This may or may not be part of a series on stupid liberal and conservative political memes, but let’s just assume it is so the title makes sense.
The Meme: No One is Illegal on Stolen Land
No One is Illegal On Stolen Land Courtesy of Woke Folks
In other words, its hypocritical to get angry about illegal immigration when the people objecting are themselves the descendants of illegal immigrants.
The Stupid Part
We as a nation are acting like a bunch of racist, murdering douchebags when it comes to immigration. The stupid part of this meme has nothing to do with my opposition to our country’s current immigration policies — which are incoherent at best and evil at worst. The stupid part is that it just doesn’t make any damn sense. Why?
- Literally Everyone is Illegal on Stolen Land. That’s what stolen means. If it was stolen, then the people on it are illegal. If they’re not illegal, it wasn’t stolen (from an historical perspective).
- It Accepts the Derogation of Human Beings to “Illegals”. In other words, being an illegal immigrant shouldn’t brand you an “Illegal” as if the rest of your identify is irrelevant. It is dehumanizing and racist, and most liberals (who presumably like this meme / shirt / concept) seem to agree with this… until it appears on Facebook in a way that sounds neat.
- It Completely Contradicts other Liberal Messaging. I don’t necessarily agree with the messaging, but most liberal comments that I see online these days states pretty clearly that immigration should be more, largely or entirely legal and free. Depending on how far you take this logic, there are two different ways the meme contracts this logic:
- If Immigration Should be Regulated (at All). Then we are accepting the logic that immigration can be morally regulated, and thus that some people who immigrate do so illegally. If that is the case, than this meme / tee shirt is a complete contradiction because it implies no such regulation is valid.
- If Immigration Should NOT be Regulated. Then we are accepting the logic that infinite, unregulated immigration is fine and thus it shouldn’t be any problem that European colonists immigrated here hundreds of years ago. The only problem is how they did it. Is that really the liberal position now? I doubt it.
- It Completely Ignores Historical Context. I’m all for intersectionalism. I completely agree that a country founded on immigration shouldn’t be such hypocritical nutbags. But let’s remember where we are. Most immigrants that we’re talking about are Latinx from South and Central America — who are the descendants of Spanish and Portuguese colonists who slaughtered Native Americans everywhere they went. This means northern Native American genocide perpetuated by murdering, raping Northern European colonists is being used to justify unlimited immigration northward by Southern European (murdering, raping) colonists’ descendants because this is somehow going to make the plight of Native Americans in the USA better. It’s insane. If you’re in the Western Hemisphere and you’re not a Native American, you are part of the problem. Sure, it might feel like solidarity to randomly point your finger at Caucasians like the guy from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, but it makes no logical sense. Colonists are colonists, regardless of skin color.
A (More) Logical Comparison of Old and New Immigration Courtesy of Google Images
Why does it matter? I don’t know; I just hate Group Think. So, here’s my suggestion for a better immigration meme:
If we don’t agree on that, the rest is bullshit.
Peace.
***
Previous Meme: Immigrants and Farm Labor
Rivka
Most of the people forced to flee war in South and Central America are either indigenous or mestizo. Not all, but they’re far more likely to be forced to flee because of poverty and discrimination. There are lots of European colonists in South and Central America, and lots of them in the United States identify as “Latino” and support Republicans because they are essentially white. But most immigrants who are forced to flee their country are going to be at least partially indigenous, if not fully (many of the immigrants arriving at the border are even actual speakers of indigenous languages like Nahuatl or Maya).