All latinos are illegal and other inventions of European press

One thing I like many others who have lived in both Europe and the US suffer from here in Europe is the press. It is so opinionated and filled with flat out lies. If there were alternatives it might not be so bad, but there aren’t any here (at least in Norther Europe). The only half ways decent source of news is the Economist, but it’s not all that common here.

David is doing a great job documenting the lies of the German press in Medenkritik. The Germans seem to suffer the exact same foolishness that we do here in the press. Most of it are typical anti Bush rhetoric that no one ever questions, but you once in a while get some “facts” presented that are so plainly wrong that it would be funny except for the fact that people believe it as fact.

Case in point 37 Million Illegals in the USA reports Stern. In this our wonderful German journalist states:

A major dispute has erupted in Congress just months before the elections in November over how illegal immigrants should be dealt with. The political significance arises from the large and quickly growing number of US citizens from the Spanish-Mexican cultural group, the Hispanics. They sympathize, in part, with the “illegals.” According to official figures, they have been the largest minority in the USA since 2001, ahead of blacks with 37 million people.

If you mix this in with the headline you get that all hispanics in the US are illegal. How many Germans are quoting this figure in anti Bush debates now. I’m surprised I haven’t seen them quoting the figures in the Danish press yet.

This Gallery of Americans also from Stern is a great example of European stereotypes of Americans. This is presented to us on the news everyday in Denmark and drives me nuts.