Virtually since day one, I’ve been openly and bitterly opposed to right-wing politicos.\u00c2\u00a0 I scan partisan hacks with a jaundiced eye, regardless of where they land on the political spectrum.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t need reactionaries of any stripe.\u00c2\u00a0 But for the longest time, I’ve held a unique distrust for conservatives in American politics.<\/p>\n
Now check my math, but wasn’t the first scandal in United States history<\/a> the work of conservatives?\u00c2\u00a0 Puritans, the religious conservatives of their day, got it into their heads that women were good wall hangings<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Right-wingers are the first to kill<\/a>, the most eager<\/a> for war<\/a>, the most hungry for money<\/a> and<\/a> power<\/a>, always the most afraid<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Attacking<\/a> southeast<\/a> Asia<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Their idea<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 That third-rate burglary<\/a> in a hotel.\u00c2\u00a0 Trading arms for hostages<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 I could go on all day like this.\u00c2\u00a0 Then again, listing only their colossal screw-ups through history might crash the entire ‘net.<\/p>\n Okay, I’ll stop sitting on your chest and tell you what’s with me and neocons<\/a> lately.\u00c2\u00a0 Illegal immigration. \u00c2\u00a0 I’ve been meaning to get a good flame going on this one too.\u00c2\u00a0 And yes, I’m Hispanic.\u00c2\u00a0 That doesn’t change the fact that their obsession with our southwestern border is becoming a right-wing fetish.<\/p>\n Mayhaps it’s arrogant<\/a> of me, gentle reader (and kindly fuck yourself<\/em> with sweaty gelignite<\/a> if you think it is), but I’m sick of it.\u00c2\u00a0 Their whiny fears.\u00c2\u00a0 Their rabid complaints.\u00c2\u00a0 Their panicked backpedalling<\/a> at justified accusations of racism.<\/p>\n C’mon, of course it’s racism.\u00c2\u00a0 They hates us little brown people.\u00c2\u00a0 They’s a-scared of my parents, my aunts and uncles, my nieces and nephews.\u00c2\u00a0 And yet they’ll tool around a parking lot in a pick-up truck and (ha-ha) picks themselves up a handful of “guest workers” for two bucks an hour.<\/p>\n And you know it’s about us beaners.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t care if a white glassy-eyed psycho soaked in blood crosses the Canadian border<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 If you’ve got a tan and can’t wait to make a decent living, you’re…an illegal alien<\/a>! \u00c2\u00a0 Aliens!\u00c2\u00a0 Invasion!\u00c2\u00a0 Time to kick your hard-working, naturally tan ass back to Mars!<\/p>\n Boot<\/em>.<\/p>\n Here’s the clincher.\u00c2\u00a0 Frank Luntz, professional Mr Potato-Head look-alike and neocon newspeak architect extraordinaire, had lent his skills at warping language and discourse to this issue some time ago.\u00c2\u00a0 Y’know, sort of the way Sir Isaac Newton had equations lying around just in case someone had to track a comet.\u00c2\u00a0 Luntz and his ilk prepared a document chock full of Orwellian doubletalk and catchphrases for this very subject.\u00c2\u00a0 And now it’s making the rounds on the Internet<\/a>.<\/p>\n I’ve been going over this document.\u00c2\u00a0 It’ll cost me my blood pressure, but one must know thine enemy.\u00c2\u00a0 Admirable advice<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 (Yeah, I’m going serious link-happy today, kids.\u00c2\u00a0 Good luck keeping up.\u00c2\u00a0 Marcel Proust<\/a> ain’t got nuthin’ on me.)<\/p>\n Anyway, this is how Luntz’s Ministry of Truth intends to “frame” the discourse.\u00c2\u00a0 Make note of this.\u00c2\u00a0 These psycho-linguistic potholes are going to come at you from every aspect of the mainstream news media — viral advertising in its purest form, at its most brilliantly executed.\u00c2\u00a0 These are the words, the metaphors and verbal images that you’ll be bombarded with.\u00c2\u00a0 This isn’t some tinfoil hat conspiracy at work.\u00c2\u00a0 It doesn’t have to be.\u00c2\u00a0 All it has to be is ubiquitous, persistent, and repetitious in order to work.<\/p>\n “Linguistically, as you enter the debate, there are four key themes that must represent the core of your message:\u00c2\u00a0 prevention, protection, accountability and compassion.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n There, he states his intention to co-opt those words, to re-define what they mean whenever anyone in this country talks about immigration.\u00c2\u00a0 And now, their ideal framings for those four important words….<\/p>\n [On prevention:]\u00c2\u00a0 “If we stop the inflow of illegal immigrants, we can start to address the problems created by illegal immigrants already here.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n It doesn’t take much time for anyone to notice how absurd that premise is.\u00c2\u00a0 If prevention was really of interest, they’d stop illegal immigration at the source.\u00c2\u00a0 They’d work with the Mexican government (such as it is) to give the Mexican lower class a reason to stay home.<\/p>\n The hardline right-wingers paint Mexicans as moochers, as if they’re coming across the border<\/a> to have fun at our expense and because they like to commit crimes<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 In reality there are two simple reasons why people are crossing the border.\u00c2\u00a0 First, they want to make a decent living.\u00c2\u00a0 To feed their families, to live in good health, with dignity.\u00c2\u00a0 Second, they want to be free<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 Violent crime is rampant.\u00c2\u00a0 And half of it comes from the local police.\u00c2\u00a0 Negotiate with the Mexican government, address these issues productively, and two-thirds of the human traffickers on that border will be out of a job.<\/p>\n But the neocons don’t really care about the poor.\u00c2\u00a0 They buy into the Calvinist <\/a>view that you’re poor because you’re too weak to be rich.\u00c2\u00a0 In other words, they’re not really interested in getting to the heart of the problem.\u00c2\u00a0 All they want is scapegoats.\u00c2\u00a0 For two bucks an hour.<\/p>\n [On protection:]\u00c2\u00a0 “For most Americans, protection is as much about economic security as it is about homeland security \u00e2\u20ac\u201c so say it and personalize it.