Swine Flu Rhetoric Part of Broader Anti-Immigration Strategy

[AlphaCentauri]

Source: Washington Independant

But one witness, Joel Hunter, a church pastor who spoke eloquently of the humanitarian need for immigration reform, alluded to the dark side of the debate that could ultimately torpedo the reform effort: “A broken system tempts many to predatory practices,” he said, including “the talk show hosts that increase their fame and fortune by picturing those without the proper papers only as conniving and dangerous parasites…”

The swine flu crisis this week played perfectly into the hands of those Hunter described.

When it comes to immigration, the facts often don’t seem to matter. Whether it’s a struggling economy or the threat of a pandemic, the crisis of the day becomes fodder for restrictionist activists to claim that immigration reform – particularly if it involves legalization, or what they derisively call “amnesty” – will only exacerbate the United States’ problems.

As Media Matters documented, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage led the pack last Friday, saying: “Make no mistake about it: Illegal aliens are the carriers of the new strain of human-swine avian flu from Mexico.”

Never mind that the first reported cases in the United States came from schoolchildren at a New York City Catholic School who’d traveled to Mexico for spring break. “If we lived in saner times, the borders would be closed immediately,” insisted Savage, who went on to ask, “could this be a terrorist attack through Mexico? Could our dear friends in the radical Islamic countries have concocted this virus and planted it in Mexico knowing that you, Janet Napolitano, would do nothing to stop the flow of human traffic from Mexico?”

Immigration restrictionists unabashedly argue that the crisis of the day — whatever it may be — is the fault of illegal immigrants.



Read more: http://washingtonindependent.com/41423/swine-flu-rhetoric-part-of-broader-anti-immigration-strategy

[goclark]

1. I thought I heard on waking up that the Flu started in CA

not Mexico.

I was watching CNN and they said it rather quickly and moved on.

[Adelante]

2. An early case in San Diego

Here are some references:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=3855333&mesg_id=3855442

But there are actually three possibilities being looked at for patient zero, two of them in Mexico - Veracruz and Oaxaca.

[RamboLiberal]

3. Story on MSNBC Website

“No contact anywhere with an illegal alien!” conservative talk show host Michael Savage advised his U.S. listeners this week on how to avoid the swine flu. “And that starts in the restaurants" where he said, you “don’t know if they wipe their behinds with their hands!”

And Thursday, Boston talk radio host Jay Severin was suspended after calling Mexican immigrants "criminalians" during a discussion of swine flu and saying that emergency rooms had become "essentially condos for Mexicans."

That’s tepid compared to some of the xenophobic reactions spreading like an emerging virus across the Internet. “This disgusting blight is because MEXICANS ARE PIGS!” an anonymous poster ranted on the “prison planet” forum, part of radio host and columnist Alex Jones’ Web site.

There is even talk of conspiracy. Savage speculated that terrorists are using Mexican immigrants as walking germ warfare weapons. “It would be easy,” he said, “to bring an altered virus into Mexico, put it in the general population, and have them march across the border.”

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As swine flu fears have spread, the backlash has also affected some Mexican restaurants' business, possibly fueled by disparaging comments like those of Savage questioning the hygiene of workers.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30467300/

I think it's about time for me to try out some of the family-owned Mexican restaurants I've been meaning to try in my area.

[Baby Snooks]

4. Welcome to 1918....

"Some saw influenza as a German weapon brought to the United States by U-boats.1 Others blamed the outbreak on immigrants. For example, Denver residents singled out Italians.1"

http://tinyurl.com/d8ysd8

Actually it was an official in Denver who singled out Italian immigrants. Residents of Denver of course already had. He just made it official. Residents of Boston singled out the Irish. Everyone singled out someone. Damn immigrants!

Interesting article. Seems we are back in 1918 in some ways.