close to home

A week ago, Norway had a devastating tragedy happen to them. For me it brought to light that even countries as far north as Norway have issues and conflicts with immigrants and multiculturalism. Secondly, it was a reminder that a madman will kill until no one is left. There is clearly, though, a larger issue at hand. That was apparant when I learned that the killer was captured and did not kill himself. He wanted to start a revolution against multiculturalism.

It’s an idea that is not far from Nazi ideals. In America it’s not far from the modern day KKK and neo-Nazi movement. Luckily, these groups have not created such carnage in years. I think there is a much more frightening thing going on right now in America that is really not that far from what happened in Norway.

In places like the state of Arizona they are creating laws to do almost whatever they can to keep immigrants out. In NYC the city is divided over whether to let a Mosque be built near the site of 9/11.  And all over the United States people have a similar hatred (a strong but accurate word) for immigrants and Muslims (among others). This really isn’t a new attitude. However, the extreme or counter-cultural ideas are now becoming more mainstream and normal. A quote from a normal “Christian” on Facebook:  

  

“If you cross the N. Korean border illegally, you get 12 yrs. hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. If you cross the U.S. border illegally you get a job, a driver's license, food stamps, a place to live, health care, housing & child benefits, education, & tax free business for 7 yrs. No wonder we are a country in debt. Repost if you agree.”

There are a couple alarming ideas in this post. First, it’s stating that the debt problem is coming from the over abundance of illegal immigrants. Ironically, illegal immigrants have been providing cheaper services at hotels, restaurants, and the like for years.  The same capitalism these “legal” citizens believe in has only created a space for cheap illegal labor over American labor. The idea of debt is also a jab at the Democrats, which as the NYT has pointed out is less of a Democrat problem and more of a Bush era problem of cutting taxes to only the rich and many years of war – two things Republicans keep endorsing as good things. It’s also sad to think that people have forgotten just how bad it was during the Bush era (also proved by the NYT graph) and how much damage was caused especially to the economy, and yet still think Bush is a saint compared to Obama.

Second, this Facebook post is endorsing the idea of killing people for being immigrating illegally. The idea is not far from those of the tragedy that happened in Norway not 4 weeks afterward. This person - perfectly “normal” - is saying that the death of people is better than life. The ideas of the United States used to be far from this of course. Just take a look at a quote on the Statue of Liberty: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” For many American’s this no longer applies. It was nice when white Europeans were immigrating, but now that it is mainly immigrants from places like Mexico the same attitude does not apply.

That isn’t to say that some type of immigration reform isn’t needed. I’m just not sure death is the answer. Unfortunately for us the Norway killer’s idea of revolution has already started without him. I’m sure this person on Facebook would still post the their message and would want people to repost it.   I am equally as sure that this person – and the many who agree - would also like the U.S. to default on their credit to pay for their bad spending habits.  Habits that, again, ironically don’t come from the current president, but from the Republican president before him who spent billions on national defense while cutting taxes only for the rich and corporations. For the rest of us, we can only hope that the killer’s revolution raises an alarm about the importance of valuing all people.