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By Patrick Osio, Jr./HispanicVista.com

    October 25, 2009

Mr. Dobbs: His immigrant bashing words fills his pockets

By Patrick Osio

We should be afraid, Lou Dobb tells us, them there Mexican illegals are ruining our country, they are responsible for all the rampant illnesses that are plaguing the nation and killing off Americans. If we don’t get rid of them, the nation is lost, I tell you, lost…

Well, maybe that’s a little dramatic, but the jest of what he preaches is there. He is not, never has been, an elected official, he is not a true journalist, though he tries desperately to come across as one. He is not an expert on immigration or anything else for that matter. So what is this Lou Dobbs fellow that gets so much attention from so many people?

Is he a racist?  Probably an economic opportunity racist, as opposed to a philosophical or multi-generational racist. Is he a bigot? Well of course he is. But for a reason – making money. Dobbs was no great success when on television he had a money management advise television program. He was going nowhere until he hit on the formula that if instead of advising he would attack something, anything there would be a segment of people who eagerly would close ranks around him. Thus began his revival as a bull dog attacker of whatever the public wanted to hear attacked.

At first it was corporate America – nightly se sat there in $2,000 imported suit, with his $300 imported tie, wrapped around the collar of his $300 imported shirt, and his over $10,000 jewelry watch , telling his audience that US corporations were evil people shipping jobs overseas. Oh, yeah, every company that had overseas operations was evil and anti-American Dobbs would say.

Of course among economic management circles Dobbs was a joke. But he was hitting on a populist theme – the big bad people are taking American jobs and shipping them out. He never of course would tell the audience that if they would only stop buying the lower cost imported products and instead buy the more expensive US made products, the jobs would stay here. He never saw reason to explain that it is the consumer who makes the final decision – not the manufacturer. But, hey, the money began to roll in and the imported garb looked good and felt better.

But his attacks on corporate America began to wear thin with his masters, CNN. Dobbs what part of advertising dollars do you not understand? What makes you think you’re going to continue to make the big bucks attacking the companies that spend million on advertising? 

Time to look for another victim – and boy did he find it. What could be better – instead of attacking US companies for taking jobs abroad, why not attack people taking jobs away from Americans right here in the good o’l USofA?  And if these people looked different than European-Americans, wow, heaven here we come. But that’s not all, how about if these people are poor and can’t speak English, or at least not well, and how about those clothes?  Come on, thrift store bargain shoppers. 

And so Dobbs graduated to the big leagues and began his career attacking people whose lot in life was to have been born poor in a country badly mismanaged and devoid of meaningful opportunities for its people. Desperate for jobs that would provide for shelter, food and clothing for their families, they trekked uninvited across the US border. Because of their work ethic and appreciation for work, they were quickly swallowed in the labor market.

What a field day Dobbs has had demonizing these folks. They are criminals, they are thieves, they carry pestilence across the border. They steal jobs from Americans, they fill the jails, they commit crimes while here.

In the United States there is somewhere from 5% to 10% of the population that eagerly absorbs Dobbs ranting.  But with time, he had to give more and more, otherwise his diatribe would become repetitious and lose the audience. Dobbs was forced if he wanted to stay on top to come up with more and more accusations, no matter how untrue, false and outright lies they would be.

And for good measure, why not make the government an accomplice in this great crime. So he added the Federal government to his attacks and declared himself Mr. Independent. His stature among the 15 to 30 million like minded but more ignorant than Dobbs, grew and his pockets became fuller and fuller with his earnings.

Now evidence is piling up that his words are causing hate crimes against the people he seeks to destroy. He claims not, after all it’s about freedom of speech, which he has learned to use to line his pockets.

Well Mr. Dobbs, you’re rich, but your hands are bloody and your soul is in danger.

______________________________________________

Patrick Osio is the Editor of HispanicVista.com and Vice President of the Baja California Medical Tourism Association. Contact at POsioJr@aol.com

or at Posio@aol.com

Patrick Osio, Jr. has written a short but intensive manual on the Mexican perspective on numerous issues between our two countries. The manual is an in depth primer on the culture and protocol for better understanding Mexicans that in turn allows establishing personal and business relationships, and how to avoid the most common faux pas that can ruin relationships and business deals.

For information on purchasing, write to HVCstore@aol.com

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