The entire mess over SB1070 and the dilemma of what to do about illegal immigrants reminds me of Shirley Jackson’s controversial short story, The Lottery. The story is about a town where the citizens have been manipulated into believing that their lottery is a good thing, that it is fair. And everyone gets very excited about the annual practice of stoning the lottery “winner” to death. This year America’s lottery “winners” are illegal immigrants.
It is astonishing that so many people who support SB1070 can’t see that they are being manipulated. These otherwise rational people apparently don’t have the ability to perceive that they are being played. But I wonder, why can’t they see that individuals seeking either election/re-election or increased viewer ratings are manipulating information and appealing to primal fears simply because they know it works? Why can’t they see through the false outrage of people whose only allegiance is to their own vested interest — public office or higher poll ratings?
Don’t they realize that laws like SB1070 endanger the freedom of their fellow Americans as much, if not more, than they threaten illegal immigrants? Why are SB1070 supporters so willing to throw their fellow Americans – who may look or “act” foreign – under the bus? For the sake of…what? So that they may feel superior? So that they may feel entitled to the “specialness” of their citizenship? How special is a citizenship that would forfeit the rights of that citizenship to another citizen in the name of “cracking down” on illegitimate interlopers? Worse, how special is a citizenry that would allow themselves to be manipulated just so they can persecute a scapegoat?
How is this not nauseatingly just like Jackson’s ominous parable?