The New Nativist Hysteria Is Illegitimate, Divisive and Dangerous

[marmar]

from truthdig:


The New Nativist Hysteria Is Illegitimate, Divisive and Dangerous

Posted on Nov 24, 2015
By Bill Blum


The numbers could still rise, but as of the end of last week, governors in some 30 states had announced that they would close their borders to refugees from Syria.

The House of Representatives also roared into action, approving the American Security Against Foreign Enemies (SAFE) Act of 2015 by a resounding margin of 289-137, in an effort to “suspend” the admission of new migrants from either Syria or Iraq.

After securing passage of the SAFE Act, the House Republican leadership vowed to introduce additional anti-immigrant measures. One bill—the Protection of Children Act—would expedite the deportation of unaccompanied alien minors. Another—the Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act—would restrict the grounds available for aliens inside the U.S. to claim political asylum.

At the same time, out on the hustings, GOP campaign rhetoric is soaring to new heights of xenophobia. Not content with his bellicose promise to build a wall along our nation’s southern border, Donald Trump told NBC News on Thursday that if elected he would compile a national registry of Muslim-Americans and that he would consider issuing them special IDs denoting their religion. Following suit, in a speech delivered in Alabama, Ben Carson compared some Syrian refugees with “rabid dogs.”

Nativist hysteria and scapegoating are nothing unusual in our history, but the current iteration is especially malignant because it has gone mainstream so rapidly—even 47 Democrats voted in favor of the SAFE Act. And while the malignancy was certainly in place before the barbaric Islamic State attacks of Nov. 13 in Paris, the attacks have given it a veneer of legitimacy that would have been unthinkable only a few weeks earlier. ..............(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_new_nativist_hysteria_is_illegitimate_divisive_and_dangerous_20151124

[Hortensis]

1. The GOP has encouraged people to be their worst selves

for a long time now. Not just the GOP, of course, but right wing media and special interests hoping to benefit by fanning inborn anxieties and hostilities against what is different.

We're seeing the results all around us among so many conservatives. Indecency and irresponsibility are common, the teachings of Jesus discarded, gutlessness embraced, patriotism abandoned, our national government itself now seen by truly dangerous numbers as an enemy that must be destroyed.

Seeing what is happening, I believe we need to regulate the media to limit the MASS, WIDESPREAD dissemination of outright lies and crafted deceptions.

When we initially allowed TV networks to "own" portions of the spectrum, it was with the understanding that a certain portion each day would be devoted to news to inform the public. News was understood to be truthful, or as close as they could reasonably be expected to achieve. Not propaganda to turn entire populations into tools. We also need to resurrect those standards for TV, radio and any other licensed pathway.