Lou Dobbs doesn't want to deal with his own culpability for hate crimes
By David Neiwert Friday Nov 28, 2008 5:00pm
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The recent attention paid to a notorious Long Island hate crime in which a group of young whites went in search of Latinos to harm has raised serious questions about the relationship between immigrant-bashing rhetoric and the surge of anti-Latino bias crimes nationally.
And the mainstream purveyors of this rhetoric -- particularly pundits like Bill O'Reilly and Lou Dobbs -- are denying their culpability in the only means available to them: By distorting the reality of hate crimes themselves.
In O'Reilly's case, this entailed conflating hate crimes with ordinary (and completely unrelated) crimes.
And in Dobbs', as we saw on his Monday program, it entails distorting statistics and pretending that he's never bashed or demonized Latinos on his CNN show:
DOBBS: Advocates of open borders and amnesty accusing border security advocates of fostering a wave of hate, but as usual, those groups led by La Raza and MALDEF were long on rhetoric and absolutely, absolutely devoid of facts or respect for them. Bill Tucker has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BILL TUCKER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Being tough on illegal immigration is a bad thing in the eyes of La Raza, a Hispanic special interest group which says it represents the civil rights of all Latino immigrants. The group blames the murder of Marcello Lucero, an Ecuadorian immigrant on Long Island, New York, on a wave of immigrant hate sparked by local politicians who have called for enforcement of immigration law.
JANET MURGUIA, NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA: Steve Levy has taken a notably hard line against immigrants in his county and has been lauded by cable hosts like Lou Dobbs as a folk hero.
TUCKER: The community has shown no tolerance for the crime. Seven teenagers were quickly arrested and charged with hate crimes ranging from assault to manslaughter in connection with that murder, the leader of the gang being held without bail. Lucero's murder though is being used by special interest groups like La Raza and MALDEF to call attention to what they call "a wave of hate crime in America."
However, just last month the FBI reported a slight decline in hate crimes nationally last year. The FBI saying there were just over 7,600 hate crimes versus just over 7,700 the year before. Groups calling for the enforcement of immigration law are furious that La Raza and MALDEF and others equate their position with hate.
DAN STEIN, F.A.I.R.: Their true agenda is to try to stop public discussion about the need to control the borders. And they are using isolated incidents, tragic incidents, to be sure, but isolated ones, and distorting statistics to try to muzzle important free-speech rights in this country.
TUCKER: Not once in the news conference was the phrase "illegal immigration" used or heard, instead the phrase "immigrant bashing" and "anti-immigrant" were the word choices of the day.
Dobbs and Tucker essentially lie by omission here: Even though hate crimes have in fact declined overall in the past couple of years, anti-Latino bias crimes have actually increased significantly. In other words, the statistics actually speak strongly to the fact that Latino-bashing bias crimes are on the rise because those figures run counter to the larger trend of declines in such crimes generally.
[Heidi Beirich at SPLC's Hatewatch has more on this point.]
Even more bizarre is Dobbs' shock and horror of being accused of culpability. Actually, this can't be a surprise for Dobbs: He has been called out on this score before, and he has similarly been unable to offer any kind of adequate defense, so he has blustered, snarled, and distorted. Yet on Monday, he was once again seemingly baffled by the criticism.
As for the claim that the Latino-bashing is something else -- the neutral and completely benign criticism of illegal immigration generally -- we've known this is nonsense for some time, especially Lou Dobbs' case. If Dobbs and cohorts like FAIR (an SPLC-designated hate group) really were only concerned about only illegal immigration, then Dobbs needs to explain:
* Why he makes up phony statistics connecting immigration generically with a supposed increase in diseases like leprosy.
* Why he broadcasts white-supremacist mythology about a Hispanic “Aztlan” conspiracy to return the Southwest to Mexico.
* Why he continually claims that Latino immigration is responsible for an increase in crime.
* Why he once said that this wave of immigration is turning America into “a third world cesspool” (a remark that has since been removed from the CNN website).
* Why he constantly promotes the notion of making English the official U.S. language.
* Why he regularly refers to this wave of immigration as an “invasion.”
* Why he regularly hosts anti-immigrant voices from white-supremacist groups and vigilante scam artists like the Minutemen and yet neglects to explain his guests' troubling backgrounds.
