Spreading the Virus

Orcinus

David Neiwert at Orcinus takes a look at Michelle Malkin and the Washington Times' fearmongering about immigrants spreading disease and sees history repeating itself. Much of the rhetoric surrounding institutionalized racism in the United States in the 19th and 20th centuries hinged upon the filth and pestilence meme.

Malkin is no amateur. She knows what works and what doesn't.

Neiwert:

There is no small irony in all this, of course. Because racial bigotry is like a virus, too. Given the proper iteration -- especially by disguising itself as part of the discourse over the "war on terror" -- it can quickly spread from the fringes into the mainstream. Of course, it always takes special transmitters, modern-day Typhoid Marys, to do it. The Washington Times and Michelle Malkin fit that description to a T.

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