Friday, April 19, 2013

What Caused the Second Boston Massacre?


[The First Boston Massacre - 1770]

Dogs are generally sweet lovable little guys and gals who love being petted, who protect our homes and children, and who can generally be persuaded to shit on our neighbors' lawns and not on ours.  Occasionally they bark too much or barf at inopportune times, occasionally one will bite someone, but we still enjoy having them around.

Most pit bulls are equally well-behaved and kindly.  It is rare for a pit bull to harm anyone.  It is rare for a pit bull to kill a child.  But when when one reads of a dog killing a small child that dog is not a poodle, nor a dachshund, nor a Labrador retriever.  It is a pit bull.

Few pit bulls ever harm anyone.  It is not fair to say that pit bulls harm children, nor is it true.  Most pit bulls are sweet good neighbors.  But it is also true that only pit bulls kill children.

So when Congress is deliberating what kinds of dogs to permit to be imported into the United States, should we import lots of pit bulls?  Or should we say, that as harmless as almost all pit bulls are, we should reduce or close the quota on pit bulls that may be imported, and increase the number of Saint Bernards and Irish setters that come in?

It would be unfair and unreasonable to discriminate among dogs already in the country, but as to importing them, shouldn't we limit the number of pit bull coming in from other countries?  We are bound to treat all dogs and their owners equally once in the country.  But we are under no such obligation as to dogs outside the country that are sought to be brought in.  As to which breeds we permit to be imported, we have nothing to consult except our national self-interest.  And it is not in our national interest to import pit bulls in preference to Afghans or foxhounds that might otherwise be imported in their stead.

This is true no matter how nice and sweet almost all pit bulls are after arriving.


Suppose we are not talking about importing dogs but people, about immigration.  There are as many nations in the world as there are breeds of dogs.  Which ones should we admit and which exclude or limit?

Once people are here it is unthinkable to us to discriminate against or among them.  But while they are living in their own countries seeking admission to ours, we are in no way bound to consider their interests but only our own.  We exclude people with communicable diseases, mental defectives, criminals, welfare dependents, addicts, alcoholics, and so on, not because it is fair but because it is in our interest.

It is true that, as with pit bulls, almost all Muslims are well-behaved honest citizens.  When bombs are placed at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, almost all Muslims are as horrified as anyone else.  But  just as when a child is killed by a dog, that dog is a pit bull, when people are massacred with bombs in Boston, the perpetrators are Muslims.

It would be unthinkable to discriminate against Muslims already in the US on the basis of the acts of a few.  But it is simply stupid to pretend there is no connection when we have seen the same pattern here and abroad over and over again.

People living abroad who seek admission to the US have no right to come here.  We choose which ones to admit and which to exclude.  Which ones we should admit is not an issue of fairness but of self-interest.  Reducing the number of people admitted from Muslim countries can and should be compensated by increases in the number of people admitted from China, India, the Philippines, Korea, Latin America, Africa, and so on.

People from those countries are just as law-abiding and kind and good citizens as immigrants from Muslim countries, but they do not come with the added cost of a handful of terrorists among them.

This is not rocket science and it is not likely that Washington does not see the obvious as well as anyone else.   One cannot help but wonder why the government would pursue such a policy.  The history of immigration policy in the US is a long sad tale of racism and bigotry from the McCarran Acts of the 1920's and on.   Minor reforms started only in the time of Lyndon Johnson and have progressed only slightly since then.  One cannot help but wonder what the reason might be for admitting so many from Muslim countries when so many from other countries are clamoring equally loudly for admission.

Given that racist history, one cannot help but wonder if part of the reason could be that Muslim countries west of Pakistan are predominantly white, while the peoples of India, China, the Philippines, Korea, Africa, and Latin America are not.

Call me a bleeding-heart liberal if you will, but I would rather see a Tiger Woods-colored America without bombs than a lily white country that pretends away its racism at the expense of seeing its citizens massacred.


8:45pm West Coast time.  
Now that they have arrested suspect #2 and have been more forthcoming about what authorities knew, my point is amplified and endorsed by events.  When the Russians told our government about the older brother Tamerlane, the FBI sent agents to talk to him.  Presumably they gave him the "We know all about you, we've got our eyes on you, so don't try anything or we will come down on you like a metric ton of bricks."  But having made the speech, there was nothing else they could do.  

We don't have preventive detention in the US.  Unless and until Tamerlane committed a crime our authorities could do nothing against him, even knowing how dangerous he was and how likely to commit a terrorist act (which is precisely what the Russians were warning us about).   Unless he violated the terms of his immigration status, they couldn't even deport him.  The only preventive measure open to the United States government would have been not to admit him to the US in the first place.   That would have worked.   But it wasn't what we did.

24 comments:

  1. Christy7:51 AM

    Ah Jack... This is so precious. The fact that the perpetrators of the Boston attack were Muslim seems have made your year. Yet another excuse for you to justify your callous racism.

    Your post is a carbon copy of the more subtle kind of anti semitic rants in 1930s Europe.

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  2. It is true that almost all Muslims would never think of committing a terrorist act. It is equally true that almost all terrorist acts are committed by Muslims. How many terrorist acts will it take for us to stop pretending otherwise?

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  3. Christy, I have often replied to your ignorant abuse by abusing you in return. I recently learned where you got your "Israel is a cancer" line. You got it right off the Irish television, from tv host Vincent Browne.. You quoted him verbatim. Your problem is not that you are an ignorant racist, though you are. Your problem is that you live in an ignorant racist country. Your part of it is that you are such a vulgar retard that you believe and internalize the very worst garbage you see on television. Why do you even bother to pretend that you are an autonomous being, when you clearly are merely a television-programmed automaton.

