My grandfather came to the United States from Poland when he was a little boy back in the early 1900s. He was processed on Ellis Island, the original entry point for immigrants to America.
Why was Ellis Island the gateway to America? And why was it an island? Because it was a quarantine facility.
Some immigrants never made it to Ellis Island. If they were sick on the ship, they might be removed to a hospital on Hoffburn Island or Swinburne Island in New York before they even got to Ellis. Between 1909 and 1911 more than 420 immigrants died at these hospitals, with 85% being children under 13 years of age.
Unfortunately, American history has been wiped away with political correctness, and now the CDC Director is desperately trying to justify his insane policy of keeping flights from West Africa free and open to all in an editorial published on the Fox News website.
In this patronizing, condescending piece of propaganda, he tells us, among other things:
"It’s only human to want to protect ourselves and our families. We want to defend ourselves, so isn’t the fastest, easiest solution to put up a wall around the problem?
But, as has been said, for every complex problem, there’s a solution that’s quick, simple, and wrong."
Wrong? By whose metrics? He acts as if his solution - keeping all borders open and dealing with outbreaks here - is somehow less simple, more complicated, and "right."
Look at how he parses his words in this sentence:
"Stopping planes from flying from West Africa would severely limit the ability of Americans to return to the United States or of people with dual citizenship to get home, wherever that may be."
Last time I checked, "severely limit" is not the same thing as "completely ban" - there is absolutely no reason why we cannot use the military to transport legitimate humanitarian workers to and from the infected zones. There is no reason why we need commercial airlines to be the main method of transport. As for dual citizenship...what are the actual numbers of people who are both American and Liberian, and who still live in Liberia? Three? Give me a break.
He then lies outright:
"When a wildfire breaks out we don't fence it off. We go in to extinguish it before one of the random sparks sets off another outbreak somewhere else."
Mr. Friedman, I know your base constituency consists primarily of idealistic idiots, but wow...did you actually bother to read what your ignorant intern probably just wrote for you?
Firefighters don't fight wildfires by jumping into the middle of the conflagration. They couldn't possibly do that. The way wildfires are fought is precisely through "fences" aka "perimeters." This not just how wildfires are stopped, but also how they are prevented - it is why people who live in wildfire zones are instructed to prune back the forest and underbrush near their homes. That's called creating a "perimeter."
He then writes: "Isolating communities also increases people’s distrust of government, making them less likely to cooperate to help stop the spread of Ebola."
Sir, you need to read some of the forums here. Your own actions are making people distrust the government!
But the key to the newspeak lies in this sentence: "Casting too wide a net, such as invoking travel bans, would only provide an illusion of security and would lead to prejudice and stigma around those in West Africa."
Riiight. So giving native Africans visas to visit the United States isn't going to create a stigma for the native Africans already here? But this is the key talking point right now from the administration: That banning travel is racist, that people who are concerned about diseases being imported are racist, that calling Obama "Obola" is racist.
One writer for the Dallas News actually suggested that if we renamed Ebola "Omaha Virus" we'd suddenly stop being fearful. So in a nation where the richest female is a black woman with the funny name of "Oprah," and one of our top pop stars is named "Beyonce," anything with an African-sounding name is ssssscarrrryyyy?!! Gee, maybe it's the fact that Ebola has upwards of a 90% mortality rate! SMH!
I flipped on the TV yesterday and some self-righteous activist was explaining on PBS that the use of the term "illegal" to describe a person was on par with being a Nazi, because allegedly the Nazis said the Jews were "illegal." Are you kidding me? I'll bet this same activist will deny with spittle flying out of his face that Nazi ever stood for "National Socialist Worker's Party." (By the way, if you are a conservative and call someone a "Socialist," you are also a racist now.)
Now, some of you are going to criticize me for bringing up "race" again, but I'm not the one using it as a propaganda sledgehammer to silence all dissent and common sense in this country. I am frankly sick of it and would prefer not to write about it, but they are the ones that keep bringing it up for every big (or manufactured) issue.
What my main point, actually, is this: WHY are these insane people in charge? Why are they the ones pushing the media narrative? And how can we stop them?
I'll tell you why. Well, at least part of the reason why.
Most normal, average, every day people aren't activists. They aren't spending their days protesting, or organizing boycotts, or writing angry letters to advertisers to try to shut down an opposing viewpoint.
Rush Limbaugh (love him or hate him) has been under siege by a group of approximately 10 activists who had so much time on their hands, they appeared to represent millions. These activists have been relentlessly targeting his advertisers in an attempt to shut down his radio show.
The far left in America has organized. It has outlets like MoveOn that rally the troups to stir up a mob with pitchforks at the drop of a hat.
Where's the MoveOn for moderates? For conservatives? Or even libertarians?
Most sane Americans think it's reasonable policy - and not racist - to stop giving visas to native West Africans right now because it's not worth the risk to infect Americans with a deadly virus. Most sane Americans realize that open borders also put us at risk for Central American diseases, and it is not a coincidence that over 500 children have been paralyzed and at least 5 have died from the enterovirus most likely brought in by "undocumented" children shipped into American communities over the summer.
Where is the mob with pitchforks over this? Oh, there are a few petitions on Whitehouse.gov to stop flights from West Africa, but even a lot of people who agree with them aren't bothering to sign them, because they feel they won't do any good, or they are afraid they will be put into a database (hint: you already are in the database!).
I do agree on one point - trying to get political ideologues to do something about this is probably not going to help. However, we can take a cue from the frothing-at-the-mouth mob activists and start hitting people where it counts - their pocketbooks.
It's an issue that left and right can agree upon (mostly): Airline workers in New York have already started striking over the possibility of being exposed to Ebola when they clean planes. I will be curious to see airline unions end up taking the side of the workers or get pressured by the administration to stop these protests.
So what can we do? We should be contacting the airlines directly and telling them they need to stop flights from West Africa. People are already starting to contact the airlines; we just need more of it. I've seen quite a few people mention in online comments that they have canceled their plane tickets due to fear of being exposed to Ebola. The holidays are coming up. Can you drive instead of fly? I usually fly to see family but I am currently debating whether I am going to drive or just stay home this year.
Yes, the economy might take a little hit if airlines are boycotted. But the economy could collapse entirely if Ebola takes hold in the United States.
Take a cue from the crazy ideologues - it's time to get the pitchforks going.
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