A host of relatively minor Hispanic celebrity airheads are behind an effort called "United We Win 2010" [1]; the goal is to oppose the new Arizona immigration law. This post is here because a) they might have an influence on some people, b) Eva Longoria fans might want to wonder whether she thinks she's more American than they are (see below), and c) at least so far their effort appears to have failed.

If you're going to oppose the Arizona law based on the thoughts of celebrity airheads there probably isn't much I can say to you. However, I'll point out that you'll be helping enable massive illegal activity based on those stars' imperfect understanding of complicated policy issues. You'll be enabling crooked businesses (who want to, for instance, profit from money that was earned illegally) and crooked politicians (who want to take donations from those companies or who want race-based power). And, all based on those who are, at most, only qualified to act.

For instance, Eva Longoria-Parker says, "If my father got pulled over because of the color of his skin, I could guarantee you I would be outraged." (link) Hopefully I don't need to point out that the Arizona law forbade racial profiling except as already allowed under federal law and it only allowed police to question about someone's status after having stopped them for something else. Plus, Longoria claims that her family has been here for generations so about 99.99% of cops would realize that her father was a citizen almost immediately after having stopped him (for something else).

Which brings us to the other part of Longoria's quote, the one her "Anglo" and not-so-Anglo fans might want to think about:

"I think the biggest misconception is that everybody who is dark or of color is from somewhere else. I'm ninth-generation American. I'm more American than a lot of my Anglo friends."

The genius of America is that no one who's a citizen is "more American" than any other citizen; we don't have royalty. Does Longoria thinks she's more American than those whose ancestors only arrived here a century or a century and a half ago? Would you appreciate a Mayflower descendant thinking they're more American than you because their ancestors got here before yours? And, of course, there's the "Anglo" term used to represent people who aren't English; that's like calling everyone in South America "Spanish". If you consume Eva Longoria products in one way or another (or those from other celebrities discussed in this post), please stop.

And, last but not least, their effort appears to have failed, at least so far. The video in [1] - embedded in their site - has been out since August 3 but has so far only had 234 views. A true Youtube star probably gets that many viewers to a new video in a few minutes.

[1] unitedwewin2010.com; the effort is sponsored by Voto Latino, a group co-founded by actress Rosario Dawson a few years ago, and their video can be seen at peekURL.com/vsagkb6 . Those on the video are Cameron Diaz, Padma Lakshmi, and Morena Baccarin. I know who the first is, I think I've heard of the second, and the third I'm lucky enough to be unfamiliar with. Others named in the US Magazine article include "Jessica Alba, hip-hop star Common, Amy Smart and Entourage actress Carla Gugino", and Wilmer Valderrama, the megastar who was in "That 70s Show".