"The Fence is precisely like the Maginot Line in one respect,"
Very good, I would probably agree...maybe it's a deterent?
Posted by peter at June 26, 2008 01:58 PMThe parallel with the Maginot Line ought to mention that in both cases, the "invaders" simply went (in the case of Germany) or go (in the case of present-day Mexicans) around the end. The French Army collapsed within a few weeks of the German invasion. So much for that "real deadly technology" of the Maginot Line.
The Berlin analogy seems inappropriate: after all, the Berlin Wall was built by the East German regime to keep people in, not by the West German regime to keep people out.
The Palestine analogy also seems inappropriate: whatever the Israelis are building does not follow any legally recognized international border, but the US/Mexico fence does.
Beyond that, I will raise the same question here that I have raised elsewhere: why does it seem to be impossible for some people, seemingly including paradox, to view the issue of border control through any lens but a racial lens? We live in a world of territorially bounded nation-states. Arguably each nation-state has the responsibility to police its own borders. Whether the US/Mexico fence is a good way to police the border is obviously debatable, but policing the border as a general principle? Sorry, I don't understand what's a problem with that. Instead what we're getting here from paradox reads implicitly as an attack on border control per se.
There are all sorts of reasons to be outraged about the conditions of Mexican citizens both in Mexico and here in the United States, but I fail to see that the principle of territorial sovereignty is one of those reasons.
Posted by joel dan walls at June 26, 2008 03:02 PM"'In the past I have...wrote...'
Ouch."
Snicker.....
Posted by Bagley at June 26, 2008 04:16 PMROTFLMAO
Excuse me...the walls you grasped at were walls which KEPT CITIZENS IN THE COUNTRY. They were shot if they tried to leave.
Please tell me you DO NOT see a difference as it will explain a lot of things.
Voice your anger at Mexico for their refusal to clean up their government and encourage a free market and...can you say...CAPITALISM?
Given a FREE, DEMOCRATIC, CAPITALIST SOCIETY, free of the current massive corruption. Mexico would have a booming economy too. Mexicans would flock back to...Mexico. To live with their families, in nice homes, in their home country.
Instead, you think it is my responsibility, along with other TAX PAYING Americans to support other countries. IT IS NOT.