Here we go again. People stimulated by the anonymity of crowds and wanting to express a level of anger that they can't really explain in calm, logical terms, are breaking out that arch symbol of hate, the NAZI swastika. The latest event to see the crooked cross was an anti-Arizona rally held in Los Angeles, depicting Arizona governor Jan Brewer, as Hitler. Her crime? Signing a bill passed by the Arizona legislature and supported by 70% of the people of Arizona attempting to deal with the illegal immigration crisis in that state. Nothing new here actually; swastikas have been deployed by morons on the Left against George Bush for years and more recently they showed up at a Tea Party rally demonizing President Obama. In all probability those enamored of the swastika are seriously challenged on actual knowledge of the National Socialist movement in Germany in the 1930s and '40s. They just know it symbolizes something really bad and probably associate it with bald headed guys with tattoos who live in Idaho. Nonetheless it is rhetorical irresponsibility and stimulates the kind of hate it symbolizes.
Pro-immigration “rallies” in Vista and Santa Cruz, California turned into riots on May 1st, as mobs used their anger at Arizona to rationalize vandalizing businesses. Public officials and media commentators encourage this nonsense by referring to the Arizona law's provision for police to ask for documentation if there is a "reasonable suspicion" that an individual is an illegal alien, as "NAZI like demands to, Show me your papers." Recently, President Obama, to his credit, called for an end to hyper-anger and over the top condemnation by both the radical Left and Right. This no doubt fell on deaf ears of both those extremes but the policy debate in this country that is so important to the democratic process is in indeed in tatters.
Opposition to the Arizona legislation will be resolved in the courts. The first lawsuit has already been filed and it is an absolute certainty that ACLU whose self appointed mission is to protect us from the application of common sense and ourselves, will file their own law suits. There is also a reasonable probability that the "offending" "papers" section of the legislation will be tossed by one or more courts. That of course won't satisfy the pro-immigration advocates and they will press for the complete nullification of the legislation in it's entirety. Whatever the outcome, that is the proper procedure for resolving political differences and reasonable people of all political persuasions should discourage the use of symbols of past hate from being used as tools of present hate.
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