Twitter responses to #refugeeriders on NBC Today

Sometimes, the social micro-blogging site "twitter" is like draining a rancid skin lesion with hashtags rather than a poultice. #hashtags can serve as social media exfoliates, acting to bring venomous opinions to the service.

In other words, how can the descendants of American immigrants, who were raised in our nation's huge "melting pot", possibly object to others who want to achieve the same freedom as our immigrant ancestors?

This can be a tribute to "tweeters" like me, who howl at the vitriolic responses from irrational thinkers who create reactionary arguments to logical thinking. 

Okay, at least, it should be a tribute, if the responses weren't also outrageous.

Weird tweets to logical posts means the outrageous responses are real time replies to something the tweeters really read before answering. In itself, that's at least some progress. Most times, radical reactionaries concoct theories about intellectual concepts and just blubber zealous garbage. On twitter, however, one can assume the respondents read 140 characters and understand the meaning of the messages to which they're responding. 

On NBCToday on July 2nd, the "Orange Room" question asked tweeters to respond with the hashtag #refugeeriders, in response to our nation's growing wave of immigration from Central America.  

Carson Daly of Today asked for twitter opinions about the desperate immigrant children and their mothers who were filmed being turned away from immigration processing centers in San Diego by angry demonstrators. 

I can't understand how people who are descendants of immigrants, like the protesters, could cruelly prevent other people from entering the US. Central American refugees are like any of our own ancestor, who came to the US to find a better life and to seek freedom.  

Nevertheless, here are the irrational responses to my #refugeeriders tweet:

1.  Tony Venuti ‏@TonyVenutiShow 58m

@julianawriter @TODAYshow Picketing NBC-Tucson Picketing NBC http://comunistmanifesto101.blogspot.com/2014/07/refugee-terrorism-is-refugeeriders-by.html …

2.  Laura Winkler ‏@stjohnswoods 7h

That statement might be worth a pittance if borderfelons were held 2 the standards of, at very least, my ancestors @julianawriter @TODAYshow

3.  LoneStar Dad ‏@LoneStar_Dad 8h

@julianawriter @TODAYshow ...Legal immigration v "illegal" why is that so hard to understand? #RefugeeRiders #tcot

4.  GimmeGowdy ‏@PolitiKellyRite 9h

@julianawriter @TODAYshow ...My WHITE European family cannot get more than a 3 month visa. Why.

5.  GimmeGowdy ‏@PolitiKellyRite 9h

@julianawriter @TODAYshow because they didn't follow the LEGAL PATH to citizenship, right?

6.  Additionally, to the above response, 7 people gave a "favorite" to my tweet #refugeeriders

Consequently, simple math, those who supported my #refugeeriders tweet outnumbered those who provided the vitriolic responses.

Nevertheless, none addressed the premise of my tweet.  

My premise is this: how can people, like us, who are descended from immigrants, ethically object and block others who are striving to achieve the same freedoms sought by our ancestors?

GimmyGowdy and her "white" family are the worst response because skin color has virtually nothing to do with immigration status. This racist response, more or less, supports the presumption that the #refugeeriders negative responses are more anti-Hispanics (who are Caucasians, by the way) than they are opposed to immigration.

When my grandparents immigrated, the US was decidedly anti-Catholic. My grandparents might as well have been people of color as Catholic. Today, religious prejudice against Christian faiths has largely subsided but, a century ago, it was as real as racism is today.

Immigration status should be awarded to those who enter the US with the intention of finding legitimate refuge from oppression, tyranny, and political executions and willing to work for a better way of life. These people want to work! They didn't travel dangerous terrain to seek asylum in the US because they're lazy!

Those of us who are descendants of immigrants must meditate about the intentions of our own ancestors. We are ethically called to prevent blocking the desperate refugees, mothers and children, who came from Central America and other Hispanic nations, from seeking a better life in the USA.

#refugeeriders - Please answer my tweet rather than waste social networking time creating vitriolic and illogical responses.