Every once in a while, all the negative discourse about undocumented immigration (mainly from Mexico and Central America) just gets to me and I shut down. I’ve read books and articles. I know facts and figures and can rattle them off if needed. But I’ll choose not to engage with those who harbor views on immigration diametrically opposed to my own. It’s a waste of time, I rationalize. I worry that I’ll just end up wasting precious time on someone unwilling to even listen.
I probably wouldn’t engage with a member of the Minutemen(sos). In fact, I supported UCLA students when they protested outside of a debate which brought the president of the California chapter to campus. The event was shut down because of worries about security. The student group eventually held the event last Tuesday, while all the students who would be likely to protest a member of the Minutemen(sos) speaking on campus were too busy with the May Day immigration rights marches and rallies across town.
But there are people who ask the hard questions and do engage in those conversations.
María Hinojosa, an award winning journalist with PBS’s NOW on the News and NPR’s Latino USA, is one of those people. She interviewed the founder and president of the Minutemen(sos), Chris Simcox. She asks him tough questions he can’t seem to answer without resorting to soundbites about criminals and terrorism. Simcox comes out of the interview looking like quite the menso. Hinojosa’s interview with Simcox reminded me of a clip from an episode of Penn & Teller Bullshit! show on the Showtime network. In the clip, they take on the Minutemen(sos) with less journalistic objectivity and more humor and profanity.
María Hinojosa is my hero. I want to be like her when I grow up. En serio.
Download the Hinojosa/Simcox podcast here. To watch the Penn & Teller clip, check youtube.
[Note: Thanks to Mex Files for writing about the Hinojosa interview. I wouldn't have ever known about it without their post on the subject.]
Penn & Teller clips are great -they are such faithful Libertarians…their episodes on the BS of the environmental movement (especially recycling, something I don’t participate in) and their attack on the ‘war on drugs’ are also classics.
I hate the minutemen (the name itself is insulting, as it compares immigrants to the British during the revolution) just as much as the next guy, but doesn’t it bother you when a talk gets canceled ‘because of worries about security’, especially on a University campus? Say what you will about the Minutemen, but a University campus is where opposing views are supposed to be presented. I would be against any protest that caused a communist, anti-semite, or even a nazi speaker to cancel her talk. Freedom of speech is only real freedom when you allow those that disagree with you to talk. Everybody, even communists, allow those that they agree with to talk…
WOW, María Hinojosa sure knows how to keep her composure. There were a few points where Simcox’s answers became annoying and just plain ridiculous. I agree with HP about allowing someone like this guy (or anyone) to present his views, b/c (
WOW, María Hinojosa sure knows how to keep her composure. There were a few points where Simcox’s answers became annoying and just plain ridiculous. I agree with HP about allowing someone like this guy (or anyone) to present his views, b/c (read: as long as) it allows others to put their reasoning and validity to the test; and in cases like this, they show that they are easily debunked with the type of solid questioning that Hinojosa provided.
HP,
I don’t have much sympath for the poor Minutemen(sos) or the fact that the debate was postponed. I mean, it’s not like there’s any shortage of media attention for them or that I don’t know where they stand on the issue. The event was shut down because the students organizing it didn’t plan well enough. The students protesting the event were peaceful. If you’re going to bring a controversial speaker from an organization that hunts Mexicans, then you should be prepared for people to be upset about it. Also, there were many people who didn’t think the Minutemen(sos)’s message was hate speech and had no place here.
R.,
I’m sure that composure comes after many interviews with controversial figures. The thing about the MM is that they already have tons of opportunities to present their views. And dude, don’t start sentences with “I agree with HP”… it’s a bad idea.