a Mexican stole his job.
We've become a nation of complacent people who aspire toward mediocrity.
When I was working on my research paper, I was still working construction. Several of the subcontractors on the job I was running at the time employed mostly Mexican and Brazilian workers. I asked every one of them about it. From roofing to painting to landscaping to framing to drywall, they all told me the same things. Their pay scale was roughly the same as ours (my company employed mostly Americans), from 7 or 8 bucks an hour up to around 25. Most of their guys were making around 15 to 20 dollars an hour, just like in our company. So why use them? Simple. They show up on time every day. They work overtime and weekends or in the heat, cold and rain whenever its needed without complaint. They don't drink or do drugs on the job. They work efficiently and constantly all day long and take pride in their work. And they do it all with a smile on their face. All for the same cost of the cry-baby Americans who have to have their hands hel d throughout the day, call in sick when they're really just hung over, show up late, leave early and complain constantly.
And what is our "Patriotic" response to this phenomenon? Do we strive to become more reliable, efficient and hardworking? Gosh, no. That would take too much effort. Instead we say "put up a fence!" and "they're increasing the crime rate and driving down property values!" and "they're criminals! Kick them out! All of them! Right freaking NOW!"
Forget the fact that none of our ancestors had to go through the rigamarole that's required these days to come here. They didn't have to come up with the equivalent of 5 years salary just to apply for citizenship. They just had to GET here. Were the Dutch, German, Polish, Russian or Italian immigrants of the 18th and 19th century required to speak English to come here? Nope. Yet we see their descendents every day, driving around with bumper stickers reading; "Welcome to American, Learn English" and "Welcome to America, now Go Home."
Its asinine.
Jobs aren't stolen. They're either lost or given away.
Our federal, state and local governments and law enforcement agencies have better things to do than concentrate on the "Criminally Here."
We have people who are more concerned about illegal immigrants than they are about pedophiles, rapists, wife beaters and drug dealers. And if an illegal alien is also any of those things, I submit that it is his behavior rather than his status which is the problem. Yet the same people who accuse immigrants of such behavior are the ones who resist the efforts to provide them with identification.
Does no one think anymore?
And what about the effect the suggested mass-deportation would have on the economy, which is already in shambles? Oh... I forgot, Americans are lining up to be dishwashers, nannies, housekeepers, lawn-cutters and farm workers. Those highly desirable jobs have been stolen from the Americans who once took so much pride in them.
Gimme a break.
And please, don't anyone send me the skewed health care, crime rate and welfare numbers that are being bandied about these days. The true percentages are so strongly in favor of immigrants it'll make your head spin. Just take an afternoon and do some research, rather than believe everything that someone with an agenda tells you.
Oddly enough, the current immigration problem is totally of our own doing. Just like it was before and after the Mexican-American War. Just like it was during the initial waves of immigration from China. Just like it was during the initial waves of immigration from Eastern Europe and Japan. This is merely another spin of a cycle that has been running in this country since our inception; Those already here fear the changes the newcomers will bring. Eventually, through perseverance the newcomers get a toe-hold and are able to hang on through pure tenacity. Usually until another new group begins to threaten the status quo, at which point the previously outcast are brought into the fold to rage against the new ones.
What is history for if not to learn from? Yet we as a people seem unwilling or unable to do so on this subject.
Does any of this mean that I think anyone who desires citizenship should be allowed in with merely a thumb print and a signature? No. But there is no reason that the process need be so complex, time consuming and expensive. Especially for people who just want a better life for their family. We have no problem granting extensive visas to educators, scientists, intellectuals and professionals from other countries. Yet the family who dreams of a life outside of their one room shack (with no running water and a diseased well, in a village in a country with no hope of a better future) are deemed criminals by their mere presence within our borders.
Its sickening.
Its heartless.
And it insults our national heritage.
I submit that anyone who disagrees likely doesn't know their own family's immigration story, is ignorant of the history of immigration in America, subscribes to the politics of fear doctrine, and/or is just a plain old bigot.
This is the Land of Plenty, remember?
How can we claim to be the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, if we behave like citizens of the Land of the Indoctrinated and the Home of the Meek?
Think. Feel. Do. Be.
Do not merely follow.
