Update and Open Thread
Hi all,
I'm out of town this week and will have sporadic access to the web. I'll be getting some posts up, but perhaps not on a daily basis.
In the meantime, feel free to post any thoughts, musings, or rants about Hyman, Sinclair, or anything else that trips your trigger.
tjr
posted by Ted Remington @ 11:33 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
since ted is off, i'll throw something out there to get us started. rape is hilarious!
in a recent point on "undocumented immigrants", hyman suggests "intellectual hucksters" use the euphemism "undocumented immigrants" rather than the term "illegal aliens." I will quickly point that "undocumented worker" is actually quite descriptive in this case, that a person cannot be "illegal", and that the right uses all sorts of euphemisms, including "terrorist surveillence program" and "clear skies initiative" to name a few. but what really jumped out at me was the euphemism hyman came up with:
"A rapist is an insistent lover."
this is disgusting on a number of levels. first off, this commentary ran in my city on the same night the local news covered the annual "take back the night" march and vigil, which featured victims of crime, including rape. nice job there, mark.
but bad timing aside, it's clear hyman seeks to conflate immigrants with rapists, or more broadly, violent criminals. after all, the other euphimisms he suggests are for pimps, armed robbers, murderers, drunk drivers, gang members, and civil rights activists... only in hyman world could civil rights activists be conflated with rapists and murderers... but really, why not? in hyman world "illegal immigrants" are tantamount to terrorists... and rape is actually pretty funny when you think about it.
i'm not sure how calling people "illegal" versus "undocumented" does anything to solve the actual problem of illegal immigration. perhaps there is a stong argument to be made either way, but as is always the case, hyman has failed to make it.
and that's my counterpoint.
Turtle,
I'm with you on the awfulness of Mark Hyman. The rape analogy is pathetic.
I'm not sure that either nomenclature ("illegal alien" or "undocumented worker") is all that critical to the debate. It reminds me a little about other choices of phrasing. People of good will might use either. And people who might like to hide their intentions might use either.
More troubling is the tight-rope job that Republicans have on this issue. Gotta be tough on these brown-skinned aliens, but, gosh, those cheap (illegal) laborers sure are handy.
I'm not impressed by the business lobby's (i.e., Bush Administration's) take on the labor issue. For consistency, they should come down very hard on the immigrant attractant: low-wage jobs that, as the Republicans like to say, "Americans don't want to do".
That is crap. If the jobs were at a decent salary and with some benefits, Americans would do them. Illegal Employers hire illegal immigrants so that they can avoid paying decent salaries and benefits. Plain and simple.
While were at it: Isn't it morally repugnant that an American (or immigrant) can work 40hr/week and not be able to get out of poverty or afford basic healthcare? What sort of uncaring, selfish, country have we become?
This is something that really bugs me: since the Glorious Reagan Era (you know, the guy who single-handedly toppled the Soviet Union?), the poor in this country have been shoved off the map. They simply don't fit in our nice consumer-driven culture. Can't be selling all sorts of crap on teevee and then be reminded of the fact that there are lots of working poor. No, that wouldn't be right.
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