I'm sure you've seen this quote:
According to Rep. Steve King's (R-IA) math, legalizing undocumented immigrants is untenable because for every valedictorian DREAMer -- immigrants brought to the U.S. as children -- there are 100 more who are carrying drugs across the border.The ethnic stereotyping is noxious; the imagery is ... well, curious. As Tim Murphy tweeted:
"Some of them are valedictorians, and their parents brought them in," King told Newsmax in an interview last week. "It wasn't their fault. It's true in some cases, but they aren't all valedictorians. They weren't all brought in by their parents."
"For everyone who's a valedictorian, there's another 100 out there that weigh 130 pounds and they’ve got calves the size of cantaloupes because they're hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” he continued. “Those people would be legalized with the same act."
"calves the size of cantaloupes" I just what, what? http://t.co/kLEZPj2qnI
— Tim Murphy (@timothypmurphy) July 23, 2013
But I'm reminded of the last verse of the Randy Newman song "Sigmund Freud's Impersonation of Albert Einstein in America," which I've always thought perfectly captured the way certain white Americans recoil from people they regard as "exotic" while having prurient fever dreams about those same "exotic" others, and all the while thinking of themselves as utterly innocent:
Americans dream of gypsies, I have foundYup, that's pretty much what's in the heated imagination of Steve King, Real American, as he thinks of undocumented immigrants' muscular calves.
Gypsy knives and gypsy thighs
That pound and pound and pound and pound
And African appendages that almost reach the ground
And little boys playing baseball in the rain
Gypsies? Really?
ReplyDelete130 pounds? OK, Mexicans tend to be small, but 130?
I guess hikers have knobby calves?
To think I never listened to that song before! What a great choice to illustrate this post. Spot on.
ReplyDeleteI'd forgotten that song.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's a perfect fit.
I'm sorry that this loon didn't run for Iowa's Senate seat. FSM, THAT would have been entertaining!!!
But not if he won.
I sometimes think I'd like to go to meet the people in the districts that elect loons like King, and Gohmert, and Bachmann.
But then I remember reading Steven King's, "Children of the Corn," and realize that that probably wouldn't be a very good idea.
Brilliant comparison, Steve. Kudos.
ReplyDeleteVictor - you'd probably find the people (in general) in those districts pretty unremarkable, except for certain sectional differences. However, if you were to meet the habitual voters in those districts, I imagine you'd come away with your pessimism well enhanced.