from The Gray Area:
1/26/24:
Since the Supreme Court kicked the
'razor-wire barrier' issue in Texas back to the lower courts and denied Texas the ability to stop federal border agents from cutting the wire to get to migrants coming into the US illegally, the left & the right have been, figuratively, firing shots at each other.
Here is an example of the right, reading the Constitution:
Here is the left in the person of MSNBC's Joy Reid speaking of those who want more border security: “
Sounds like the old Southerners who said that we will resist integration by any means necessary”.
Well, the courts will debate the Constitution and whether Texas Gov. Abbott's actions are within the Constitutional framework.
But, how about this Joy Reid segment.
First, there is no parallel between integration and immigration, other than the words can sound alike (which is why she wants to use them as similar topics). The random immigration of 8-15 million people into this country over the past 3 years is a uniquely dramatic event. The movement of American school children from one to school to another, in its day, was a uniquely dramatic event, but it is no more analogous to the immigration crisis at the border than it is to the uniquely dramatic event of WWII. We knew where the kids were from and where they were going in the 1960s/70s. We might know where some of the migrants are from, but not most. We don't know where they are going, other than some who have been shipped around the country by the Biden Administration and several state governors and remain in those towns and cities. The rest are moving around the country at will using resources provided by the US government.
Second, those 'southerners' she references, from 60s/70s integration, were Democrats! Remember George Wallace (Gov. Ala.-D), he made that statement. Oops. She doesn't mention that because that is not the narrative she is promoting, so the truth has little to do with it. Spreading a narrative is only what matters.
Third, speaking of political narratives, this segment is loaded. The narratives are as follows and include the rest of the message which goes without saying: '
old' white guys, '
southern' racists,
'resisting' people of color,
dangerous threat because they use '
any means necessary' and it is understood that she is referring to '
Republicans' for electoral purposes. You can see 5 political narratives being supported in this one statement. The rest of the segment expands the narratives.
Political media narratives are usually false statements or grossly spun out of all contact with reality, or both. The media does that primarily by leaving out context or relevant data. In this case, relevant data is that she is referring to Democrats in the 1960s , which if included would eliminate the entire argument about Republicans on the border in the 2020s. And, the comparison between integration and immigration 60 years apart is a non-starter. Hate speech against 'old' people, gender discrimination against men, and Republicans resisting people of color are all unrealistic narratives that unfortunately have gotten a lot of acceptance. Why? Because as Saul Alinsky wrote in 1971, "
If you push a negative hard enough, it will push through and become a positive." Said another way, 'if you tell a lie long enough, it will become truth.'
Let's learn the issues and ignore the narratives.
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