Seriously, where does this bullshit come from?

[Lorien]

Seen on facebook:

LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT... If you cross the North Korean border illegally, you get 12 yrs. hard labor. If you cross the Afghanistan border illegally, you get shot. Two Americans just got eight years for crossing the Iranian border. If you cross the U. S. border illegally you get a job, a drivers license, food stamps, a place to live, health care, housing & child benefits, education, & a tax free business for 7 yrs ...No wonder we are a country in debt."

WHY does the right wing believe that illegal immigrants and the poor get "freebies" like absolutely free health care, housing, college, child care, etc? If an illegal immigrant is discovered they get deported, and trying to apply for food stamps would equal being discovered..and hell, the only people with "tax free businesses" are billionaires! So where the hell do these delusional ideas come from, and why do they persist??

[Wounded Bear]

1. Belief trumps evidence.....you see it all the time...

That's how global warming deniers and conspiracy theorists thrive.

:shrug:

[Rex]

2. It comes from people that watch Foxnews or listen to the Hate Radio

all day. They are uninformed morans that know very little about the world around them. Illegal immigrants bring in 800 billion dollars a year so we shouldn't all be so hasty to demand their execution (seriously, WTF is wrong with people?) for crossing the border.

Basically it is hatred and stupidity that cause posts like that.

[MineralMan]

3. It comes from the far right. Why repeat it here?

Lies from the right are not worthy of repetition, IMO.

[Lorien]

19. Um, thus the QUESTION

Where does it come from and why is it perpetuated? Do you seriously believe that ANYONE here is going to pass it along as gospel?? It seems like we SHOULD be getting to the root of this kind of crap and slapping it down as soon as it starts to pop up. Form our own viral "status updates" to counter them. Pretending that this stuff doesn't exist only helps it to continue to spread.

[TheBigotBasher]

21. I agree

Find out who is behind the lies and expose them.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Stupid beliefs about benefits aside

it looks like the author of this screed would rather have the USA start emulating a state like North Korea. Nice role model you picked, Whistledick!

[LuckyLib]

5. This shit goes on forever -- stupidity and racism. After the end of the Vietnam War,

when refugees were being resettled in the US, the myths were the same:
folks get monthly stipends to live, new cars (usually a Lincoln or Cadillac), start-up money for businesses, free rent, etc. When asked about this, I would always say, "This is not true. Whose interests are served by propagating this kind of hate and resentment?"

[QED]

15. I get recycled emails spewing this crap.

My neighbor passes them along - seems to go in about 6 month cycles. I reply with the snopes link debunking whatever claim it was. The last one was about Obama cancelling the national day of prayer but hosting the Muslim prayer day. You've seen it, I'm sure.

Too bad he masks the mailing list so I can't debunk it for others. He does know better - he's just another not-so-closeted racist Obama hating jerk. Actually a part-time jerk - he can be a pretty nice guy now and then.

[Lorien]

18. I'm spared most of those emails

No hardcore right wingers in my family, and the few conservative friends that I have either wouldn't pass that stuff on because they know it's nonsense, or they know not to send it to me. It's amazing that such wildly unfactual nonsense gets passed around the interwebs unchallenged.

[dionysus]

6. it'd be funny to see their reaction if it was a canadian sneaking over here. cause you know they

mean mexicans only.

[MilesColtrane]

7. "Seriously, where does this bullshit come from?"

the darkest part of the human heart

the part that is choked with fear, suspicion, and hatred

[Ikonoklast]

8. Ask them to prove it.

They won't, because they can't.

[Warpy]

9. They come from a bunch of out of work admen who were snapped up

by right wing stink tanks funded by the Koch brothers and the rest of their cabal of fascist plutocrats.

It's all bullshit, of course, but try to prove it after somebody without much upstairs has read it from several different sources clogging his email box.

It's fun to watch them struggle when you say "If you were here illegally and hiding from the government, how would you apply to the government you didn't want to know you existed to get all these freebies?" Their faces go blank, their jaws slacken and then start chewing like they've got a cud to work on, and their eyes glaze. Then they get defensive. But for just a few seconds, it's glorious.

[tblue37]

10. They come from cynical propagandists, and they persist because the

propaganda is very effective and well-financed.

[FSogol]

11. All that aside, they want the US to be more like North Korea or Iran?

IMO, they should move there then.

[Cleita]

13. It would appear so and probably some of our "liberal"

media should point that out, but don't hold your breath.

[justabob]

26. that is always my response when I see this posted

Who wants to be like North Korea? Iran? Afghanistan? China?

I mean really.... since when are these countries our role models?

[Cleita]

12. It appeals to the racist underpinnings of many Americans. Hard evidence is not important

as long as you have an underclass to make into scapegoats for what they perceive as injustices done to them.

[lsewpershad]

14. I suppose the poster [on facebook]

is a natural native born

[Lorien]

17. She's from Sweden, and she knew it was bullshit

but she lifted it from someone else on FB and quoted it as "so says a stupid person."

[eallen]

16. Are they holding up Iran, North Korea, and Afghanistan as examples to follow?

I'm never surprised when right-wingers hold up the most scurrilous nations on earth as examples.

:hippie:

[Lorien]

20. I suspect so. They are Authoritarian brownshirts, for the most part

but beyond that, the rest is outright lies and needs to be countered by the Left with our own viral statements-based on truth! This "poor people and immigrants are sucking the US dry" bullshit allows the criminal billionaires to keep getting away with their crooked acts that are destroying our Nation and making life Hell for millions. We need to get on message so that this stuff is no longer spreading like kudzu.

[pinboy3niner]

22. Misleading--that's what happens abroad when you get CAUGHT

When you get caught here, you face 6 months in jail.

[Lorien]

25. That's always my reply to such statements; they can't apply for any benefits

because doing so would expose them and get them sent to jail then deported. But Right Wingers still think that illegal immigrants are handed Social Security cards and food stamps as soon as the cross the border. :banghead:

[pinboy3niner]

27. The 1996 welfare reform law cut off public aid to illegal immigrants

In reality, the 1996 welfare reform bill disqualified illegal immigrants from nearly all means-tested government programs including food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and Medicare-funded hospitalization. The only services that undocumented immigrants can still get are emergency medical care and K-12 education.

And education usually is paid for from property taxes, which are paid by everyone who owns or rents a house or apartment.

Here's one article on other taxes paid:

Illegal Immigrants are Paying a Lot More Taxes Than You Think
Eight million illegals pay Social Security, Medicare, and income taxes
http://reason.org/news/show/122411.html

[readmoreoften]

23. Not to mention that undocumented workers contributed 16 billion dollars in taxes to the US

and Bank of America contributed nothing.

[Lorien]

24. The person who posted it (a Swede) followed it up with:

‎"@Anyone who thinks there is any truth to the original statement of this thread : There isn't. There can't be. The U.S. might give some sort of benefits to those with green cards, I don't know, I only know that illegal immigrants are (to use the expression America so graciously has bestowed upon the world) "fucked"."

and one of her Swedish friends posted:

"The degree to which these people seem to envy totalitarian dictatorships kinda makes one wonder."

Anyone have any FB status-sized rebuttals that we can make just as viral and persistent?