austriacus
Registered Users (C)
constructus, I'll remind you again that our discussion about Lou Dobbs, illegal immigration, the role of LPRs in US public policy would probably not have ensued, had you not insisted on a detailed explanation on my "Lou Dobbish" statements and views. By the way I wouldn't have characterized it as "BS," neither your nor my comments, I think they were all well thought out. As far as the impact of our discussion to this thread is concerned, I don't worry too much because someone can learn a lot from the first 2000 posts in this thread. I think it is to be expected that the discussion diverges here after many of the original contributors in this thread were done with the GC process. I'm sure the thread will become more focused again in Spring 2009 when I-751 filing will become a topic form May 2007 filers... if it survives until then!
I strive to be objective when interpreting personal attacks; reminding one person to not personally attack doesn't mean I condone other's personal attacks. The issue of personal attacks is a little complicated, because a lot of it is interpretation. I didn't feel attacked by "Lou Dobbish" because of my positive connotations of Lou Dobbs, however someone with negative connotations of the same person could interpret it as an attack (therefore I was careful to describe my support of Lou Dobbs' ideas in detail in the subsequent discussion); and here is where I will agree with you that someone could have misinterpreted my statements about the Spanish language to be offensive "hate speech" if they interpreted it in such a way, however they ought to give me the benefit of the doubt as to what I actually meant.
I tend to give less weight to personal attacks that arise out of discussion or are related to the topic of discussion. Clearly, statements were made by Praetorian and you that I wouldn't have said this way, although I could see what the motivation and intended meaning of the language was for both of you. I didn't comment about personal attacks until some personal attacks that I perceived to be completely unrelated to the prior discussions were made.
Now returning to our discussion on Lou Dobbs, I don't share your sentiment that Lou Dobbs blames everything on Mexicans. He does single out Mexican immigration, probably because he believes it's the largest share of illegal immigrants and/or because the largest share of illegal immigration is across the US-Mexican border; but I don't think that makes him a racist. In fact he usually singles out governments (often US and Mexican), organizations (often catholic church, ACLU), and U.S. employers/industries in his discussion of the causes of illegal immigration. I don't see him blaming a certain people. Now, about why he's much more outraged when an illegal immigrant commits a crime, I think it's because of his reporting focus; as I recall he does present statistics quite often that crime rates within the illegal immigrant population are higher than in the general population, but I have not researched this myself so can't speak to it.
I appreciate the nice things you've said about me. About not being sarcastic, I am but I just hold myself back out of my own choice.
I know we all are from so many diverse backgrounds that jokes can easily be misunderstood.
I strive to be objective when interpreting personal attacks; reminding one person to not personally attack doesn't mean I condone other's personal attacks. The issue of personal attacks is a little complicated, because a lot of it is interpretation. I didn't feel attacked by "Lou Dobbish" because of my positive connotations of Lou Dobbs, however someone with negative connotations of the same person could interpret it as an attack (therefore I was careful to describe my support of Lou Dobbs' ideas in detail in the subsequent discussion); and here is where I will agree with you that someone could have misinterpreted my statements about the Spanish language to be offensive "hate speech" if they interpreted it in such a way, however they ought to give me the benefit of the doubt as to what I actually meant.
I tend to give less weight to personal attacks that arise out of discussion or are related to the topic of discussion. Clearly, statements were made by Praetorian and you that I wouldn't have said this way, although I could see what the motivation and intended meaning of the language was for both of you. I didn't comment about personal attacks until some personal attacks that I perceived to be completely unrelated to the prior discussions were made.
Now returning to our discussion on Lou Dobbs, I don't share your sentiment that Lou Dobbs blames everything on Mexicans. He does single out Mexican immigration, probably because he believes it's the largest share of illegal immigrants and/or because the largest share of illegal immigration is across the US-Mexican border; but I don't think that makes him a racist. In fact he usually singles out governments (often US and Mexican), organizations (often catholic church, ACLU), and U.S. employers/industries in his discussion of the causes of illegal immigration. I don't see him blaming a certain people. Now, about why he's much more outraged when an illegal immigrant commits a crime, I think it's because of his reporting focus; as I recall he does present statistics quite often that crime rates within the illegal immigrant population are higher than in the general population, but I have not researched this myself so can't speak to it.
I appreciate the nice things you've said about me. About not being sarcastic, I am but I just hold myself back out of my own choice.
I know we all are from so many diverse backgrounds that jokes can easily be misunderstood.
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