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WEBLOG: Bordering on Hysteria
America's current obsession with border security is bordering on hysteria. Xenophobia, the fear or hatred of foreigners, has always existed in the United States just as in other cultures, and is always ugly. Never before, however, have so many ordinary US citizens been so fixated on "the foreign threat" as today. The current mood of mass xenophobia in America has obvious ties to 9/11, since which the nation's list of perceived enemies has grown to include not only much of the Muslim world but also the United Nations, the European Union, and our own North American neighbors. While growing numbers of Americans have come to believe Mexico is plotting a reconquest of the southwestern United States through an "invasion" of illegal immigrants, many have also turned against Canada simply because its citizens have "European" attitudes and speak French. Just as obvious as the impact of 9/11, however, is the role of professional hate-mongers on talk radio, TV, the internet, and in print media. Today anti-foreign hate spews not only from the mouths of such far-right lunatics as Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter, but also from such "mainstream" commentators as CNN's Lou Dobbs, who since 9/11 has gone from his modest former role as a business reporter to become a leading spokesman for those who would have us believe the entire world is out to get us. Meanwhile, a Republican Party in crisis attempts to divert attention from its miserable failure in Iraq by scapegoating immigrants. The ugly atmosphere even in "liberal" California is evident in video clips, from the California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation, of Minutemen harassing and intimidating immigrant day laborers for the "crime" of simply attempting to feed their families; and in the photo here with others from San Diego Indymedia of a "Save Our State" (SOS) rally in Laguna Beach, including individuals with SOS placards giving the Nazi salute and carrying Nazi as well as Confederate flags. Such trends as these have never been positive signs of where a nation is headed.
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Mark C. Eades
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