The label effect

You know, I was thinking a little more about the current immigration issue. There are a few things that strike me as interesting.

First, I honestly do not think that any of this would have come to a head if the minuteman project had not been initiated. I have to hand it to Jim Gilchrest, who appears to have spearheaded this whole thing. He really is an example of how one man really can make a difference. To illustrate this, let us think about the issue of immigration just one year ago. One year ago, there was only the usual posturing from Washington about border control. You know how it goes; vague promises to "increase our presence on the border" by increasing funding, but only commensurate with inflation. The right side of the aisle was trying to woo ther hispanic vote, and keep big business flush with cheap labor. Meanwhile, the left side of the aisle was trying to promote multi-culti BS, and create whole generations of people dependant upon welfare as a hostage voting block (vote for us, or the other party will cut your benefits). Meanwhile, the average American was seeing his tax dollars sucked into the costs of sustaining this population, through increased taxpayer funded healthcare, and taxpayer funded spanish language schools and services. Additionally, there was the cost of the increased violence and bloodshed of crime and gangs, as well as the taxes needed for increased law enforcement and prison facilities.

Then Gilchrest, and a bunch of volunteers decided to go a step beyond just bitching and moaning. They grabbed some radios and binoculars, and went out and started to patrol the border, or at least a part of it. The result was mass apoplexy. Politicians screamed and yelled about the "vigilantes" runnning around everywhere getting in the way of the border patrol, while advocacy groups went on tirades about racism and xenophobia (which I shall get into in more detail later). That would have been the end of it, except for the fact that it worked. While it is impossible to know how many illegals were dissuaded, or how many had to detour around them, the minutemen had managed to bring illegal traffic in that section of the border for that month to virtually zero. By the last two weeks, the illegals had stopped trying. Yeah, sure maybe they were going around, but that meant that it was that much more difficult.

This effort struck a chord with Americans. Americans in many ways woke up to the idea that we were not entirely at the mercy of fate. We did have some control over our destiny. The message was that securing the Mexican border was not just possible, but very necessary. This resonated with many people, and then we started to see more people reporting on the mexican border. We started to hear more about MS 13, and Nuevo Laredo. We heard more about the slavery that is human smuggling, and problems we were inviting.

So, today, the Congress of the United States is going to set to work upon legislation that one year ago was unthinkable. Securing the border, and facing up to illegal immigration. Of course, the advocacy groups and the anti-Americans are out in the streets screaming for all they are worth to stop this (yes, there are some people who hate America, and they would love to see the great Satan dissolved and diluted by foreign influence). They want to keep this from happening. So, they march. Mind you, they cannot actually vote, but they can yell. So they yell. Meanwhile, the great middle America is seeing hundreds of thousands of people taking to the street not for peace or justice, but for the government to continue to let them break the law without consequences. And what of those who dare to stand up, like Gilchrest did, and say 'allright, dammit, that's enough!'?

They are labeled "racist."

And nobody wants to be labeled a racist. It isan ugly word, and an uglier defect in character. But what if you just want the rule of law to be obeyed? Then being called that means nothing, and the word itself loses it's power. After all, if being a racist just means that you think that a particular group of people (Mexicans) should not be above the law or exempt from it's punishments, then isn't Racism a good thing? I mean, you have Mexicans breaking the law, and defrauding the public for their own personal gain on the one hand, and you have Ken Lay dfefrauding the public for personal gain on the other. If we are to just roll over and let illegals have their way without repurcussions, then why are we bothering with going after Ken Lay? And if smuggling illegal aliens into America is going to be a crime that we do not enforce, how would Diane Feinstein feel about me smuggling illegal, unregistered heavy machineguns into the US? Can I just get an M2 HMG, call it "Pedro," and tell the cops that they do not have a right to ask for it's resident status? Bullshit. The law is the law, and this racist label is starting to wear thin. In fact, the only effect will be like prop 187 in California. Exit polling indicated that the measure would crash and burn, but when the actual votes were counted, they found quite the opposite. Why? Because people lied to the pollsters. That is the label effect. If taking what is a rational position will label you irrationally with a slur, then publicly, you will show one face, while privately you will show another. That is one reason why Political Correctness is such a terrible thing. The other is that if someone really is a racist, I would rather they feel free to call someone a 'spic', so that I know that I can write them off as an ass, instead of expending my own time and energy figuring it out.

And here's the other thing about labels:

They lose their power when used unrestrained. Eventually Being Politically Incorrect is more in vogue than being Politically Correct. Eventually People start flaunting their membership in the Vast Right wing Conspiracy. Eventually labels become the rallying cry of resistance for those they are meant to shame into compliance. You wanna see something cool? Check your clock, and see how long it takes for "Xenophobe" to Join the ranks of "Gun nut," "infidel," "Jesus freak," and "Capitalist pig" as a label of pride.

Respectfully Submitted,
-doc Russia