The Dark Side of Diversity?!?!?!?

*  I hate to give this guy any more play, but I can't control my RAGE.  While reading this great blog, RACIALICIOUS, I saw a referenced link to an op ed piece by my brother in Christ, Pat Buchanan.  Yes, again, hate to give this guy any more play, but O . . . M . . . G . . . .!

Mr. Buchanan, in his piece, "The Dark Side of Diversity" has, in my opinion, crossed the line yet again, in this case as he responds to the VTech shootings.  First . . . he infers that there is something wrong with having a gun-free university.

Little attention has been paid to the Richmond legislators who voted to make "Hokie Nation," a Middle American campus of 26,000 kids, a gun-free zone where only the madman had a semi-automatic.

I can hear myself in about 8 years, "Yes, Ev, here is your laptop, meal card, clean socks and 9mm Glock!  No have fun in college, and remember be sure to be ready to shoot someone if the situations presents itself. And Jesus loves you!"   Because if we all had guns, gun violence would stop, just like nuclear weapons . . .

He then goes on to not just infer, but to basically say that we should stop immigration because THAT was the reason Seung-Hui Cho (BTW, this Americanized way of using his name is what his family prefers.) committed the atrocities he did.  What the frackin' frack?!?!?!?

Almost no attention has been paid to the fact that Cho Seung-Hui was not an American at all, but an immigrant, an alien. Had this deranged young man who secretly hated us never come here, 32 people would heading home from Blacksburg for summer vacation.
What was Cho doing here? How did he get in?
Cho was among the 864,000 Koreans here as a result of the Immigration Act of 1965, which threw the nation's doors open to the greatest invasion in history, an invasion opposed by a majority of our people. Thirty-six million, almost all from countries whose peoples have never fully assimilated in any Western country, now live in our midst.
Cho was one of them.

Now I understand humanity's need to understand and explain every bad thing that happens in the world, but this is freaking ridiculous.  The logic is not only baffling, but it is downright scary.  As if we can boil this tragedy down to ONE or TWO or THREE reasons for happening.   As we will ever KNOW?!?!?!?

While, I am sure we all do this to some extent, I think this is an incredibly irresponsible and dangerous use of a situation to perpetuate one's own beliefs no matter how illogical.

I would challenge anyone who wants to so easily put the blame of such things squarely on the back of an entire single demographic reality to watch out because who knows when that demographic will be you.

And for those - including myself at times - who think that this stuff doesn't matter, will have no effect or is not worth our energy to fight, I am reminded of the poem by Pastor Martin Niemöller who wrote "First they came . . ."

They came first for the Communists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for the trade unionists,

and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Catholics,

and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me,

and by that time no one was left to speak up.

* My favorite picture of my Filipino-side immigrant grandparents, Esteban and Marie (De Los) Reyes

Comments

[e cho]

Scary stuff. And for people that criticize Asian-Americans for racializing the Va Tech tragedy, it's because we there's always folks like Pat who say and believe this stuff.

[breyeschow]

Yeah, so many have said, "Don't racialize it. You're only creating something out of nothing." Sorry, but the scarier part is that Pat has a following and I think some who would not claim his brand of radicalism, also hold some parts of his thinking.

[lauren]

A poem written about the Holocaust, but universally applicable that I thought of when I read the poem you posted: http://www.propertyrightsresearch.org/articles6/hangman_by_maurice_o.htm

[breyeschow]

Wow L, a little intense, but powerful.

[LT]

funny. when i read that article my first reaction also was "what the frakkin frak?!" i guess people are looking for answers but he's essentially blaming everyone who's an immigrant. what about all the frakin americans that committ crazy unspeakable atrocities. yes what occured at vt was a horrible event but truth is innocent people die senselessly in south philly in broad daylight like almost every week. where's the tears for them? new immigrants tend to get picked on here by "americans." they get overlooked. they get taken advantage of. then there's the violence people face everyday in iraq. do we pause to think how horrible that is? ok i'll stop now. i've been angry since i've read that article. grrr. i shake my fist.

[Erik Christensen]

I don't think anything after the second paragraph contains a hint of truth or intellectual honesty. Either Pat Buchanan is a moron, or likes to rile up morons with ill-conceived and racist logic, or both. Some people will agree with him, and that is frightening.

I will say, however, that even if you disagree with the gun-control point in the first two paragraphs, it is not AS ridiculous. I don't think it is demonstrably false that concealed carry laws have a deterrent effect on crime (i.e. they may have no effect, but I don't think anyone knows for sure). And actually, nuclear weapons are a good example: they are not used because the retaliation consequences are too great. Yes, life would be safer if guns (and nuclear weapons) didn't exist, but that's no longer an option. Just throwing in my two cents for an actual "conservative" argument, not the crap that Buchanan is spewing.

Of course, Buchanan is probably wrong factually, because I would bet campus security had access to "semi-automatic" weapons which I believe includes most handguns used today.

[Erik Christensen]

To clarify, "second paragraph" refers to Buchanan's article, not Bruce's post! :)

[daniel so]

What a ridiculous person. I made the mistake of following the link to the article and reading some of the comments. It sickens me that so many "Christians" harbor such terrible hatred barely under the surface. While systemic racism is probably the larger issue, personal prejudice and racial hatred is, unfortunately, alive and well.

It almost sounds like Robertson is trying to incite violence against Korean people -- "Hey, we didn't want them here in the first place; they invaded us and now look what they've done -- you know what to do..."

I'm reminded of the Imus debacle -- I kept hearing these kinds of people demanding to know why they were not allowed to use racial epithets in reference to others. My question is why they wanted to use these words so badly.

Ugh. Grr. Frakkity frak.

[gar]

Yeah, I saw this article too... bad stuff. my post from yesterday:

http://2besureofwhatwehope4.blogspot.com/2007/05/dangerous-diversity-dry-cleaner-defense.html

[kristen]

just a point of clarification, that was Pat BUCHANAN, not Robertson.

I know, same diff...

[kristen]

what about timothy mcveigh? the unabomber? dylan and whathisname at columbine?

amerika is divided enough without blaming all the immigrants for the actions of an individual. if he really wants to play that card, ALL white people immigrated here at some point.

guilty by association, reminds me of Christianity, though...

[breyeschow]

LT and Daniel - the most interesting thing about your responses is the use of "Frak" - Battlestar Galactica fans in the HOUSE!

Eric - Darn you for your levelheadedness and willingness to bring in other views, though you did go to the point of calling Pat a moron, which I love!

Daniel - Yeah, the comments on his original post are almost even scarier.

Kristen - AMEN!

[Wayne]

wow.. that is some.. doodoo.. I had to link that to my page, it was pretty upsetting. Visited your church site and love what I saw... I need to visit next time in the area
Blessings, a fellow coffee lover
Wayne

[breyeschow]

Wayne - thanks for stopping by. Please be sure to schedule some coffee time the next time you are in SF . . . and yes "doodoo" is one this he is ;-)