*** Official Politics Shitposting Thread ***

[MadMojoMonkey]

FWIW, BananaStand is an ethnocentrist, not a racist, IMO.

I don't think the assessment that he's racist holds up to any of his assertions, and I can understand why he's upset at the accusation.

From what I can tell, if someone doesn't want to adopt his culture, that's the line he's drawn. If it happens to correspond to skin color, then that's a coincidence. He doesn't want Mexicans crossing the border. Mexican is not a race; Mexicans are all races. The majority of them are brown, but plenty are white or black, too.

[BananaStand]

From what I can tell, if someone doesn't want to adopt his culture, that's the line he's drawn

I don't know how you're concluding this. What do you mean by culture? What do you mean by "adopt"?

I support an immigration policy based on merit. And I'm not advocating for unattainable standards of merit either. Do you have job prospects? Are you a criminal? That's really all I care about. The only culture-related requirement I might suggest is that they speak english. And that's really more about practical functionality of our economic, academic, and political systems. But I think that's a pretty long way from ethnocentrism.

Where I've drawn the line, is between what I perceive to be fair, and unfair.

For example I mentioned language. If everyone speaks the same language, then everyone has the same access to information, the same access to education, etc. That's fair.

When a large population of people refuses to speak english, and essentially demands that our system provide bi-lingual access, at the system's cost, then that's unfair.

If there are people working "under the table" because they're undocumented...that's unfair

If those same people expect free education and medicaid for their children born here, that's unfair.

I believe Oskar's policy of coddling brown families at the Mexican border, while happily punting a white baby back over the Canadian border is unfair. I think babies of all colors should get punted back to the social services departments in their home countries. That's fair, no?

If immigrants travelling with children are given a free pass while those travelling alone are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law...that's unfair.

I'm not sure what the number might be, but America does have a capacity for new immigrants. It is something that they at least try to control. I'm sure there are plenty of folks abroad just aching to get into America that are being delayed or denied access. Giving preferential treatment to immigrants at the Mexican border, merely due to physical proximity, is unfair.

One thing I do have a problem with, is business that close for things like Chinese New Year, or Cinco de Mayo. Maybe you could call that ethnocentrism, but I actually think it's something else. I find it kind of insulting really. Like, if Mexican Independence Day makes you feel patriotic enough to blow off work, why the fuck did you leave Mexico in the first place? We already have an independence day in America. It's when we celebrate the freedom that allows an immigrant to live, think, and work peacefully in the most prosperous nation on earth. No love for that though....it's just party-it-up on May 5th.

That probably sounds ethnocentric, but to me its not.

Let's say you're at someone's house for dinner. They serve ham. And you show up and say "nah, I actually don't like ham, but I've got a pizza coming, so I'll stay anyway". To me, that's called being a dick. Either eat the fucking ham, or don't come over. Not liking people who are dicks is not the same as ethnocentrism.

[OngBonga]

It's not like ordering pizza at some guy's dinner party. More like a few of the boys sneaking outside for a spliff, then coming back expecting another glass of wine.