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The Overton Window on immigration is fascinating. We've gone from being a nation that that had selective immigration all through its history to one where trying
by golemotron 10y ago
The Overton Window on immigration is fascinating. We've gone from being a nation that that had selective immigration all through its history to one where trying to halt illegal immigration gets you labeled a xenophobe and a racist.
Social media has made it worse. I think that it encourages preference falsification and causes inelasticity in the Overton Window. That inelasticity means that changes in public opinion are abrupt and usually need some concrete excuse to be justified.
- ardit33 10y agoThat is not true, not for the first 100+ years at least. Until 1882, if you could afford the ticket to the US, you could come. So, at the time relatively expensive travel costs were the barrier of immigration, but not laws. "The Page Act becomes law. It's the country's first exclusionary act, banning criminals, prostitutes, and Chinese contract laborers from entering the country. 1882. Congress passes the Immigration Act."