Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
- "The New Colossus", Emma Lazarus, 1883
It's no surprise that we live in tumultuous times. For the Americans among us, you may be aware of this election season. It has been hailed as beeing one of the most consequential elections in American history, as there are movements in the shadows who seek to overthrow the democratic ideals of the nation.
Democracy, this funny word. What is democracy? Is it the rule of the people by the people? We say we live in a democratic republic. A government where the masses are represented by elected officials. Elected being the key word of the day here. There's been a lot of talk of "election fraud" coming from Conservatives recently. They claim things like undocumented immigrants are voting en masse to disrupt American elections. One has to stop and wonder if there are any cold, hard facts about this claim.
They like to peddle around this idea that immigrants are coming in and "stealing" American jobs. Or that immigrants are lazy and rely on government handouts. Or that immigrants are killing everyone. Again, where are the facts for these statements? I believe what I see, and what I see is that these immigrants are coming here in search of a better life just like you and I and everyone else. They go to work, working the jobs that I don't see any keyboard warrior lining up to fill. You ever see a 4Chan user who decries immigrants waking up at 4 in the morning to work 12 hours of manual labor?
The immigrants and children of immigrants are some of the hardest working people I've seen. Because they've seen true, abject despair and poverty. They've seen what really lies beyond small inconveniences at supermarkets or traffic jams. They know the work.
The reason -- the only real reason for this hate against immigrants today is because they don't look like your average white American. But the funny thing about it is that there were times in American history where even white people didn't look like "your average white American." There were times when the Irish and the Germans were also looked down on because they were "the outsiders." And if those folks aren't white...well then I guess none of us are, really. Because that's about as white as you can get.
No, because hatred is addictive. And much like any other drug-addict, it leaves the user wanting for more. It feels good to hate, especially when you feel like you have lost a sense of control over your life. It feels good to channel your frustrations towards something, and even more so when that something has a physical form. So Conservatives get angry at the immigrants because it feels good to get angry. They get angry at those who don't worship their same god. They get angry at education, for trying to understand and progress our world. They get angry at the world for changing. But most of all, they are angry at themselves for being unable to find the happiness that even these tempest-tost immigrants are able to find in the dourest of conditions.