In Defense of Our ‘Border’
by Ned RiceBecause my hobby is surfing obscure website nobody cares about, this week I happened upon this recent offering by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
If you’re not familiar, the S.P.L.C. is one of those groups who did good work in their day (the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965), but, having run out of dragons to slay, are now casting about for reasons to carry on with their anti-white-racist mission in an era where a black President presides over a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate while the wealthiest, most admired and most powerful people on Planet Earth include Oprah Winfrey, Colin Powell, Tiger Woods, whatever Sean Combs is calling himself these days, and the black writer on 30 Rock.
Chris Burgard “Border”
The S.P.L.C. has become a good illustration of the old adage that if all you have is a hammer pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail. The group operates from a presumption of racism, i.e., the belief that every white person is a racist until they prove otherwise by adopting a Somalian orphan, personally spitting in David Dukes’ beer, and/or shopping for clothes at Target like Michelle Obama does. All of which made the S.P.LC. a very unlikely source for an objective review of Chris Burgard’s spectacular documentary Border.
Frankly, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could have seen Border and then written the scathing review that the S.P.L.C.’s Larry Keller wrote. (I was going to say “any English-speaking person,” but then I realized how that would sound). Then again, Keller barely touches on Border itself, mostly confining himself to casting aspersions on the character of filmmaker Burgard by mentioning that Chris is a former ballet dancer and Ferris Bueller stunt man, that he has cats named Smith and Wesson, and that– are you sitting down?– Burgard grew up in Wisconsin and yet likes to wear cowboy hats and ride horses!!!
Now, why does this sound familiar? Oh, yes. Now I remember: a favorite trick of Lefties is to disparage men of action they despise and fear by calling them cowboys. Remember that notorious cowboy Ronald Reagan? You know– the guy who won the Cold War? Earth to the Left Wing: AMERICANS LOVE COWBOYS! PRETTY GIRLS LOVE COWBOYS! MOST LITTLE BOYS IN AMERICA WANT TO BE COWBOYS WHEN THEY GROW UP! KNOW WHO HATES COWBOYS? BAD GUYS! So just for future reference, if you’re looking for something to call a guy to get the American people to mistrust or dislike him, try “community organizer.”
The reviewer also calls Burgard a “nativist,” which according to the dictionary means “one who wishes to preserve or revive an indigenous culture,”… “one who would protect natives from immigrants,” and “one who would favor the rights of natives over those of immigrants,” which I guess makes me a nativist, too. Come to think of it, that would make most Americans nativists. Not to mention our Constitution, which must be a nativist document because it charges the President and Congress with defending our borders from foreign invaders, which is what Border is all about.
What Border is most decidedly not about is xenophobia, racism, or being anti-immigrant, as any English-speaking person (there, I’ve said it) who’s actually seen the film could tell you. Border makes it clear that the illegal immigrants themselves, for all of their lawlessness, are the real victims here– along with the ranchers whose property (and even lives) are endangered, the small border towns being bankrupted, and the American people whose security and native culture has been under assault for decades by a federal policy of unrestricted, unregulated immigration.
You can quibble with the fine points of Border, if you wish. What you can’t quibble with, at least not truthfully, are the film’s basic themes: that illegal immigration victimizes, and even kills decent, working class people on both sides of the border every day and that the bad guys are the coyotes who bring them across, the businessmen who profit from it, and the gutless politicians who don’t care. Which is why you would think that the Southern Poverty Law Center would be more supportive of Border’s powerful message about poverty-stricken people at our southern border breaking the law: the words “southern,” “poverty,” and “law” are right in your name, folks! Wake up and read your own letterhead!
And while you’re at it, next time you decide to review a movie, try focusing on the film itself rather than just doing a hatchet job on the director. You wouldn’t want people to start calling you a hate group. Just imagine how that would sound.
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26 Comments
Since when does someone need to have to actually learn about a topic to have an opinion about it?
I don't need to listen to XYZ radio show to know that the host is a racist.
I don't need to see QRS movie to know it is crap.
I don't need to read your whole post to know i don't agree.
How many times do we see this in real life? How many times do we see this on this site?
I might be off topic, but since I didn't read your article, I'm not sure.
Just kidding, I just wanted to rant. (I wonder if reviewers you mentioned just saw highlights of the film rather than the whole thing.)
Ned, it's the usual tactic.. if you can't attack the message, destroy the messenger. (DId you know that the SPLC was one of the "primary" sources for the 'DHS attack memo'?)
The SPLC sounds just like my sister-in-law – no debate on the merits, just smash & destroy. Needless to say, we don't talk about much except the weather and the Red Sox. I did not know the SPLC was the source of the DHS memo – interesting! do you have a source for this, Mark?;0
Ned, where can I see the movie? Thanks for this post, and thanks for going to dark places the rest of us don't want to go!
I feel like supporting the documentary and it's author and appreciate the link. I wouldn't really need any convincing. Basically, if we are supposed to be a nation who honors the rule of law, we simply cannot tolerate illegal immigrants. There are a couple of obvious things in play, here. New, poor immigrants, whether legal or illegal are perfectly positioned to play the role of victims for the left, voting for collectivist, socialist, welfare state Democrats. Second, in the age of bio-terrorism, nuclear terrorism, or low-tech terrorism such as just shooting up civilians at the mall, it is more important than ever to secure our borders. Terrorism aside, we could end up with our country looking like (gasp) California. You are right about leftist critics, their favorite tactic is to destroy or marginalize the messenger instead of factually debating issues. Actually, it might sometime be interesting if the right turned the tables on Keller and personally attacked him.
