Disconnects

While it’s difficult to know whether there was an actual focus group involved, there has been a lot of market research in the immigration protests. The first orchestrated protests from last month were chock-full of Mexican flags, with a smattering of banners from other nations. All those red and green banners may have given some people the wrong idea, this was not about “imigracion,” but rather about “reconquista.” Visuals do matter.

So this time, it was clear that the pictures on the front page of the newspaper, or leading the evening news, needed less red and green and more red, white and blue. So we saw American flags, hundreds of them. Was this cynical? For the leftist organizers, probably it was, but for the marchers, probably not. My sense is that there is a fairly large wellspring of gratitude among those who have come to America to work. They may not like living in the shadows and having to avoid the high-handed INS, but they are grateful to have an opportunity beyond the squalor from which they’ve escaped. Many would wave an American flag proudly, and pledge allegiance to it without hesitation, if they could.

What’s odd is that many of the organizers of these protest marches do not agree with those who are marching. The leftist component that has played such a major role is these marches, especially ANSWER, essentially reject traditional American values. They typically view America as imperialist, racist, essentially irredeemable. If they could, they would fundamentally alter the world and impose something quite different on all of us.

So do you pay attention to the marchers, or the organizers? That’s the question.