James Poniewozik: Ugly Americans want to deport Ugly Betty!

James Poniewozik is Time's TV critic, and he offers a ludicrous slab of pro-illegal immigration propaganda in "Ugly, the American". It's about the 'Ugly Betty' TV show:

...Smart and sweet-hearted, she embodies the Puritan-Shaker-Quaker principle of valuing inner good over outer appearance. She's as Norman Rockwell as a chestnut-stuffed turkey. The actress who plays her is even named America Ferrera.

Well, that cinches it. Anyone who's named "America" must be an "American", even if the name is meant to represent the hemisphere and not the U.S.

And yet--if you listen to some politicians and pundits--she should have been booted out of the country years ago. Betty's father is an illegal immigrant from Mexico. To hear Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan tell it, our fellow citizens are boiling with resentment against people like Betty. Taking our kids' spots in college! Helping themselves to our orthodontia! Stealing low-paid magazine jobs that rightfully belong to American trust-fund babies!

Does such elitist condescension play among those who read TV reviews? I don't know her character's immigration status, but there's the possibility that she's a citizen, and thus his complaints about Dobbs and Buchanan are simply smears. And, of course, he appears to be unaware of the issues of anchor babies, as well as the problems with the anti-American DREAM Act, as well as problems with illegal aliens driving down wages for low-wage U.S. citizens. These are all issues that a lightweight propagandist such as Poniewozik is unable to understand and analyze.

And, he doesn't discuss the meta of the show, such as the involvement of Selma Hayek, someone who's previously expressed pro-illegal immigration views. While the show is almost certainly for the most part an attempt to make money, it's also certainly at least partly a propaganda vehicle, much like Poniewozik's column.

Immigration_piipps · Wed, 11/29/2006 - 11:38 · · Importance: 1