Dark humor and irony abound in today's L.A. Times article, A fence without offense. It deals with the difficulty of building a border fence that doesn't offend the sensibilities of our rabid racists and imperialists. "They want to make it seem like you could shake hands through the fence," said Peter Andreas.
The fence must be formidable but not lethal; visually imposing but not ugly; durable but environmentally friendly; and economically built but not flimsy.
This is the U.S. today, where people can be concerned about an eco-friendly torture device. They can want to intimidate workers into taking lower wages, but not have to face the reality of it when looking out their backyards. The ruling class needs to divide people in a violent manner, but there is a benefit to pretending that the violence isn't there. "Other countries are a lot more into intimidation," he said. "This is the only humane border fence being constructed."
There is nothing humane in oppressing another people. That doesn't mean that industries cannot be built around trying to convince people otherwise.
