Here’s our weekly installment of links from around the web (see here for all link roundups). As usual, linking does not imply endorsement.
- What Happened to Immigration Reform? A powerful, well-organized coalition did everything it could, with no results. Now advocates are preparing to shift from lobbying to revenge by Molly Ball in The Atlantic, November 22, 2013.
- EvulCapitalist: The 24 Types of Open Borders Enthusiasts on the Paleo Paleo blog (an attempt by a restrictionist to identify the possible motives people might have for supporting open borders).
- Botswana kicks out more illegal Zimbabwe immigrants, by Kitsepile Nyathi, Africa Review, November 25, 2013.
- My experience as a nurse on Christmas Island changed the core of my being, by Emma Hunter (pseudonym), The Guardian: Comment is Free, November 20, 2013.
- Israel adopts new measures against African migrants, HTC News, November 24, 2013.
Some of the links you’ve been showing in this page are pretty nasty. The EvulCapitalist, for example, is downright racist. Do you believe it is worth linking to that kind of text?
Actually, your complaint is not about the links, but what they link to. You could write to the EvulCapitalist and ask or convince him to pull his post down or change it. Not linking to it, does not do that. And as explicitly stated: there is no endorsement implied.
Speaking for myself: I like it far better if there are links in the roundup that point to material that challenges open borders, even controversial or objectionable material. It’s like you can’t win a battle more easily if you cut out reconnaissance and don’t know where the other side stands or what their strengths and weaknesses are.
Just to clarify: the original post by EvulCapitalist was taken down long ago (I think that whole blog was taken down) — what we linked to was a re-share of that by blogger Paleo Paleo, who seems to endorse the general theme of the post.
I think that’s a good question.
One way in which linking to such material might be useful is that it showcases some of the awful reasoning that underpins (or is used to rationalise) restrictionism in some cases.
I think the right thing to aim for, then, would be to try and provide a representative picture of all that goes on in reasonably influential corners of the blogosphere, be it of high or low quality. As far as I can muster, the link roundups do a fair job of living up to that sort of ideal.