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Pulikom
, July 25, 2010
This author is one of the most bigoted writers I've ever encountered. For Anglos unacquainted with Chicano slang, much of his racism towards whites may escape notice, so I suggest you use a Chicano slang dictionary or Google as you go. For some reason, a great many Mexicans seem to think Anglos ("white boys") have a racist attitude towards them, missing the fact that Hispanics are considered Caucasian. I don't know what Mexicans ascribe the distaste Cubans in general feel towards them, as it's kind of hard to work the race card in that case. Pretty much all of the large groups of different NATIONALITIES from different countries have experienced various forms of hostility, but none of those in the past came for the welfare, free healthcare, and food stamps--not to mention the $11000+/year it costs in property taxes to educate each of their excessively large families (evolved to survive the lousy hygiene and high alcoholism rate that contributes to the high infant mortality and shorter life span in Mexico, which they will grace the US with unless there are unforeseen milagros).
Unlike past immigrant groups, Mexicans have come in vast illegal numbers, so there is definitely a stronger resentment towards illegal Mexicans--diffused towards all Mexicans. Few working-class citizens can afford their property taxes at present and schools are closing all over the place, but the justifiable resentment against the economic burdens is twisted by this author into being 'racism', denying its legitimacy and also denying the free discussion of ideas that is the basis of democracy. But Arellano brings the same contempt for democracy that had kept one party in power (in a supposedly democratic Mexico)--PRI--for over 60 years. He uses the polemics of bullying and ridicule, thinly disquised as humor. Arellano attempts to redefine realistic concerns over the ability of a population already strained to provide adequate healthcare and employment for its own citizenry as 'racism' in a manipulative con job--not that he's alone in it. He just thinks we 'gabachos' (pejorative term used by Chicanos for ignorant non-Hispanics) are too stupid to miss that 'subtlety'--one that can be used to great advantage in a culture deeply ashamed of its former treatment of Afro-Americans and Native Americans. Rather than poke fun at racists, unfortunately, he is a finely honed example of one.
As far as healthcare goes, I worked for over 20 years within the industry, and at least a third of the patients I reviewed had illegal SSNs while the funding for boomers is circling the drain--idealistic students be prepared to care for your parents at home for pretty serious health conditions. We are currently denying care to Medicare patients who paid the tax for this while illegals are getting massive amounts of free care and their advocates complain that there isn't sufficient funding for drug rehabs for illegals. Enter Arellano to insult us as 'racist pendejos' with impunity. If you have half a brain, reading his misrepresentation of statistics while referring to himself as a 'legitimate researcher' will make you reconsider your political affiliation--mine had previously leaned towards liberal. (It's leaning towards ex-pat at present.) For instance, he states: "Like that oft-repeated lie that immigrants are more prone to crime than citizens? Debunked by most every legitimate researcher, including this one". Notice he doesn't distinguish between immigrant, who may or may not be a citizen, and citizen. Had he said 'illegal immigrants' he wouldn't be able to fortify his anti-American countrymen, as those here illegally have by definition committed a crime. And, the research indicated that while first generation 'immigrants' are at a par with their neighbors re crime, as they keep a low profile--the crime statistics shoot up dramatically for their progeny in next generation, far surpassing that of other citizens. He doesn't mention this, although 'legitimate researchers' follow through on the stats. I've had several grad courses in statistics, have done PAID research and know the tricks that are used to draw inaccurate conclusions. In this case the public impression re increased crime is justified by the stats, but Arellano just twists away with the glib assurance that the audience he addresses is too stupid to analyze his statements. His audience, including Anglos, seem to accept these statements at face value, directing their hostility towards persons who are only asking that immigrants are processed legally, are restrained from committing identity theft, and that our government restricts the flow to a point that the economic system and taxpayers are able to provide for their own families and don't collapse from the burden.
Regarding his simplistic misinformation re crime statistics: even common sense would indicate that the mass of persons crossing illegally from a country as crime-ridden as Mexico is not self-selecting for the most law-abiding members, and, since statistics do bear out that there is a significantly higher crime rate in Mexico than the US, even if the illegals were not tilted towards the criminal end, a representative cross-section would increase crime in the US. Mexico's administration long ago gave up any hope of managing this population and has been only too happy to facilitate moving it farther north, whence Calderon's aggressive stance against Arizona. The penalties for illegal entry into Mexico have been so severe that Calderon has been hastily reducing them before the US public decides that it take the same approach to Mexican violators as Mexico would to US illegals.
To better understand his preoccupaton with race, check out the degree of racism exhibited in the slaughter of their Indian population, ongoing in Chiapas especially, and you'll see why writers like Arellano are so quick to point a racist finger. The racism in Mexico against Indians and those of African heritage is far greater than ever expressed for decades in the US. There is ongoing mass slaughter, and, rather than working to improve conditions that are actually killing people in Mexico, this 'crusader' chooses to misrepresent himself as a liberating activist. Knowing the degree of hatred and condescension Mexcians themselves exhibit towards Indians, they bridle at the slightest hint that the same attitude might be directed at themselves. Cultural anthropologists, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, have thoroughly documented the prevalence of racism in Mexico relating to the degree of European blood--highest being preferred, and the antagonism towards 'Europeans' Arellano and his followers exhibit is a classic example of 'the shoe being on the other foot', especially since they used the shoe in an especially harsh manner.
If I didn't find Palin so repulsive, seeing his hatred of 'whites' and the underground views of Mexicans. legal or not, that it represents, would be enough to make me consider the Tea Party before Mexicans actually accomplish the coming 'Aztlan-American' war he refers to and anxiously awaits.
All in all, if you've spent time in Mexico, speak the language, and once had deep affection for the country, reacting to Arellano's hostile insults, unjustified accusations, and their implications, will not only not broaden your perspective, it will likely cause a paradigm shift.
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