Rahm Emanuel to Fast for 24 Hours in Support of Immigration Reform

[Gingersnap]

Rahm Emanuel to Fast for 24 Hours in Support of Immigration Reform

Ted Cox
By Ted Cox on December 12, 2013 9:56am | Updated on December 12, 2013 10:25am
@tedcoxchicago

CITY HALL — Mayor Rahm Emanuel plans to fast for 24 hours beginning later Thursday in support of the push for immigration reform, saying "we are sending a clear message to Congress that the time is now."

Emanuel was in Washington, D.C., Thursday to join in a panel discussion on closing the so-called workforce skills gap and how to get training to those who need it.

But he announced plans to return to Chicago to join in a 24-hour fast in support of those who've been fasting on the National Mall in the nation's capital since November. That group supports the Dream Act and other attempts at immigration reform.

I'm not posting this because I give a rat's ass about Emanuel's views on illegal aliens. I'm posting this because it's such a perfect example of how American leaders (both political and religious/moral) have happily traded sacrifice, work, and real risk for the appearance of moral action.

Gandhi's starvation pitch against British rule worked for two reasons:

He was perfectly willing to die to make a moral point;

The British were perfectly unwilling to force an Indian religious/political leader of Gandhi's stature to die.

Contemporary "moral" leaders who skip meals, change vacations destinations, or boycott establishments they never patronize anyway are laughable, not laudable. Irish prisoners who starved to death protesting Thatcher's policies fundamentally changed the political environment of Ireland. Leftists who go on "hunger strikes" while consuming yummy smoothies make themselves and their ideas trivial.

Going on a brief fast in a country where most of the population (rich or poor) are massively overfed is simply ridiculous.

DNA Info

[Michele]

Maybe he should concentrate on his own backyard.

[Gingersnap]

Maybe he should concentrate on his own backyard.

I don't care what he concentrates on but he shouldn't engage in sham moral behaviors - no one should. If you feel strongly enough about an issue to kill yourself over it, then do that. Have the courage of your convictions.

If the issue isn't worth dying over (and this one isn't), don't appropriate the last resort efforts of truly oppressed and convicted people.

[Tom Servo]

Maybe we'll get lucky and he'll forget to start eating again.

[phillygirl]

Before I read Ginger's commentary I thought "24 hours of not eating...so what?"

Yeah, stupidity.

I've seen longer fasts for better reasons...like fitting into that killer dress for the reunion.

[Billy Jingo]

Is a fast the same as a hunger strike? It seems more like the difference between participating (counter intuitive word choice ... that was cool) in Buy Nothing Day and going completely off the grid.

Why equate the two?

[Norm dePlume]

Maybe some time in mid-afternoon they'll strap him down and insert a nasogastric tube for a force-feeding.

[Norm dePlume]

Is a fast the same as a hunger strike? It seems more like the difference between participating (counter intuitive word choice ... that was cool) in Buy Nothing Day and going completely off the grid.

Why equate the two?

All those people in the run for charity marathons are being disrespectful to the victims of death marches.

[Adam]

Has anyone checked to see if he has a colonoscopy scheduled? Another common reason for fasting.

Since Jews typically fast for atonement, I wonder for what sin does he think he's atoning?

[Lanie]

Has anyone checked to see if he has a colonoscopy scheduled? Another common reason for fasting.

Since Jews typically fast for atonement, I wonder for what sin does he think he's atoning?

Sending people who have grown up here back to their "own" country when while they don't know a thing about it?

Breaking up families?

Oh right, it's okay to be anti-family if we're talking about illegal aliens.

[Adam]

Sending people who have grown up here back to their "own" country when while they don't know a thing about it?

Breaking up families?

Rahm Emmanuel did that? Really? Wow. He needs to atone for that in jail, then.

Oh right, it's okay to be anti-family if we're talking about illegal aliens.

Not this shit again.

[Lanie]

Rahm Emmanuel did that? Really? Wow. He needs to atone for that in jail, then.

I could care less about Emmanuel. I care about this issue.

Not this shit again.

I'm not saying anything that isn't true, Adam. Families are being broken up. People who came here "illegally" as a toddler are in danger of deportation.

I know. Your answer is that they shouldn't have came in the first place. Perhaps. But you know what? We're people born with silver spoons.

Seriously, we are. We don't have to fight for our freedom. It's won. The Republicans and Democrats are not threatening to murder us and our families for not picking their side. We can apply for a job and eventually find work. Even a lot of poor people here have more money than a lot of those people down in South America and Mexico will ever dream of. What right do we have to look down on them for doing what they had to do? And to compare their illegal activity of coming here to survive to that of a mugger or killer is beyond insulting and ridiculous.

Personally, I've always had a problem with rich people who are born with a silver spoon having the nerve to look down on poor people. I don't see how this is any better.

Not to mention you're living in a fantasy world if you think you can force millions of people to "go home."

[Gramps]

I could care less about Emmanuel. I care about this issue.



I'm not saying anything that isn't true, Adam. Families are being broken up. People who came here "illegally" as a toddler are in danger of deportation.

I know. Your answer is that they shouldn't have came in the first place. Perhaps. But you know what? We're people born with silver spoons.

Seriously, we are. We don't have to fight for our freedom. It's won. The Republicans and Democrats are not threatening to murder us and our families for not picking their side. We can apply for a job and eventually find work. Even a lot of poor people here have more money than a lot of those people down in South America and Mexico will ever dream of. What right do we have to look down on them for doing what they had to do? And to compare their illegal activity of coming here to survive to that of a mugger or killer is beyond insulting and ridiculous.

Personally, I've always had a problem with rich people who are born with a silver spoon having the nerve to look down on poor people. I don't see how this is any better.

Not to mention you're living in a fantasy world if you think you can force millions of people to "go home."

fuck it... lets convert several oil transports, send em to countries and barge millions in...
that's what should happen

The government of Mexico want's us to keep these illegals.
They don't have to deal with them, and a lot of them send US dollars into the Mexican economy.
We, the US, are the answer to their prayers.
Without the US harboring these millions, they would have to reform their entire society.

[scott]

fuck it... lets convert several oil transports, send em to countries and barge millions in...
that's what should happen

The government of Mexico want's us to keep these illegals.
They don't have to deal with them, and a lot of them send US dollars into the Mexican economy.
We, the US, are the answer to their prayers.
Without the US harboring these millions, they would have to reform their entire society.

I have been thinking it's a good idea to annex Mexico and Canada for a long time. We already provide for their regional security, their currency is backed by ours, and we already spend our resources to care for many of their countrymen. We might as well benefit from all that.

[Gingersnap]

Is a fast the same as a hunger strike? It seems more like the difference between participating (counter intuitive word choice ... that was cool) in Buy Nothing Day and going completely off the grid.

Why equate the two?

Because the group sponsoring this effort is doing so. They are attempting to position a minor deprivation as a major moral choice. They're appropriating a well known strategy for political attention.

It's a stunt that has the superficial appearance of real commitment.