Anti-Mexican Radio Propaganda in the USA
"Radio gave the spoken word true mass effectiveness"
Josef Goebbels - Nuremberg, 1934
“Talk radio is running America"
Senator Trent Lott - June 15, 2007
Ernesto Cienfuegos
La Voz de Aztlan
Los Angeles, Alta California - June 22, 2007 - (ACN) Josef Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda for Adolf Hitler's Nazi Party, was intimately acquainted with the effectiveness of propaganda transmitted through radio to the masses. Goebbels' effective propaganda techniques did not die with him or the Nazi Party but are today being utilized in the USA against people of color and especially against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.
USA anti-Mexican propaganda has existed since the Mexican - American War that ended in 1848 but today it has become particularly virulent because of increased Mexican immigration and the ongoing debate concerning immigration reform. The situation has become so grave that it prompted US Senator Trent Lott of Mississippi to say, concerning out of control hate talk radio, "We have to deal with that problem.” Senator Trent is correct when he added, in reference to the owners of America's airwaves, “Talk radio is running America." Who are these owners of the airwaves that are "running (and ruining) America"? Most ordinary Americans do not know.
The primary objective of propaganda directed against Mexicans is to dehumanize and to instill fear of the group by the White majority population. One example of "dehumanization" is the "Operation Cuca Gotcha" at the New Jersey 101.5 WKXW-FM radio station. Mexican immigrants in this case where being compared to roaches that could be stepped on and killed. Mexican immigrants were being dehumanized to the level of an objectionable insect.
Another case involved Disney owned KABC 790-AM in Los Angeles. In this case a Mexican news reporter on Spanish language Television was compared to a rodent or a "rata" as he was called over the airwaves by a KABC talk radio host. The host went beyond demonizing the Mexican news reporter. The KABC talk radio host drove in a KABC van to the building of the Spanish language Television station and took some "cheese for the rat" and a "funeral wreath" and placed it in front of the building. Later the KABC radio bragged about their deed to all Los Angeles.
Fear against Mexicans is instilled by radio propaganda through constantly referring to members of the group as illegal alien criminals, cop killers, child rapists, gang bangers and drug dealers. Any ordinary malfeasance committed by an undocumented Mexican immigrant is blown out of proportion over the radio airwaves. One well known example of this is the tragic drunk driving accident involving a Mexican immigrant in which two girls were killed. A well known national talk radio host used the tragedy in Virginia Beach, Virginia to launch a virulent hateful attack on all Mexican immigrants.
There is no doubt that this Goebbels like propaganda against Mexicans and Mexican-Americans by US talk radio can have grave and sometimes deadly consequences for members of the group. The Mexican community has
experienced an alarming rise in hate crimes. Many of these hate crimes can be tied directly to anti-Mexican radio propaganda. One example of this occurred
in the El Sereno community of Los Angeles where an elementary school that serves children of Mexican descent had to be evacuated when it first received an arson and then a bomb threat due to constant hate propaganda against the school by KABC 790-AM radio. The Disney owned radio station was not
happy with the school's curriculum that promotes Mexican culture, history and
language and began a vicious propaganda attack against the school and its principal. The principal, as direct consequence of the radio propaganda against him, received anonymous death threats.
Propaganda against Mexicans by talk radio is also helping foment hatred that leads at times to murder by racists. This occurred in Fremont, California where a Mexican mother and her daughter where bludgeon to death by racists that were never brought to justice. In North San Diego County, 5 elderly Mexican agricultural workers were savagely beaten by a group of White youths. One day apart, in the same area, another Mexican agricultural worker was dragged to death along a dirt road. In Columbus, Ohio an apartment building housing Mexican immigrants was torched and an entire family perished. The list goes on and on and the number is rapidly increasing. The rapid rise of racist violence against the Mexican community is in large measure due to radio hate propaganda.
The propaganda against Mexicans by talk radio is not just negatively affecting undocumented immigrants. It has also affected US citizens of Mexican descent and Mexican-American elected officials. The former Attorney General of California Cruz Bustamante was so vilified by talk radio that it resulted in him receiving death threats. A favorite target of talk radio in Los Angeles is Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The principal talk radio stations like KABC 790-AM constantly refer to him as Mayor Antonio Vivalaraza. He has also received death threats. Talk radio show no respect for any Mexican-American elected official. During the past several days, KABC 790 AM has also gone after Los Angeles City Attorney Rocky Delgadillo and his wife. They are calling City Attorney Delgadillo "Degradillo" in a vendetta against him because of his action to assure that hotel heiress Paris Hilton returned to jail after she was prematurely released.
There is a good possibility that the constant negative images being projected of Mexicans by talk radio may have played a part in the horrible death of Edith Rodriguez at a Los Angeles county hospital emergency room on May 9, 2007. Talk radio is constantly blaming Mexican immigrants for overcrowded schools and of abusing the public hospital emergency rooms. When the medical staff of King-Harbor Hospital refused to treat Edith Rodriguez as she laid on the floor vomiting blood, the staff may have thought that Edith Rodrigues was an "illegal alien" when in fact she was a US citizen. This situation happens often because of the xenophobia created by anti-Mexican propaganda on talk radio.
We saw in Nazi Germany the consequences of unabashed radio and other types of propaganda. In a twisted quirk of history, the very targets of Goebbels propaganda techniques are today practicing his art against others, for they are today the owners of talk radio and the bosses of the Rush Limbows, the Sean Hannitys, the Bill O'Reillys, the Bill Handles, the Doug McIntyres and many others. This may be the reason why Senator Trent Lott said “Talk radio is running America."
Related La Voz de Aztlan articles:
Heinous hate murders of undocumented Mexican immigrants on the rise
4 Charged in New York Anti-Mexican Immigrant Attack
Mexican Migrant Workers Savagely Attacked by Racists in San Diego, California
Vigilantes bludgeoned Mexican mother and daughter in Fremont, California
Border Vigilantes "Torch" Mexican Restaurant
Racists assault a Mexican female student at Michigan State University
Mexican-American Students at Cornell University Under Siege
Death Threats Now Against Lieutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante
Bomb threats now against "Academia Semillas del Pueblo" says LAUSD
KABC Radio Attacks on the Mexican Community Must Cease
Hate radio station promotes "Operation Cuca Gotcha" against undocumented immigrants
SICKO: The Murder of Edith Rodriguez by the USA Medical System