You also had to love Tucker's attempt to use the election of Barack Obama as a shield against accusations of racism. Evidently, because Obama won the presidency, racism and hate crimes no longer are serious problems:
TUCKER: And today's news conference was not without irony. While trying to make the argument that a new wave of hate is rising in America, the participants had to admit and acknowledge that the president-elect is a black man who was elected by a majority of Americans, Lou.
So apparently Obama's election has now absolved America's racists and their enablers -- people who manifestly did their damnedest to prevent that outcome -- of all their past sins. I'll bet Dobbs never thought Obama's victory would give him yet another reason to feel all smug and warm.
And that's obviously how he absolves himself from feeling any responsibility for the Latino victims of the crimes he helps inspire.
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It's not my fault. I just get 'em riled up. I can't be blamed if they take what I say to heart, get mad and go hunting the very people I'm always railing against.
The rightwing Taliban has been enabled by BushCo.
Don't forget how easily they wrecked Al Gore and destroyed John Kerry, badgered Bills Clinton and hounded Jimmy Carter.
Clinton should have been badgered. His ordering the bombing of buildings in the Sudan and Kenya makes him a war criminal. Toss in his complicity with Phil Gramm and the deregulation of the financial sector and you've got yourself a republican in democrat's clothing. His popular appeal should be a head-shaker for any sentient citizen.
Don't forget the "don't ask, don't tell" BS.
Its not Lou's fault that the pinko queer drug dealing leprosy infected brown people who are steeling your jobs and raping your women hate regular Americans. He just calls em as he sees em. Did you see what these people did in Mumbai? El Paso cold be next!!
Never heard you talking like that. I'm againts illegal immigrants not against the their skin pigmentation.
Is that true?
It depends on what your definition of Mexican is but I have heard she is brown blooded as well.
when he rails against Mexicans all the time. Who knows, maybe he wants to keep his in-laws away!
...we're not supposed to take whatever they say or advise seriously, right?
Which means they're put on TV for purely entertainment value, right? OK, I can accept that.
Except, if bloated hacks like Dobbs, Hannity and Rush are still going to infest the public airways as dark comic relief, their theme music ought to be played on a calliope, jug and washboard.
Just so we can help tell the difference between them and the real thing.
Speaking of irony, since every day is a brand new day for these people, why do they yearn for the past? There will be a tomorrow whether they choose to come with us or not.
Dobbs would have more fun at Faux Noise. They like angry peple over there.
Well they did hire Glenn Beck and he was pretty chummy with Dobbs during this 2 years at CNN.
I fail to understand why Lou Dobbs fails to notice his own failings.
He spouts the sins of others just like Jesus said people like him would.
He accuses them of that which he himself is guilty of.
Lou Dobbs is guided by blind white racism.
Come on. Does anyone really believe the scam artists in the Bush administration would accurately report hate crimes? For a crime to be so classified, a judgment call is frequently required. If the person making the call might wish to whitewash the Justice Department's effectiveness in combating said crimes, he or she can simply rule the act in question doesn't merit "hate crime" status.
That anybody who posted negatively hasn't actually watched Mr. Dobbs. It bugs me to no end that people slap the racist label on him, when he, in fact, is NOT! Well, he may be racist but it doesn't come out in his broadcasting... He says (and he says it constantly) "Illegal Immigration" he doesn't say mexican people, he doesn't say chinese/japanese/russian french/german people, he says "Illegal Immigration" he doesn't call for action against anybody that is here legaly!!It's pretty common sense. Illegal(anything) If it's illegal of course it needs to be addressed for people to scream racism is changing the subject! so, what? we are racist if we turn in a bank robber that happends to be a different nationality than us? Robbing a bank is illegal but because the robber may be a different nationality the reporting person that makes the reporting person racist? hell no! but that is what ha been done with the illegal immigration debate.
Mexican people do NOT equal illegal immigration nor does Dobbs even hint at that. And anyone that would say that he does is (if they are not just straight out dumb and can't tell any different) is misinformed at the very least and manipulatve disrespecful jerk at worst.
Late,
QSE32
I sometimes wonder if there's a place in the liberal community for those of us who favor immigration restrictions and adherence to the law. I don't care what color people are, but I do care how many of us there are.
I could care less about Dobbs, but I have sometimes observed an unfortunate eagerness to ascribe racism to people who are unenthusiastic about unrestrained immigration. I doubt if that tendency is likely to result in an amenable debate and resolution.
