Interesting that people are all wound-up over Immigration....

[devilgrrl]

kids leaving classrooms, etc... Why isn't there similar passion against the war in Iran, the environment, corporatism, etc.... The media seems to be giving ample coverage to this issue as well - certainly more then they've covered - say, the war - they're definitely covering the marches that have been happening around the country. Why is it that people are taking it to the streets over this and not the other issues mentioned above?

You tell me.

[candice]

1. They don't want to be deported and prefer this country to their own

[saracat]

2. I have my theory but some don't welcome it.

And I think some are being snookered by the ADmin. Whatever. Some just want to protest and don't really care about the issue.I am ill thinking of the neglect the anti war movement was treated to. Intersting that these people aren't marching in support of the Kerry resolution to withdraw from Iraq!

[Clark2008]

3. It effects more people, personally.

There are several million illegal aliens, legal aliens and their families, while only several thousand have had someone lost in the war.

However, there HAVE been protests of the war - but they don't receive ample coverage.

If there was a draft, you can bet your boots more people would care, btw.

[maddezmom]

8. agree, it's a numbers thing

more people are directly effected by immigration than the war.

[rucky]

4. Because it's happening here.

and that's happening there.

[EFerrari]

5. Easy. It's a raw appeal to racism, a fine American tradition. Warning

[sojourner]

9. yep, and meant to distract and inflame passion, create another "enemy"

for Murikans to worry about. Fear, fear, fear!!! Hate, hate, hate!!

When will people wake up?

[EFerrari]

10. Hi there,sojourner. It's good to read you.

:)

[sojourner]

13. hey you! nice seeing you too...

wish it were all over. it all gets so demoralizing at times. y'know?

[EFerrari]

15. Yep, I sure do. It's a survival marathon.

:grouphug:

[lovuian]

6. This has to do with them being arrested and put in jail

I'd take to the streets and so would you if somebody threatened me with that one....

I totally understand why they are protesting...

why not Iraq or Iran...??? because they have been lied too and spinned and terrorized... thats why...

Bush has wiretapped and put peace protestors on surveiilance

and you ask why

Plus Americans are having a hard enough time surviving out there...

[magellan]

7. Don't know

But I'd like to see this many people march because they care about this country. The immigration thing is an intentional, Repug-created distraction.

[cali]

11. Why would they create an issue

that's fracturing what remains of bushco's hardcore support, and damages the party? How would they mobilize the hundreds of thousands if not millions to march in cities across the country? How on earth does this help the repukes? Why do you think that those marching don't care about the country, albeit not in the way you'd like to see?

[saracat]

16. You are so right! And some are just buying right into it.

It is no wonder we lose elections! The blind that will not see. Our better natures are constantly used against us. Imagine the Repukes caring about immigrants! Rove at work again!

[Oilwellian]

12. Leveraging xenophobia

I read the following post on Daily Kos and thought it fit in perfectly with your thread:

Leveraging xenophobia, and every other incidental difference between individual Americans, is the heart and soul of nearly all Bush administration's policies, foreign and domestic. This constant appeal to our most primitive fears - of scarcity, of violence, of foreigners, of our neighbors - is a calculated manipulation designed to divide Americans against each other, and it is destroying the very premise upon which this country was founded: E Pluribus Unum, "out of many, one."

For this administration, out of one nation, many splintered factions are being created in a systematic way. Take a look around.

Consider how the Social Security privatization debate pits the young against the old, how tax cuts pit the rich against the poor, how the immigration debate pits underpaid native-born Americans against cheap laborers. Listen to the right-wing rhetoric about the "war on Christians" and think about how feeding the paranoia of the fundamentalists sets that faction up against nearly everyone else, even tolerant Christians. Anti-intellectualism, railing against affirmative action policies, labeling pacifists as "traitors" ... these are all divide-and-conquer tactics, used and abused throughout human history.

The truth is, every American can be sliced half a dozen different ways: by gender, by class, by education, by age, by region, by religion ... and in this day and age of niche marketing, even by whether we are NASCAR fans or latte sippers. And the Bush administration has figured out, if you slice us, ultimately you can dice us.

We are a nation devolving to tribalism under this administration, and this nurturing of the worst side of human nature has allowed us to accept policies that were unthinkable a mere six years ago: We can torture people, because they are foreign and different. We can wiretap anyone, because we are a nation bursting at the seams with people harboring different ideas. We can calmly discuss in the halls of Congress slapping a felony on Samaritans who give water to human beings dying of thirst in the desert, if the dying are foreign and different. We can draw up plans to use nuclear weapons on people who are foreign and different. And so on.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/4/10/141932/724

[carolinalady]

14. Because it has a direct effect on them NOW-that is why people

took the streets during VietNam-the draft had a direct effect on them NOW. As long as people can drive their cars, feed their bellies and their kids don't have to get killed, they will not react. IMO.