Rant: there's none of us here who hasn't once been the stranger somewhere.

[lagilman]

Warning: rant ahead, wherein I pull no punches even if I don't name names.

The most terrifying thing about reading US immigration discussions online is seeing utterly gleeful lack of compassion some people are displaying.

To those people (to everyone) I say, go read (not reread because clearly you haven't before) Emma Lazarus' inscription on the Statue of Liberty, and think about your casual 'send 'em back to be killed/ dump them off the boats' comment.

And then ask yourselves how the fuck you think your family was any better, ESPECIALLY if you can trace your family back to the original settlements, who were assuredly undocumented, uninvited, and unwanted by the original inhabitants. Nobody here, unless they're 100% Native American, did not avail themselves of an open gate. This is a country, for better or worse, built not only on immigration, but immigration based on the dream of making a better life, away from persecution and fear. Not a country so afraid that they would advocate violence against those seeking what our grandparents and great-grandparents found...

If that's your thing, you nauseate me.

And before anyone comes in to counter-rant, I'm not advocating unfettered immigration. But compassion rather than absolutism when deciding cases? Absofuckinglutely. And with at least an ATTEMPT to rein in the "but then whites will be the minority" scream you can hear rising from certain people. Maybe we will. Maybe that's not such a terrible thing. GTFOY.

Comments

[6-penny.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

The biggest ranters I've encountered are usually two-three generations removed from being immigrants themselves.

[lagilman]

It's often a sad case of "I got mine, but I don't want you getting any," in those instances. If not overtly racist, it's at the very least dangerously selfish and self-absorbed.

[joycemocha.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. And when you start hearing it from 2nd/3rd generation Latino kids...scary.

[wolfsilveroak.livejournal.com]

To those people (to everyone) I say, go read (not reread because clearly you haven't before) Emma Lazarus' inscription on the Statue of Liberty

There's a 2" thick copper plate, lazer cut with the inscription mounted to the wall just inside the Cafe on Liberty Island.

I saw it just over a week and a half ago in person. It's very awe inspiring that close to it.

Given that 90% of the people complaining about immigration likely have at least ONE ancestor that came through Ellis Island, it is rather ironic that now, they are unwilling to allow others the same oppurtunites at a good life that their ancestors also sought and in many cases, fought for. Just so they, now, could have the lives they lead.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of it IS "I got mine... and I'm terrified someone is going to take it away from me."

I lack sympathy with this position.

Honest to god, doesn't anybody look at various statistics and put them together? We have Social Security running out in 2037, because we have what, 1.2 workers per retiree... because our birth rate is falling... and they want to restrict immigration? Are they nuts? Or just so focused on clinging to what's "mine" that they can't see their own self-interest twenty years down the road?