Letters
Predictable ignorance
Sometimes it’s disappointing to be right. I was hoping that any commentary about the recent crimes committed in Arivaca by wackos calling themselves Minutemen American Defense would not attempt to connect that group of criminals with the national Minuteman Civil Defense Corps.
But I was pretty sure some ignorant soul would surface and do just that, as has happened.
Now, anyone with even half a brain—or a dictionary—knows that we in the MCDC are not “vigilantes,” but it’s a common tactic to demonize those with whom you disagree, hoping to render their cause or purpose irrelevant or, worse, mean-spirited or even illegal.
Even the Samaritans employ this tactic. Anyone who doesn’t agree with their utopian vision of uncontrolled immigration “is fearful and hateful of those who speak a different language, or who look different.”
Sure, it’s simplistic, but it works for them, making them feel good about themselves, and marginalizing those who disagree with their cause.
There’s no mystery about what we in the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps do. We don’t ride around the desert apprehending illegals. We often don’t come in contact with those we observe and report to the Border Patrol.
When we do encounter illegals, we offer them water, tend to their physical injuries as best we can, and, if they choose so, allow them to go on their way, while we call the Border Patrol and keep the illegals in sight. We don’t often carry food for them, because—unlike Humane Borders/Samaritans — we don’t receive taxpayer funding. It truly confuses me why anyone could disagree with what we do.
Those who do not want to get involved, who do not want to report crimes, I suppose have their reasons. And those folks who naively travel our deserts without firearms for self-defense, or have a phobia about an inanimate object (a gun).
These are personal issues, so please don’t attempt to put them on the rest of us. And please do not tell lies, or make uninformed comments, about those of us who do choose to become involved in this massive onslaught coming across our borders.
Scott Anderson, Green Valley
But I was pretty sure some ignorant soul would surface and do just that, as has happened.
Now, anyone with even half a brain—or a dictionary—knows that we in the MCDC are not “vigilantes,” but it’s a common tactic to demonize those with whom you disagree, hoping to render their cause or purpose irrelevant or, worse, mean-spirited or even illegal.
Even the Samaritans employ this tactic. Anyone who doesn’t agree with their utopian vision of uncontrolled immigration “is fearful and hateful of those who speak a different language, or who look different.”
Sure, it’s simplistic, but it works for them, making them feel good about themselves, and marginalizing those who disagree with their cause.
There’s no mystery about what we in the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps do. We don’t ride around the desert apprehending illegals. We often don’t come in contact with those we observe and report to the Border Patrol.
When we do encounter illegals, we offer them water, tend to their physical injuries as best we can, and, if they choose so, allow them to go on their way, while we call the Border Patrol and keep the illegals in sight. We don’t often carry food for them, because—unlike Humane Borders/Samaritans — we don’t receive taxpayer funding. It truly confuses me why anyone could disagree with what we do.
Those who do not want to get involved, who do not want to report crimes, I suppose have their reasons. And those folks who naively travel our deserts without firearms for self-defense, or have a phobia about an inanimate object (a gun).
These are personal issues, so please don’t attempt to put them on the rest of us. And please do not tell lies, or make uninformed comments, about those of us who do choose to become involved in this massive onslaught coming across our borders.
Scott Anderson, Green Valley
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