A dark side of human nature arises when, faced with
tough economic conditions or rapid social change, we search for
"others" to become scapegoats for a variety of ills. Some of these
tendencies have had horrific results, such as Adolf Hitler's rise in
Germany. "Majorities" of Americans have railed against the waves of
Catholic, Jewish, Chinese, Irish or German immigrants. While it's no
longer acceptable to overtly disparage particular minorities,
immigrants continue to provide an easy target, being blamed for such
wide-ranging problems as terrorism, a sagging economy and environmental
degradation (Immigrants take toll on American life, Insight, July 30).
Over the past decade, politicians have made immigration a hot-button
issue. Polls show snapshots of Americans' responses to questions about
immigration enforcement, but there is near-unanimous agreement that our
immigration system is broken and needs to be fixed. [more ]
Has anyone told Arnold Schwarzenegger about Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo? [more ]
Article originally appeared on (http://brownwatch.com/).
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