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It looks like the rumors about the Young Conservatives of Texas plans for an "immigrant hunt" were a hoax. I was forwarded an email from the president of the chapter who said they were simply planning a celebration of Texas' independence from Mexico. Despite the racial overtones of that celebration, it doesn't quite match the sheer shamefulness of the "immigrant hunt" held by the YCT chapter at the University of North Texas. Regardless, I decided to email the chairman of the UT-Austin YCT after her email suggested people should do their research before forwarding emails about their events. I've pasted my message to her below.

Hi Lauren,

I understand that your chapter of the Young Conservatives of Texas is holding a celebration of Texas’s independence from Mexico tomorrow and not, as widely reported, an “immigrant hunt” in the style of the action produced by the YCT chapter in Denton. According to a widely distributed email, you are unhappy with the suggestion that your group would be putting on one of these events, and asked senders “to research their information before they sent it ALL OVER THE UNITED STATES!!!” Because of your angry and somewhat condescending tone, I’ll ask you precisely how one would research this information, particularly if the email is coming from a reputable source. (In my case, I received it from another doctoral student in my department.) A Google search – which is the way most people casually begin research – for “Young Conservatives of Texas results in this page (http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~yct/) for the Austin chapter. A search from the utexas.edu home page gives the same results. This page has nothing but dead links for your upcoming events and contact information, so a casual searcher would be unable to see what events you have planned or find an email address for your officers. Casual fact checking would be pretty difficult for someone with relatively little knowledge about your organization.

I did see this URL (http://studentorgs.utexas.edu/yct/) in your email, but this is not among Google’s top results. Additionally, there is no mention of either your planned picnic or an “immigrant hunt” on the events page. If someone was able to find this page, they would still not have information debunking the “immigrant hunt” claim. If you are going to make flip remarks about research, your organization needs to make information about their activities as accessible as possible.

If you are angry about the widespread negative response to a YCT-sponsored “immigrant hunt,” you and your chapter should publicly denounce the actions by the Denton chapter, so the campus and Austin community knows that your group does not condone these events.

-Chris

Posted by McChris at March 1, 2005 10:38 PM
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Comments

QUOTE: "If you are going to make flip remarks" QUOTE: "If you are angry"

Notice how you're making assumptions about what YOU deemed to be true about the chairman's reply to you? You took it as "angry" and "flip" on your OWN. Assumed. Don't be so sensitive.

If you cant verify it, don't post it as truth. Period. The Austin chairperson can't be excpected to know that because the Denton YCT did something deplorable, that someone would make a hoax and spread it around about their own chapter. He or she is not a psychic.

NOW, that the chairperson knows this hoax has been created, yes they should do what they can to put up a notice stating they denounce what Denton did. But don't expect them to be mindreaders, and don't blame your sensitivity on something you don't know to be true. --See you're still doing the "I believe" thing, without even knowing.

Posted by: Jen at March 2, 2005 10:38 AM

It should also be noted that the Austin chapter may not have been aware of what the Denton morons did. Sure, we can say "Oh, come on..of course they knew", but again, that's speculation.

Speculation goes on daily, and the problem isn't the speculation really - so much as the "I know it to be true" part that people go on, without *really* knowing the truth.

Posted by: jen at March 2, 2005 10:41 AM

Here's the URL for a YCT web forum on which one commenter notes that the Immigrant Hunt was listed on a previous events schedule but has since been deleted. (I don't know if the whole address will fit in here.)

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~yct/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=campuspol;action=display;num=1109266749;start=8#8

Posted by: Richard Lawrence Cohen at March 2, 2005 01:53 PM

Jen, I interpreted that as a flip remark, and, as a reader, that is my prerogative. She did say she is "extremely pissed" about the emails that went around, so I am not making assumptions about her mood. This email was not sent to me, but forwarded to me from another listserv.

The Denton event is on the main YCT website, so, if the Austin folks did not know about it, they should probably do their research first. :)

Posted by: m4dd4wg at March 2, 2005 03:44 PM

I see that you were all ready to rip YTC for their "racial overtones"...but a quick search of your site yields no mention of Senator Robert Byrd (D).

You know him right? The former Klu Klux Klan member who: fillibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act for 14 hours; who voted against both African American Supreme Court Justices; who used the racial slur "N" word twice in a 2001 interview.

Never mind witch hunting racists...here's a real-life one for you.

Posted by: Robbie at March 4, 2005 11:22 AM

This is a fallacious argument, Robbie. I don't think there's anywhere on this site endorsing Democratic party candidates or the party platform, so calling Byrd a "bud" of the protestors on Wednesday is just silly. I and certainly many of the protestors are no fans of Clinton, either. YCT and conservatives generally would do well to understand the positions of people who oppose their policies before making ridiculous strawman arguments. Just because someone's political views are left of the Republicans doesn't mean they're Democrats.

Posted by: m4dd4wg at March 4, 2005 01:06 PM