The problem with Dobbs is that technically you're right, he sticks to concerns about reasonable issues, but the collateral damage that results from his show is apparently real. For example, the distinction he makes between imigrants and latinos is obviously going to go over many of the viewers' heads. Quite simply he is hurting more than he is helping. It's time he moved on to a new topic at the least.
God damn it! THANK YOU!!
This is the one thing I can't stand about the far left. The endless need to ascribe racism to those who are actually interested in laws that have nothing to do with race beyond what the media correlates to it. They're almost as bad as the right-wingers who actually do use Illegal Immigration to support their socially paranoid racism.
While its true that the Latin Americans are most likely the largest perpetrators of this federal crime, it doesn't mean they are the ONLY perpetrators of this crime. Illegal Immigrants can come from ANYWHERE in the world and they can be of ANY skin color! Why should Latin Americans get to play a race card just because their nations are physically closer to the US?
There is nothing racial about Immigration Law and nothing racist about wanting to see it enforced.
..I'm still on the fence about Lou Dobbs and it's really bothering me quite a lot. I always try to be a good, humanitarian person but...
I listen to this exchange:
http://www.democracynow.org/2007/12/4/fact_ch...
and still can't come away with the same conclusions which so many of my friends at C&L keep telling me I ought to be arriving at.
Maybe I'm just a complete idiot-- which would explain everything for me.
Would that be the damned ugly fence they are putting up at the border?
The world gave up feudalism, i.e. that people are tied to the land and position of their birth, many long years ago and these tenets contradict our vision of America as a meritocracy.
If you listen with an open mind, you will realize that these same arguments were used against the southern Europeans, i.e. non-white people LIKE ITALIANS, SLAVS, AND JEWS during the 1920s. I'm only 51, but I remember my grandmother crying when she talked about being beaten in elementary school when asking her classmate for a translation of something the teacher said. I'm so glad that most people in this country have moved beyond those attitudes!
If you'd like to hear more, perhaps you could try this channel on YouTube, where a lot of the video has been archived:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TruthInImmigration
Where do you see the top limit? As far as I'm concerned, we're way past it. The population of America has more than doubled in my lifetime and the negative consequences are beyond obvious.
Same argument made about us d**n Catholics flooding the shores in the 1920s: we had too many kids, too. Now that Catholics are integrated into society, the birth rate went down. People tend to breed more when they have nothing better to do, while those of decent incomes and education have a lower birthrate. Isolationism and xenophobia always rise when times get tougher.
What do you see as an optimal population for America?
I'm not afraid of Catholics. I want the population reduced now, not 100 years from now. Stop the bullshit. Overpopulation is a fundamental component of every social, financial and environmental problem in America, and if you don't want to face it then you might as well kiss it all goodbye.
I can meet immigration advocates half way, but I've never heard anything but "population isn't an issue" from any of you. Guess again.
http://news-i-used.blogspot.com/2008/11/reari...
Up to about 2003, Lou's show was one of my favorites; however, his isolationist and bigoted attitudes became highly offensive to the point where I could no longer watch the show but followed it only in the printed media. His views contradict my religious beliefs. I'm a devout Roman Catholic, and our bishops have repeatedly stated that each person has a basic human right to migrate, especially in the case where they are seeking to support themselves or their families.
I've been very ashamed that prominent so-called Catholics like Pat Buchanon and Bill O'Reilly have completely disregarded and/or contradicted our Church's teaching in these matters. Those on the political right wing are the worst "cafeteria Catholics" of all!
Our USA Catholic Bishop's website on the issue: http://www.justiceforimmigrants.org/
The Pontifical Council on Migrants and Itinerant Peoples of the Holy See (Vatican Curia office)can be found at: http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/pontifical_...
I would also like to remind everyone of the very excellent treatment of immigrant hate speech "Fear and Loathing in Prime Time" at http://mediamattersaction.org/reports/fearand... including two excellent videos.
SPLC's Intelligence Report analysis is at http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/ar...
I wonder if Vatican City would accept all these Illegals moving in to their City Nation. Would they open their doors to feed, clothe, and take care of their medical bills?
http://sweetness-light.com/archive/nyt-teen-a...
"Friends of Mr. Conroy and the other suspects insisted that the defendants were not racist and said they were shocked that a frivolous escapade by bored, drunken teenagers had quickly turned tragic. They pointed out that one of the defendants, José Pacheco, 17, is the son of an African-American mother and a Puerto Rican father, and that Mr. Conroy counted Latino and black classmates among his closest buddies…
The bulk of this typically verbose New York Times article is spent chronicling what a hotbed of anti-Latino racism is Suffolk County, Long Island.
