- 10,832
Friday afternoon while I was driving home from work I was listening to All Things Considered on NPR, as I have for the past four or five years. Of course NPR tends toward the Left, but it's never bothered me, and it has always made up for it in other ways like thoroughness, and better than average international coverage, in my opinion. But this last Friday I heard the biggest piece of liberal crap I've ever heard on any radio or TV program, ever. It offended me so much that I don't think I'll be able to listen to All Things Considered again, and possibly NPR as a whole.
The piece was about "undocumented workers". This was the fiorst problem and I noticed it immediately. Illegal aliens were refered to as "undocumented workers" from the get-go, as if there is widespread agreement on what they are called, and have always been called just this. The illegality of their presence in America was absent from the perspective; their entitlement to America and it's benefits and freedoms was simply assumed as an obvious fact.
The piece opened with a story about an illegal alien (as they will correctly be refered to for the rest of this post) who worked at a frozen entre company in Texas. Seems he was cleaning a giant meat grinder when it inexplicably turned on and the guy was turned to ground beef. Sad story. Not to mention about as likely as being struck by lightening, probably less. I thought it was superogatory and blatantly ludicrous to open a story with such a singular and sanguine event; the intended spin went overbaord before it really even got underway.
The reporter went on to blame immigration laws for the tragic death, citing the company's pattern of safety violations and hiring of illegal aliens. But I couldn't help noticing that given the reporter's own facts, the blame would seem to fall on the company due to it's habit of hiring illegal aliens, which is illegal for a reason, one of which might be that they are unable to uderstand instruction manuals and/or English speaking managers. Of course this story's slant was that the managers should all learn Spanish and all the manuals should be reprinted in Spanish. Never mind learning a country's language when you get there; the country must comform to it's immigrants.
Before I turned on some music out of sheer disgust I got to hear one more sob story about a construction worker who also happened to be an illegal alien. He fell off a building and is now paralyzed from the neck down. This is sad too. In fact, it is so sad that it must be because of immigration laws, right? The hundreds of thousands of government dollars spent on his treatment, according to NPR, can be blamed on immigration laws. The fact that the employer broke the law, and that law enforcement needs to begin right there, was never considered. The piece played a good 30 seconds of this man's mother sobbing in Spanish, though, as if I am supposed to feel bad about it, as if I should've stopped it. You could hear her pain, and it triggered something base: pity. It is very easy (and downright immoral) to exploit a mother's suffering to further a political end, liberal or conservative.
This piece of crap masquerading as journalism so willingly turned toward superfluous and pornographic sensationalism because it is the perspective's only (untenable) justification. The fact that companies are breaking the law by hiring illegal aliens for the express purpose of avoiding U.S. labor laws and the unfair advantage of exploiting their workers was totally skipped in favor of blaming immigration laws. The fact that American citizens are out of work and would gladly take any job available was ignored. The fact that many illegal immigrants send their money back to Mexico or Ecuador or wherever they came from was suspiciously absent from the piece. The fact that an immigrant can come to America and make a good, legal life for himself and his family by going through the proper channels was not mentioned. In fact, it was assumed that the only way into America is by illegally crossing the border; it practically encouraged it.
I listened to this drivel and understood that it was intended to evoke a quick and intense emotional reaction from me ranging from pity to grotesque horror, and that these base reactions are supposed to be the foundation of an informed opinion. It demonstrated to me that the mindset that encourages illegal immigration, assumes the benefits of being an American citizen are somehow entitled to the whole world, and places the burden of fixing other country's problems on Amercan company's shoulders has no other leg to stand on; in the face of facts and proof and logical analysis illegal still means illegal, no matter whet country you are from.
The piece was about "undocumented workers". This was the fiorst problem and I noticed it immediately. Illegal aliens were refered to as "undocumented workers" from the get-go, as if there is widespread agreement on what they are called, and have always been called just this. The illegality of their presence in America was absent from the perspective; their entitlement to America and it's benefits and freedoms was simply assumed as an obvious fact.
The piece opened with a story about an illegal alien (as they will correctly be refered to for the rest of this post) who worked at a frozen entre company in Texas. Seems he was cleaning a giant meat grinder when it inexplicably turned on and the guy was turned to ground beef. Sad story. Not to mention about as likely as being struck by lightening, probably less. I thought it was superogatory and blatantly ludicrous to open a story with such a singular and sanguine event; the intended spin went overbaord before it really even got underway.
The reporter went on to blame immigration laws for the tragic death, citing the company's pattern of safety violations and hiring of illegal aliens. But I couldn't help noticing that given the reporter's own facts, the blame would seem to fall on the company due to it's habit of hiring illegal aliens, which is illegal for a reason, one of which might be that they are unable to uderstand instruction manuals and/or English speaking managers. Of course this story's slant was that the managers should all learn Spanish and all the manuals should be reprinted in Spanish. Never mind learning a country's language when you get there; the country must comform to it's immigrants.
Before I turned on some music out of sheer disgust I got to hear one more sob story about a construction worker who also happened to be an illegal alien. He fell off a building and is now paralyzed from the neck down. This is sad too. In fact, it is so sad that it must be because of immigration laws, right? The hundreds of thousands of government dollars spent on his treatment, according to NPR, can be blamed on immigration laws. The fact that the employer broke the law, and that law enforcement needs to begin right there, was never considered. The piece played a good 30 seconds of this man's mother sobbing in Spanish, though, as if I am supposed to feel bad about it, as if I should've stopped it. You could hear her pain, and it triggered something base: pity. It is very easy (and downright immoral) to exploit a mother's suffering to further a political end, liberal or conservative.
This piece of crap masquerading as journalism so willingly turned toward superfluous and pornographic sensationalism because it is the perspective's only (untenable) justification. The fact that companies are breaking the law by hiring illegal aliens for the express purpose of avoiding U.S. labor laws and the unfair advantage of exploiting their workers was totally skipped in favor of blaming immigration laws. The fact that American citizens are out of work and would gladly take any job available was ignored. The fact that many illegal immigrants send their money back to Mexico or Ecuador or wherever they came from was suspiciously absent from the piece. The fact that an immigrant can come to America and make a good, legal life for himself and his family by going through the proper channels was not mentioned. In fact, it was assumed that the only way into America is by illegally crossing the border; it practically encouraged it.
I listened to this drivel and understood that it was intended to evoke a quick and intense emotional reaction from me ranging from pity to grotesque horror, and that these base reactions are supposed to be the foundation of an informed opinion. It demonstrated to me that the mindset that encourages illegal immigration, assumes the benefits of being an American citizen are somehow entitled to the whole world, and places the burden of fixing other country's problems on Amercan company's shoulders has no other leg to stand on; in the face of facts and proof and logical analysis illegal still means illegal, no matter whet country you are from.
