Ok, so a few issues with Ever Changing Civility's post, and I'll try to keep this gentle and draw as little blood as possible. Do note, that I enjoy playing something of a Devli's Advocate, and while I may not agree with the side I happen to be advocating for, its fun to do so. Though the parallels in this writing were clear, the humor behind it clearly missed its mark. You may not be in his target audience. (Side note: nothing is offlimits to comedians.)
To start with, I don't think I'd call an article by a political comedian an editorial, atleast not a factual one, and always take a comedian's words with a grain of salt. Sure, you can have an editorial with humor in it, but that's not this. There are, ofcourse, parallels with the United States' issue with immigrants and immigration, most notably, of the illegal variety. That's quite clear, which makes it funny and makes you roll your eyes at all the right moments. Still, comedians are very tongue-in-cheek and in your face. In some cases, they don't even believe what they're joking about. Given the Editor's Note near the top of the article, it's clear that CNN is attempting to make sure that people reading it are aware its written by a comedian as well.
I also wouldn't consider it blatant racism, given they're talking about -Zombies-. I don't care how many parallels are being drawn to the current state of affairs in the real world. He's still talking about zombies. Brain eating, undead, shambling zombies. You can't be racist against zombies.
I'm sure if, by some amazing feat of timewarp-mojo, and immigration rules and regulations were as strict (or stricter, as some would like) than as they are now, yea, we wouldn't be here. Do you know who would most likely be here though? The people that our forebearers killed through disease, and famine, and war, shoving them onto tracts of land barely large enough to accomodate them. Would that be such a bad thing?
Zomg, they're stealing mah jerbz! Meme. Couldn't help it, sorry. The trouble with this is that, while they may work jobs that are "less appeasing", the jobs are still ones that non-immigrants would work, however since we typically demand more money for our time, these jobs go to the immigrants who work for less. I think I need to steal some rose colored glasses here, because any company that hires immigrants soley to avoid certain laws and increase their profit margin can curl up in a deep dark tunnel and never crawl out. Actually, I'd gladly bury the tunnel behind them. They treat their workers like crap, don't give anything back, and use it all to line their pockets.
And how does one figure that the taxes pulled out from an illegal immigrants pay check (this is, ofcourse assuming that they're not being paid "under the table" or "off the books", neither of which taxes are taken out of because the government doesn't know about it to tax it) ease the pressure on those that are naturalized and native? This country's deficit is too large for that, and if it really eased the pressure, we wouldn't be getting taxed out our ears everytime we wanted a snickers bar. Nor would there always be talk of raising taxes.
And a misquote on Dean here. Dean said he hoped the Rosetta Stone would teach "zombie" as we'd need it. Good news, Rosetta Stone already teaches so many of the languages present in the world, I don't think they'll have to worry about "zombie" anytime soon. Don't forget that history is written by the victors, and Americans have a way of forcing their views onto others. We may not realize it, but really, we give some places no choice in the matter.
Overall, its clear that you're passionate about immigration laws, and (not completely unrelated) rascism. The few grammatical and spelling errors don't detract from the post as a whole. But there are pros and cons to each side of a debate, it may help to address both and add a weight to them. "Yea, this is a good thing about that side of the stree, but there's this over here, and its so much better because of this thing here." You don't want to completely alienate the other side, or a compromise will never be reached.
And unless you can get the joke and the humor behind a comedian's work, your response may miss the mark just as much as his humor did for you. ^.~
Let me start by saying thank you for your different opinion towards my blog. I appreciate the different opinions of the world. In order to progress as a nation we must understand how to listen to each other. To respond to your intellegent and thoughtful statements I must start by saying there was no humor in a subliminal article about immigrants. The truth of the matter is that we are all immigrants which I am sure you are aware of. In this article "zombies" are about the hispanic community. There is no denying that. I understand that there are both sides of a fence, but I don't see the fun in making fun of people who work hard to provide for thier families. Yes you are right. I am passionate about this. Not just this but passionate about all the people of the world. Immigration doesn't cause half as many problems as our american government. I see no reason to weigh in on both sides of the matter because the only issue I have is that of the golden rule. Treat others as you would like to be treated. In the case of immigration that never works. That is what drives me to write on things concerning the treatment of people in general. For people to find humor in this article makes me believe they too have no heart for the people. Sandy hook could happen in Mexico and it wouldn't break the heart of a reader who finds that article funny. I think the phrase grammatical errors makes no sense because grammar is communication, and no one speaks in perfect grammar. No one. I see that did not take away from the message that was felt in that article and for that I also welcome your critique. I enjoyed reading your blogs. I will continue to read your post and add to the knowledge I have already attained. If you don't stand for something you will fall for anything. I respect that stance.
ReplyDeleteClearly I disagree about no humor. =) But I get satirical, dark, dry humor. I thrive in it typically.
ReplyDeleteAnd if by "we" you mean non-Native Americans, well, no, I was born here. Some generations ago I'm sure someone in my bloodline immigrated here, legally or illegally doesn't matter. I was born on US soil, I'm a US citizen. \o/ And just because I can find humor in a writing that is obviously meant to be as such, doesn't mean I have no heart for the plight of those that are attempting to live here in peace. To insinuate that my sense of humor means that I wouldn't care about kids being shot anywhere in the world is a bit insulting. There's still no denying that immigrants do cause some issues within economies and even socially in some demographics. No one said that the government doesn't do as much damage at times.
Language is communication. Grammar is the system and structure, the syntax and morphology of that language. Its important in all forms of communication if a message is to be made 100% clear to everyone hearing (or reading) it. Not important to be completely accurate, but important enough that you want to make sure you're saying "Let's eat, Grandma!" and not "Let's eat Grandma!"