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Uh huh?\u00c2\u00a0 Yet neocons aren’t the least bit concerned about infiltration from the Canadian border.\u00c2\u00a0 And they should.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t mean the Travis Bickle wannabe several links up.\u00c2\u00a0 I mean terrorists crossing the northern border, as they did back in 1999.\u00c2\u00a0 The Millennium Plot<\/a> — the one the Clinton administration stopped.<\/p>\n But then you probably don’t remember that, do you, little neocon?\u00c2\u00a0 Too busy scanning dresses for protein stains.<\/p>\n Don’t let these yahoos play this protection scam on you.\u00c2\u00a0 The scary 9\/11 card is their favorite play, but in the end, it’s just a ruse.\u00c2\u00a0 Uninspected cargo containers, chainsaw-wielding nutjobs, it doesn’t matter to them.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t care what’s coming across our borders unless it’s got a darker complexion.<\/p>\n [On accountability:]\u00c2\u00a0 “Those who flaunt<\/a> the rule of law should be held accountable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n How about those who flout<\/a> Strunk & White<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Fraggin’ morons, the whole lot.\u00c2\u00a0 Hey, at least when I do it, it’s a stylistic conceit or an honest mistake.\u00c2\u00a0 (A…an…?)\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile the Melanin Police over there insist on making English the official language of the United States when they don’t even know how to use it.<\/p>\n I dunno, what do you expect from the rabid followers of the Great Decider<\/a>?\u00c2\u00a0 Maybe they were thinking<\/a> of him<\/a> when they made that error.\u00c2\u00a0 Little neocon, considering your complicity in torture, violating everyone’s civil rights, corruption, and elective wars, you don’t exactly have the moral high ground on any issue.<\/p>\n Just to be fair, let’s give ’em another bite or two at the apple.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s fun to watch them choke when they find the worm.<\/p>\n \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We need to say to those who commit crimes: \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcyou\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re out of here.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to fund you in jail, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to pay for your food, and we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to allow you to work out on weights. We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not going to pay for your cable television. […]\u00c2\u00a0 We will deport you within 72 hours….”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Ooh, zero tolerance on vatos<\/em>, man.\u00c2\u00a0 They’ll bust you, stick you in a cell and give you the first decent meal you’ve had in weeks!\u00c2\u00a0 But just for three days, ese<\/em>.\u00c2\u00a0 Four days is gonna help the terrorists win.<\/p>\n [On compassion:]\u00c2\u00a0 “I do have compassion for illegal immigrants, but if I have to choose, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to choose American citizens first….”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Fine, pick your own pinche<\/em> grapes.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 And clean your own damn house while you’re at it.\u00c2\u00a0 Then keep going till you clean up the whole federal government.<\/p>\n You don’t have to choose between immigrants and American citizens, Mr and Mrs Small Government.\u00c2\u00a0 Streamline the immigration process.<\/p>\n These losers like to gripe about how the country “punishes people who play by the rules.”\u00c2\u00a0 They’re the ones who set it up, made it bloated with bureaucracy, let it fall apart<\/a>, and later replaced it with the Bureau of US Customs and Border Protection<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 They’re also the ones who make cracks about clearing out crowded restaurants by simply shouting, “La migra!”<\/p>\n Wanna try it again?<\/p>\n “We believe that everyone deserves a second chance. If an illegal immigrant working here would like to re-enter the country as a guest worker and as a legal immigrant, they should be given that chance.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Gotta love these neocon claims of compassion for people they secretly despise.\u00c2\u00a0 Whether they come in legally or illegally, neocons are still gonna bitch to high heaven about immigrants clogging our schools and our emergency rooms, about them taking our jobs and moving into our neighborhoods with their smelly cooking and how they breed like rats.\u00c2\u00a0 Burdening the country’s safety net…the very safety net they want to tear down.<\/a><\/p>\n Of course the true hypocrisy behind Frank Luntz’ s pre-manufactured bromides:\u00c2\u00a0 Under a section called Words That Work With Hispanic Republicans<\/strong>, the report suggests the following line:\u00c2\u00a0 “If we take human life seriously, we will take these human trafficking rings seriously.”\u00c2\u00a0 Not a point of policy.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s a talking point.<\/p>\n Talk.\u00c2\u00a0 That’s all they’ve got.\u00c2\u00a0 They don’t want to fix the problem.\u00c2\u00a0 They only want to sound like it.<\/p>\n Meanwhile I’m going to keep talking about it — burning — until they come clean or offer some real solutions, whichever comes first.<\/p>\n So you know this is gonna go on for a while.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Virtually since day one, I’ve been openly and bitterly opposed to right-wing politicos.\u00c2\u00a0 I scan partisan hacks with a jaundiced eye, regardless of where they land on the political spectrum.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t need reactionaries of any stripe.\u00c2\u00a0 But for the longest time, I’ve held a unique distrust for conservatives in American politics. Now check my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,6],"tags":[35,26,73],"class_list":["post-251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-livejournal-postings","category-offtopic","tag-livejournal","tag-politics","tag-racism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=251"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.afterhell.com\/news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}