Opinion: Way to go, you media guys!

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If you read our recent Top of the Ticket breaking news item on the national L.A. Times poll on immigration, you know that a surprisingly large majority of Americans, including two-thirds of Republicans, approve of a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants if they meet certain conditions such as learning English, paying fines and other requirements.

If you’ve been reading the reader comments that now accompany that item, you know how delighted many Top of the Ticket readers are with these results, how pleased they are that after 20 years of inaction Congress is finally trying to get control of the border and set requirements for people who aren’t supposed to be here. And you know how appreciative these readers are that a major newspaper is investing resources in going out and scientifically gathering its own original information about how random Americans feel.

Also, if you’ve been reading those comments, you know how utterly false that last paragraph is.

This unscientific collection of readers is absolutely furious at illegal aliens, at any attempts to fix the problem and at a news media that writes about the problem. Letters using expletives are not published on our blog. But here’s a sampling of the others: ‘I’ll bet the Spanish speaking folks in Los Angeles were given this poll.’ ‘The LA Slimes rides again...Hispandering is something you guys to (sic) so very well.’ ‘Hey LA Times, next time conduct your poll somewhere else than the local taco truck.’

‘If you can’t report honestly and fairly, then just keep your mouth shut. The LA Times is more worthless than George Bush.’ ‘Are you being funded by the Mexican government?’ ‘The L.A. Times are experts at crafting polls to come out the way they want. Besides this poll, their ‘Who would you vote for President’ poll cunningly left out Ron Paul.’

‘How will the government process this 12 or 20+ million person amnesty when it can’t even handle passport back logs?’ ‘As usual the L.A. Slimes has it wrong.’ ‘Do you poll just illegals?’ (By the way, to those who made the charge, the L.A. Times Poll does not poll in Spanish on national pollings such as this.)

To be fair, there were a few more thoughtful responses. ‘What did these illegals do that was so heinous that it’s inconceivable to forgive them in any way? Many commenters language reeks of venom. Is this the ‘real’ America? That’d be a sad day.’ ‘The poll is an example of responsible, diligent journalism. I have renewed faith in the American Public, because the status quo is unacceptable. It’s time for reform, and as imperfect as it might always be, you can always make adjustments in the future.’

Truth be told, the comments are soaked in an inchoate fear. Takeover. Flood. Uninsured drivers. Drunk drivers. ‘Massive influx of illiterate poor people.’ Living off the American taxpayer. The fear is not always spelled correctly but is palpable nonetheless. These missives mirror the comments, not all using coarse language, that flood in to any reporter who covers the subject like The Times’ Janet Hook, who wrote the immigrant poll story in The Times.

And they mirror the calls and letters impacting congressional offices. A loud, sometimes informed reaction against a complicated compromise piece of legislation. ‘It is,’ as Tyler Griffith wrote in his comment, ‘the minority which opposes immigration overhaul that is the most outspoken about it. People who support the bill will not go out of their way to support the bill.’

Is that true? Do you think there are a large number of silent Americans who would like a solution to the overpowering, expensive and emotional problem of illegal aliens but they stand mute until asked by a professional pollster? If that’s true and some kind of solution gets stymied by the loudest crowd, then we’ll all pay an awful price for a very long time.

As we said in our first Top of the Ticket item on Monday, the comment section is always wide open.

--Andrew Malcolm