Muslim Parade and Immigration History

Technorati Profile

Recently I joined other concerned Americans at the Muslim Parade here in NYC. I found out about it throuh Atlas of atlasshrugs.com. It was put together by americansagainsthate.org and the stop the maddrassas coalition had considerable numbers of people there. But as I was interviewed I came to realize that I was not clear as to why I was there. I came with no group and represented no one other than an average American - myself.

As interviews rolled on, I became more focused. One interview which was aired shows this. It can be found at http://www.1010wins.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=990247 (though they misidentify me as Lee, not Johnny P.). As the interview shows the main positive message I could get out was that we should stop muslim immigration now. As in Culturism, I use the pragmatic reasoning that we stand to lose very much, by way of terrorism, and to gain very little by continued Muslim immigration. More philosophically, I mentioned that we are not under any moral obligation to let them into our country. As evidence I noted that they do not let us into theirs. We have a right and a duty to make cost - benefit calculations when deciding policy. We are not bound by international rights which do not exist.

This, in fact, is our tradition. Interviewers asked if we are not defined as the land that never discriminates and always allows immigrants. People do not know basic history. In 1924 the Johnson - Reed Immigration Act basically stopped immigration to this country until 1965. And it did so on the basis of Culturist discrimination. From the late 19th century until the 1924 Act there were terrorist bombings across America. The Palmer raids to deport dangerous aliens happened because two bombs were ignited infront of Attorney General Palmer's home, for example. Everyone knew that the Anarchist and terrorist bombing was done by Eastern and Southern Europeans (Jews and Italians). The cultures that they carried over had revolution in their rhetoric. And so the 1924 Act targeted those populations. It said immigration numbers would reflect the percentage of the population in 1890 (going back to a more Western European centered demography).

So this is not the first time we have encountered a culture immigrating that condoned terrorism. Again, not all did - my great grandparents for example - but the calculation was made as to what we gained by allowing more in versus what we risked by keeping them out. We decided our nation was full enough and pulled up the drawbridge. After that - lo and behold - people assimilated and terrorism (even during the Great Depression) disappeared. Those who do not remember the past do not learn lessons from their past. Those who control the past, Orwell said, control the future. We must remember our basic history to know what our traditions and options are. For the time being our tradition says stop Islamic immigration until we can document that the number of attempted terrorist attacks a year on our soil have stabilized at zero.