I'll have to go dig it up, but the SPLC was taking credit for having a hand in that report…
I remember this one from the Washington Times: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/14/f...
(He = Mark Potok, director of the center's intelligence project)
You can support Burgard by clinking on the red letters in the post above" "Chris Burgard's spectacular documentary Border." There may be other sources, but I like to try and support the folks that do these documentaries since they sure as hell won't be showing it on PBS or HBO any time soon.
Regardless of ones opinion on border issues, what isn't arguable is how filled with humanity Burgard's film is. It fills every scene and is the thing that makes it so memorable and so much more than a talking point or position paper.
And that's exactly what terrifies the SPLC and their ilk. Burgard makes his case from a humane point of view and exposes the open border types as just the opposite of compassionate, which of course is exactly what they are.
The rule of law. A novel notion that appears to have run its course in America. Now, all we have is myth and legend, masking the real racism.
Lets face it, we just elected the ultimate Trojan Horse and most of us here know it.
I live 50 miles from the Border. The rule of law is one sad joke.
RIP
But the Red Sox are great. No disagreement there.
A visit to their website shows the typical liberal organization masking as some "rights" group.
http://www.splcenter.org/index.jsp
In perfect conformance to the boilerplate, there is a condemnation of the killing of George Tiller but not the "hate crime" against those unfortunate military recruiters.
The picture of the white skinhead at top reminds me of Ezra Levant's lament that the Canadian Jewish organizations love to seek out the handful of skinheads – all the while exerting all sorts of energy required for ignoring Islamic violence against Jews and other people.
They're just using the new, modern-liberal definition of racism: any one who disagrees with a modern liberal.
The invasion of America has been an affront on the common working man. Make no mistake illegal immigration is the cause of many of our present woes, welfare, Medicare, Social Security, WIC, education, law enforcement, depressed wages, over building of homes, Sub-prime loans, California, the list is long. They break laws with impunity, in fact I have written my representatives on several occasions to get me a list of laws I can ignore, I’m still waiting. Many of these people are decent human beings no question, but my empathy ends when the unemployment rates hit nearly 10%. Hypothetically lets say we get rid of say half of the illegal’s what would this do for unemployment? Off coarse there are parasitic Americans that will never work, I don’t care about them. I care about the kid just starting out with a little family that needs a job and can’t find one. Or older men that have been in construction for 40yrs. who can’t find work. Charity begins at home people, and for the sake of this great country we need to take care of our own.
The SPLC, along with the ACLU have become the lawyer version of the UFO cultists. Searching out hidden racism and homophobia even when it exists only in their fevered imaginations. Of course, they're still often quoted and praised by the MSM which is what's keeping them more or less alive,
The SPLC is not a 'civil rights group'- it's a money-making scam. It profits from white liberal guilt; one could say they invented the essence of the carbon-offset. racket long before Gor-Al. "The Center earns more from its vast investment portfolio than it spends on its core mission, which has led Millard Farmer, a death-penalty lawyer in Georgia, to once describe Morris Dees, the SPLC's head, as “the Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of the civil rights movement”"
see, e.g.,
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2000/11/0068709
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/pruden02090...
[...] In Defense of Our ‘Border’ by Ned Rice [...]
we agree. The SPLC is now much more closely aligned with the JDL than any other organization; they spend millions looking for the toothless aryan brotherhood/nazi riffraff than doing any real work of substance- and with the tax-free $$$ rolling in it has to go somewhere. They are a rigidly ideological organization who need enemies to survive- so they'll invent them if necessary…
It's funny that the SPLC reviewer smeared Burgard as a cowboy because, hey, guess what the coolest thing to be in Mexico is…A COWBOY. Every Mexican banda superstar is dressed like a cowboy, heck I've met a Mexican cowboy, US rodeos feature tons of Mexican cowboys (who are accepted by the other Southern right wing competitors and crowds btw). The SPLC is typical, it wants to promote its elitist racists liberal standards on people of color.
Janine Garofolo is the posterchild for this. Just a crazed, semi-retarded individual that for some reason keeps getting work….
"if all you have is a hammer pretty soon everything starts to look like a nail."
This says it all. If there is nothing for them to screech about, they will invent something.
Thanks for the kind words! You can click on the link above and order your own copy. I am a documentary buff and Border is one of the best ones I've ever seen.
From what I can see, the SPLC seem like the organizational equivalent to syphilis…
Fortunately all borders are not created equal.
http://heyitsjustablogman.blogspot.com/2009/05/bo...
A country that fails to defend its borders eventually fails. But, what the hey! 'It's all progress', right?
She must be easy.
Start by ignoring the tax laws. Well, don't ignore, educate yourself. Find every way possible to withhold money from these tyrants.
I am engaged in this quest and am doing very nicely thanks.
Next, get a gun. Esp if it is against SOME law somewhere.
Lawlessness, Try some!
If the POTUS thinks that we will all obey the laws HE wants to selectively wants to enforce, he IS as dumb as he looks. That is the problem for him, once the sheep (us) find out the laws don't count, well, then it is a free for all.
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