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  4. Christy11:55 AM

    Jack, even though I adore Vincent Browne I must confess I don't remember him having said that. I don't think I've watched television in months, though I occasionally download 'The Daily Show' on my laptop. (Jon Stewart is a Jew - guess I better go tell the American I most admire that I 'hate' him.)

    Your unhinged screed of hatred, completely divorced from reality, underlines the fact that you are the worst kind of parody of an ideologue, whose mere existence perpetuates racial animosity, sectarianism, and general hatred. You are the kind of person that causes war, genocide and pogroms. Your inability to deal with the real world as it is, a terrifying lack of pragmatism and an almost comically delusional worldview make you a very dangerous individual indeed.

    Added to all of this is your near psychopathic inability to self reflect on your own extreme positions, and your tendency to accuse those who hold even moderately sympathetic positions towards the Palestinian people in their struggle against colonialism as 'anti-semitic', mark you as the atypical saloon bar boor, the very worst excess of the American character, a living testimony that possessing wealth does not always suggest any significant intelligence is present.

    As a side note, I do enjoy your analysis of American politics generally (the reason why I continue to visit your blog from time to time), but when it comes to Israel and perceived 'anti-semitism', you are just about the kookiest and weirdest bloke on the internet.

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  5. Of course you adore Vincent Browne. He is the guy who was just censured by the Irish Broadcasting Authority for broadcasting racism but refused to recant. Instead he mumbled something about how it might have been inopportunely stated or such some such evasion. That is what people say when caught red-handed. Browne apparently is one of those who acts the tough guy, insulting and spewing slurs until someone he can't bully calls him out. TV3 was given 21 days to issue an apology.

    So there you are Christy - your hero, whom you listen to regularly, after both sides were heard, publicly condemned as a racist. You repeated the very phrase for which he was condemned as racist, quoted it verbatim.

    It is the considered judgment of the Irish Broadcasting Authority that those remarks are racist and are beneath the level of civilized discourse acceptable in Ireland. You quoted him verbatim and claim to adore hiim. What does that make you Christy?

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  6. Christy1:49 PM

    Nice evasion Jack. Care to go back to the point at hand?

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  7. You are failing to answer the question. That is the evasion here. Just how dishonest are you?

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  8. My God, will you two lovebirds just get a room!

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  9. Christy4:26 PM

    Jack, are you aware of how extreme and mad you seem?

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  10. He had one of my rooms for a summer a few years back and he vandalized it. Just one more example of his moral worthlessness.

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  11. Christy7:24 AM

    Ah, that old chestnut. No vandalism occurred. I seem to recall you accusing us of theft as well, which you later admitted was a lie. While we left the place in good condition overall, perhaps Jack should have had more realistic expectations when renting a house out to seven Irish students for a summer in California?

    I'd also like to add, in our defense, that he hadn't told us about the crazy lady living in the little granny flat next door.

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  12. Christy, do you even realize that your remark, "realistic expectations when renting a house to seven Irish students" is an admission that you and your little friends vandalized my house? Your proposition apparently is that I should have realized that Irish students are primitives and vandals and that that somehow makes it my fault that you and your friends damaged my property which I entrusted to you in good faith. That is an admission that you and your fellow Irish students are not fit to live among civilized people.

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  13. Christy, you're right. My comments are mad and extreme. So mad and extreme that they were adjudged by the Irish Broadcasting Authority to be beneath the minimum level acceptable in public discourse in Ireland. Wait, no that was you, wasn't it?

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  14. Anonymous4:17 PM

    I do find this most entertaining.
    Elaine

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  15. Both of you need someone to criticize besides each other.

    http://chickensoupfortheterroristsoul.blogspot.com/

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  16. Christy12:32 PM

    Jack, we did not vandalise the house. Ordinary people can judge by the tone of your blog and your general temperament how unlikely it is that you can accurately convey reality, so I don't feel any real desire to argue the point, seeing as it is self evidently ridiculous. I did keep the original email you sent to us after we looked for our deposit back - when I'm feeling a little depressed or down about myself, all I need to do is open that epic up to remind myself that at least I'm not a delusional old scrooge. My point about us being Irish students was that if you expected to come back and not find the odd cigarette butt knocking around the garden that we forget to pick up or whatever then you are, medically speaking, a moron.

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  17. Christy, I sent an email to one of you, the girl, about why I didn't return your deposit. In it I listed I think 71 things beyond normal wear and tear of occupancy that you little sweethearts did to my house. I had been warned not to rent to Irish students but I thought the fears were exaggerated and you all have such lovely accents. After renting to you and your friends I stand corrected. The 71 depredations were each and every one an expression of contempt for anyone else's property.

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  18. Christy11:51 AM

    The 71 depredations are mostly a figment of your imagination. For example, you lied and slandered us, accusing of stealing your music collection (Who the fuck buys CDs anymore anyway?). As far as I'm concerned you are delusional.

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  19. That would be why nobody rents to Irish students - because you vandalize the house then blithely deny having done it.

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  20. Christy12:36 PM

    Jack, I could make a comment about the stingy Jew refusing to give college kids their deposit back, but it would be in bad taste. Why is it ok for you to make generalised racist comments? Don't you realise this makes you look like an obnoxious dickhead who can't get laid?

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  21. Christy7:44 AM

    P.S - I've said it before, but if the house was really as bad as you say, maybe it was because of the crazy lady next door (Who used to wander around the house and move things about when we weren't there!)

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  22. So between being vandals and liars, you no longer even bother to deny your racism.

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  23. Anonymous4:34 PM

    Jack, I think you should lead a movement to boycott Irish goods and limit visitation and immigration. It will keep you busy.

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  24. Christy, I have said before and I will say again that I will not publish racist abuse. As to your inevitable cries of "censorship", go bother someone interested in listening to your childishness.

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