June 23, 2008

Melinda Zosh lets Jason Riley/WSJ engage in logical fallacy, Michael Barone spout nonsense

Melinda Zosh is an "intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia", and she offers "Today's Illegals 'Not Different, Just Newer'" about a talk that Jason Riley of the Wall Street Journal (author of "The Case for Open Borders") gave at the CATO Institute (link).

While she offers a fine and no doubt accurate transcription, like most MSM reporters she doesn't go beyond that and question anything she's told. She simply serves as Riley's stooge and fails to call him on his use of a logical fallacy:

...Riley said that Americans limit their perspectives and fear that new immigrants won't assimilate. But the Irish did and "if America can assimilate the Irish, we can [assimilate] anybody."

Riley said lots of things, all of which Zosh dutifully wrote down without questioning them. She failed to point out to him anything approaching what's discussed at the previous link: the current conditions are quite different from those a century ago. The conditions are so different that Riley is engaging in a logical fallacy. Zoll forgot to point out to him that today's immigrants are largely coming from a contiguous country or region. She forgot to point out to him that Mexico used to own part of our territory and that 58% of Mexicans think the U.S. southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico. There's so much she forgot to point out to him that her future in the MSM looks quite bright.

She also provides the following Michael Barone quote that makes me question his sanity:

"Our elites have been putting barriers in the way of immigration... Ultimately, the good sense of the people overwhelms the nonsense of the elites."

Any reporter worth her salt would have pointed out that it's the elites that have constantly pushed massive immigration, and that everyone else opposes them on that. Needless to say, Zosh did not do that.

Posted to Immigration2008a at June 23, 2008 01:05 PM