Sunday, December 16, 2018

A Question for Racist Tucker

Tucker Carlson, the Fox pundit most beloved by white supremacists, went on a classic racist rant about immigrants making our country dirtier: "We have a moral obligation to admit the world's poor, they tell us, even if it makes our own country poorer, and dirtier, and more divided."

If immigrants are making our country dirtier, why are they the people doing all of the cleaning jobs? In the 19th century, the Irish immigrant domestic worker was common in the Northeast, when young women island due to famine, poverty, the difficulty of obtaining the dowries necessary for marriages. Now, Latin American and Eastern European domestic workers are common, and many commercial cleaning contractors are staffed in the main by immigrants from El Mundo Latino. Work late, and Roberto and Maria, Cesar and Lourdes will be coming into the office to empty the garbage receptacles and vacuum the carpets. Throughout the history of the country, African-American domestic workers have worked in the homes of the well to do, and the trope of the Southern patriarch who hates the majority of black people while loving the black nanny (one of the 'good ones') is a hoary one.

On a somewhat related note, Paul Ryan wants to provide more work visas for Irish people. I live in a neighborhood with a lot of Irish immigrants, many of them working in the construction or hospitality industry. I have to note that these Irish immigrants tend to be a lot more liberal than the average American- Ireland voted overwhelmingly to legalize abortion and same-sex marriage. The modern Irish immigrant isn't trapped in a 'toora loora loora' timewarp, he or she probably aligns more with former bartender Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez than with Paul Ryan.

I figure I should post a video here, and can think of no better song than Black 47's Living in America, in which my great and good friend Mary Courtney memorably poses the question "Is this what I was educated for, to wipe the arse of every baby in America?"





It's nativist assholes like Tucker Carlson who dirty this country by polluting people's minds.