The longer I live, the more the world resembles a Firesign Theater skit. Complete with Whisperin' Squash. George Will points to the twisted rhetorical tricks being used to "frame" the debate over illegal immigration: What shadows?
The immigration debate, which may become even more heated when Congress reconvenes after getting an earful from constituents during the Memorial Day recess, would be confusing enough without today's fog of careless language. Journalism and political rhetoric about immigration are ludicrously reliant on the trope "out of the shadows."
At the announcement of the compromise legislation, Ted Kennedy said it would bring illegal immigrants "out of the shadows." The next day, the lead paragraph of The Washington Post's page-one news story said the compromise would bring illegal immigrants "out of society's shadows." The White House fact sheet said, earnestly but ungrammatically, that under the legislation, "The undocumented worker comes out of the shadows to acknowledge they [sic] have broken the law."
This rhetoric reached comic absurdity when CNN interviewed Chuy Arias of Los Angeles. He said on camera that he has been here illegally for 12 years. Referring to him, with the delicacy that serves a political agenda, as an "undocumented worker," today's synonym for "illegal immigrant," CNN's reporter said Arias was eager to "come out of the shadows."
So, Arias can simultaneously be "in the shadows" and discussing his illegal status on worldwide television. Who knew?
This is right along the same double-speak lines as the lefties who claim they are being silenced. On national television, the cover of 20 magazines and in their new documentary, in theaters soon! But that dishonesty is all over the media these days. Face it, a shadow big enough to hide 12 million or so would be pretty noticeable. Will also points to the unintended consequences of enabling scofflaw behaviors:
"Protecting one form of lawbreaking may require protecting others as well. The city of Maywood in Los Angeles County declared itself a sanctuary zone for illegal aliens this year. Then it got rid of its drunk-driving checkpoints, because they were nabbing too many illegal aliens. Next, this 96 percent Latino city, almost half of whose adult population lacks a ninth-grade education, disbanded its police traffic division entirely, so that illegals wouldn't need to worry about having their cars towed for being unlicensed."
Think about that. Back from the shadows, indeed.
