People said the immigrants were dirty, unhealthy, uneducated, and too lazy to hold a steady job. They had no respect for the law, couldnt speak proper English, stayed drunk all the time, and would destroy the American way of life. They were also accused of bringing foreign diseases to America. That was in the 1820s. Thats what newspapers and politicians were saying about my Scottish ancestors. In the 1830s it was the Irish. Same accusations, but the Irish were also accused of bringing a cholera epidemic to the US. In the 1850s it was Italian immigrants who were lazy thieves who were going to destroy America. With the Italians the disease was polio. In the 1890s it was Chinese immigrants to the west coast. They were a horde of evil foreigners invading America, and bringing bubonic plague with them. During a wave of Jews from Europe, tuberculosis was called the Jewish Disease. Of course, it was all nonsense and scare tactics then, just like it is now. Why? Because the way to control American politics is to make sure that different groups among the poor and middle class keep hating and fearing each other. On the one hand it seems kind of funny that the same tired old tactics get trotted out over and over again - but it (obviously) still works, so why not keep using it?
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 17:50:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015