Those Hispanics, they sure are religious
In addition to my gripes (see below) with Clint Bolick’s recent piece on Hispanics and the GOP, something else has been gnawing at me today about the piece. There’s something so white about it. By “white” I’m not necessarily speaking about the race, so much as the attitude of privilege that causes people like Bolick to declaim from authority about the way certain other ethnic groups think, as if ethnic groups are uniform blocs who march in lockstep.
A trip over to Man Eegee was all that I needed to figure it out. Here’s Man Eegee in his own words:
I suppose a good starting point is to state the obvious: Latinos are not a monolithic group.
We are as diverse within that umbrella term as the United States itself, if not more. I guarantee you that the politics of a Marielito is nowhere near the same as a Xicano activist in East Los Angeles or a Puertorriqueña in Nueva York - to provide a small example of what I’m talkin’ about.
Bolick, if he knows anything about Hispanics beyond what the Pew Center tells him, doesn’t say so in his piece. The strokes are so broad as to be meaningless. Man Eegee points out a few of the nuances. I can only assume, as with any group that represents 20 percent of a state’s population, there are tons more.
For a guy who is wont to call out liberals when they deploy broad categories to describe racial groups, Bolick sure doesn’t make much of a stab at understanding and explaining the various Hispanic subgroups and perspectives beyond meaningless poll numbers. Maybe he doesn’t because he can’t. Maybe he’s just a glibertarian, regurgitating what Frank Luntz or some other pollster told him once.
If Man Eegee is right (and I have no reason to doubt the guy who knows a hell of a lot more about Hispanic politics than I or Bolick do), Bolick’s piece isn’t about understanding and persuading. It’s about propaganda. And it’s pretty crappy propaganda, poorly conceived and poorly written at that.
One Response to “Those Hispanics, they sure are religious”
Thanks for the linkage. Propaganda is absolutely right and, to think, he probably gets paid a hefty chunk of change to spread it.
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