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• Sunday, April 30, 2006 09:21 PM

  Racism = Nationality?

  So, now being a citizen of a "first world" country is racist? That seems to be the contention of this article - that immigration laws are the new apartheid? Amazing how this just happens to coincide with the immigration "rights" protests in the USA!

  As long as we are at it - why not eliminate intellectual property rights? - I mean, the idea that people in "the third world" should actually respect and pay for intellectual property (patents, entertainment) is also a real burden that should also be eliminated. I mean - why should someone in Cancun, Mexico pay attention to things invented in Tucson, Arizona?

  Well, there can be an equally valid argument made that local cultures might be responsible for some of the economic misery that bedevils most of the world’s population. So, the idea of resisting some cultural baggage might be perhaps a bit valid. (Note the word “some” - that does mean not all of them) You really want the levels of corruption found in Africa or Central America brought to your town? I don't think that is racist. Perhaps many of the people that leave those places are running away for their own benefit.

  This is not just a "first world" problem too - look at the economic disparity between the rural and urban worlds in China and India. You need a permit to move in at least one of those places - is that "apartheid" too?

  How about the reverse argument? - That many the places cited need to bring a little more of the cultures that are successful into their sphere to globalize the labor AND rules that make it work. Try that first - and see if the disparity between salaries shrinks

  —Ironclad Read Ironclad's other letters
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