"Let the choas begin"

(I found a few articles to work with and I read them and noted the important parts and I still have a mixed view for this topic, so I’m probably going to contradict myself quite a few times throughout this blog, so just go with it and yell at me later.)

The first article I found, “An immigration parable” written by Pat Boone had some valid points, but had inaccurate information (at least some of it seemed that way). The article called a parable “virtually the same thing” as a fable; however, (having just learned this last chapter in my library science class called resources for children and as honors comp takes place in the same room as this class I decided to note the inaccuracy) a fable has “animal characters that talk and act like humans to indicate a moral lesson or satirize human conduct.” A parable on the other hand, (according to Merriam-Webster online) is a “fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or religious principle.” These two are not similar and the story that the writer tells seems to be more of an extended metaphor and includes lots of hyperbole. This makes is hard to consider much of the information in the article as fact, such as the amount of “illegal immigrants” seems higher than other sources approximate it at (12 – 14 million people). The way that the “parable” criticizes the “guest worker” program shows some valid points, such as the way the program is structured and the chaos that may ensue if such a program is put into place. However, the argument was looked at form one side only (a very Republican side too), nothing was presented as a possible alternative; the articles sole purpose was the say to just get the illegal immigrants out. However, this is the view of many Americans, especially considering that the “parable” was quoted form someone else before it was printed.

After reading the second article I noticed that we are only looking at immigration from Mexico in this issue and disregarding the bigger picture with immigration from other countries too. The is currently a case going on that deals with a “Chinese asylum claim” to decide whether we should provide asylum for Chinese families that have more than one child and aren’t in the farming industry. The article talks about Jian Hui Shao who has been living in the United States about four years. This case is currently in the Appeals Court and relates greatly to the part Mexican part of the immigration issue. Should families that are seeking “asylum” or basically all of them be allowed to stay in the United States? This article also proves that it isn’t just Mexican immigrants that are crossing borders illegally; people of other nationality have also done this. This case is actually going to the Supreme Court; this is what the Board of Immigration Appeals decided.

The third article that I read was about comments that Gov Schwarzenegger made about immigration. These articles bring up one we discussed in class about asslimation. Should immigration take on American culture, keep there own entirely, or maybe mix the two together. Schwarzenegger said, “They try to stay Mexican but try to be in America.” I’m not sure how I feel about this statement; I can see some truth in it, but I’m still wondering if this is technically an issue or just a group of people holding on to their culture. The governor made other generalizations about learning or not learning a language which caused controversy with many citizens and the California Democratic Party had a field day. I'm unsure about this article as a whole, so i'll continue to think about it until class.

p.s. It's Ellie's birthday today!!!