Never mind the facts.
As the article notes, this same group had a practice of mugging people for kicks. They just happened to choose a Hispanic this time."
Certainly Lou Dobbs is one of the milder hate speech voices on corporate media but he is still a voice. Any lying rumor spread by right wing think tanks that are anti brown skinned illegal immigrants in this country will be repeated on his show. There will be no apology on his part where he is wrong. He was one of the loudest voices on the issue of ACORN, making the claim that ACORN was out trying to steal the election by using illegals in their plot. I haven't heard of his apology once all the facts were in. You know you can go almost anywhere in the world and get good free health care, be treated friendly, but if you try to get a job most every other country in the world is serious about not hiring illegals no matter what color their skin is.
uses verbiage to obscure his racist leanings....his ad nauseum repetion of ill constructed thought processes is the reason for such low viewership...Just like clinton, mccain and palin spews appealed to the lowest common denominator are evidence of their core....
They lost and so do Dobbs/oreiley...
This subject is so politicized that it's difficult to discuss in a rational way, and the demagogues don't help. Obviously the US can't afford to subsidize the third world invading its borders without following due process, learning the laws and the language and becoming productive tax-paying citizens. Non-citizens need to stop demanding "rights" that they have not been accorded. At the same time, illegal immigrants that are here productively should not be demonized, and given temporary status as long as they pay taxes and leave after a predetermined timeframe. This is how the laws are now set up, it's a fair system that has been respected for generations and led to citizenship for people who are able to contribute to this country's accomplishments and traditions.
A huge issue around race is culture, and this includes a very real problem that started in California and is based in the "La Raza" ethic that is part of the Mexican Mafia "super gang" that was established in the California prisons and runs the drug trade, and much of the crime and gang activity that's also influenced directly from Mexico. There is a massive flux of drug money and corruption that is moving back and forth across our southern border because it is so profitable for folks who don't have citizenship, education or english language skills. It has also transmutated into a generational familial occupation, much to the horror of conservative Mexicans who originally moved here for temporary work and found their children being sucked into gangs.
These gangs pay taxes, but not to the US government. It goes to the leadership of these groups (operating out of California prisons) who are currently expanding their operations throughout the US for profit and more market penetration. The US doesn't see a penny of it, and instead spends billions trying to stop behavior instead of managing the problem. It results in millions of dollars being extracted from the US economy and being sent down to Mexico and South America, including to the corrupt officials in the Mexican government and the old landholding families that are still in control of the country (hence the weak government).
This points to an obvious need to legalize the drug trade and tax it instead of building an entire billion-dollar infrastructure (particularly the prisons) that doesn't work and simply perpetuates this thing. Not only that, it is the source of this racism that folks are arguing over, as well as the disastrous foreign policies between the US and its Latin American neighbors.
The drug use is not going to stop through repressive means, it's part of the human condition. We need to craft a real solution to this before the hate envelops all of us. Race/culture is a part of this immigration issue and should be dealt with constructively and intelligently, not with name-calling and accusations of prejudice.
Notice how Lou Dobbs is always confused and angry? I think he may be confused and angry...
mostly confused though.
I believe Lou was the first to drum home the issues of massive illegal immigration and the outsourcing of jobs and entire industries more than six years ago. It is my hope that those sheeples who swallow hook, line, and sinker that 'they come to do the jobs we Americans no longer do' that they will also experience the next two to three million who will eventually become unemployed. With approximately 7 - 8 million illegal job thieves within the continental borders of the USA, the depression will certainly mete out justice to those who think 7 - 8 million Americans cannot perform jobs which during the prior two-three decades paid above the going under-the-table sub-minimum wage in the United States. In fact, it will be poetic justice for them when they must train their H1-Bs and L1 visa holder replacements before getting any kind of severance package. The fact that most, but not all, of the jobs taken by illegal immigrants are of the lower paid classifications also explains why American teens have found part-time jobs within the fast food industry nearly impossible to secure the past several years. In the realm of the internet and its vast resources, willful ignorance as an excuse is not acceptable.
Dobbs is s hatemongering asshole, in the league of Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, et al. Not only do I now watch his show, if he's on anothre CNN show, I will immediately turn the channel.
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