A wall is a wall

[kschlyer]

Some of the recent comments I have received on this video highlight the great divide that exists in society between people who care mostly about themselves and their small circle of friends and people who want to create a better world where there are fewer divisions, between rich and poor, north and south, black and white. There is no real bridge between folks who have such drastically differing world views, sadly. What I don't understand is the hatefulness expressed by the one side.

[picturama]

we need that wall 20 feet high with machine guns.

[manvilletrain]

we need them out of here filthy Mexicans.

[arKat17]

If you want to die, take a trek across the desert and meet up with our new Wall. If you don't, sign out some paperwork and we welcome you with open arms. Go do your homework ksychlyer, your argument bores those with brains and comon sense.

[hihi873hey]

@arKat17 do your own homework, please. immigration from Mexico takes years and thousands of dollars that most of them don't have. the reason many Mexican immigrants try to come here is to make money to give themselves and their families a better life. i"m sorry they can't be as privileged as you and I, because I'm sure they didn't ask for that kind of life.

[arKat17]

Umm.. The Berlin Wall was constructed by RUSSIA to keep German citizens IN East Berlin. This 800 mile wall, is constructed to keep foreigners (llegal immigrants) OUT of the United States. This isn't some new injustice that the United States has created. It's Common Fucking Sense.

[lucajax]

@arKat17 Damn you are really not that smart of a person, you tell me why should we decide on the lotery of birth if someone gets al the hope for a great future, or someone gets no hope for any of that.

[QueenLucyThe2nd]

:( I have two friends in Mexico. I don't understand why people hate them - hate anyone for that matter. My friends are smart, they're educated, they're GREAT people. You Americans are despicable with the way that you treat people from a different country, or who have a different religion, or are of a different race. No wonder every body hates us. America doesn't deserve to be a super power country with the way that we act.

[RexNunc]

Uh...guys....they didn't build the wall to keep people OUT......

[OrgoniteMarijuana]

'they' assuming your reffering to law enforcement and authorities, don't need a wall to keep you in. Look your 'IN' of your own accord.

[RexNunc]

For now...

[pazuano]

Remember the Constitution and what it constants in it. Reade ti again

[goodpoor1234]

Latino makes America a dirty country! lol.. Americans hate wetback! lol

[mcredsox16]

FUCK SPICS

[kschlyer]

I have received several of these comments while this video has been up, and initially I removed them out of shame that the world, and particularly some of my good friends in Mexico would see the menaliity of some of my fellow US citizens. But I have decided to leave them in order to show that one element in support of this wall is steeped in exactly the kind of hatefulness and fear that any wall between peoples symbolizes.

[Sismiques]

☭★LIEBE DER DDR!☭★

[QueenLucyThe2nd]

The DDR fell apart for a reason...

[Snotra]

Thank you Pope John Paul the Great, Ronald Reagan, Lech Walesa , and all the martyrs of this cause who gave so much to change the hearts of Godless men, indifferent hearts, and nations of hate. I only pray that my nations liberal and spiritually void brothers will appreciate the fruits of Americans and citizens around the world who had a disregard for subjective feelings and emotions, and gave to a greater objective cause.

[Lps2005]

thank god finaly they putting up the wall......fucking mexicans we have to keep those roaches out.....excelent !!!!!

[megan1668]

@freesk8

The biggest difference about a wall erected between the US+Mexico would be that these are TWO different COUNTRIES

Germany was ONE country divided in TWO; families were divided, people who longed to be together couldn't be. One part was denied the very Freedom everybody in the US takes for granted but really knows so very little about since they have never been denied this precious commodity.

This last paragraph of yours shows a paranoia derived of a lack of education on your part

[freesk8]

I oppose the wall between the US and Mexico, but I have to point out that there is a huge difference between the Berlin wall, and the US/Mexico wall:

The Berlin wall was intended to keep people IN.

The US/Mexico wall is intended to keep people OUT.

But I fear that as the US federal govt gets more and more powerful, and as the D's and R's move us closer and closer to pure socialism, the wall on the US Southern border will indeed be used to keep US citizens who want to flee in their new prison.

[timpanitimptim]

Baha'u'llah said that "the Earth is but one country, and Mankind its citizens," and Abdul-Baha said something similar to this, that all the nations are one, that they must be united, so that the whole world may appear as one human family. Shogi Effendi later said, through his life, that once we implement this, then all these troubles with which we are so hopelessly faced with today would be easily remedied.

[cerve414]

my fellow mexican people get educate there are jobs that will provide enough for your needs. but education is the key. we can not complain but we can react to better our country. look all around you we are living better thinfs are changing slowly but surely. we just passed an imigration reform for central americans cubans europeans and asian illegaly here in mexico. lets lead by example.

[Nolan22694]

What one must understand is that to disapprove of free border crossing ability is not to disapprove of immigration. Getting from East Germany to West Germany legally? Impossible. Getting from Mexico to the United States legally? A plane, train, or boat ticket and some paperwork. Legally. And by crossing legally, immigrants to the US from Mexico show what those who come to hate illegal crossings are disgusted at the lack of: respect for the country that they are entering. STOP ILLEGAL ENTERING.

[RealEros1]

ud decide si quiere morir en el desierto,si mexico no para a su gente, usa lo hace a su manera en su territorio.ellos sabian que la muerte esta en el desierto

[augustinarizona]

Brilliant video. We as a nation cannot simultaneously purport that we stand for freedom and unity among humankind, and meanwhile bisect an entire continent with a physical obstruction akin only, in world history, to the Great Wall of China. Are we that isolationist? scared? Apparently we choose fear as a response to the world. The fear mongering may help politicians get re-elected and Americans in the interior feel a false sense of security. Because here at the border, no one is fooled.

[Nolan22694]

What you fail to understand is that by creating a physical barrier, we are not prohibiting entrance to the country. They can still get in legally, just as they always have had the ability to do. All the wall is meant to do is stop illegal entry. Stopping illegal entry is not closing your nation. It's just making sure that people enter it correctly, respectfully, and in a manner that ensures their future success as Americans.

[Humanleague002]

Good job covering this. 5 stars all the way. Don't be offended by the hateful comments you receive. It only means your video has threatened them. Keep up the good work.

[Nolan22694]

If you think that somebody who disagrees with you must feel "threatened", and therefore disregard their point as inferior to your own, then you are just as ignorant as those with whom you so disagree. By assuming that anybody who supports the wall is some stupid racist hick, you reject that there may be any intelligent points that oppose your own. And by rejecting those points, you fail to allow the full realization of a true solution.

[jorgetvilla]

why did they spend all that money building a wall??? ridiculous, that money could have been put to better use, that wall is a joke, people are still going to jump over it, or dig tunnels under it.. .come on people ... lets be realistic.

[LeslieKohlerAz]

Very powerful. The wall has been called Deterrent by Death, as the terrain is so difficult to cross that it's very likely one will lose their life crossing. There are programs set up at the border to strongly warn immigrants of the dangers they face. The ones that choose to make the journey do so out of desperation.

[cerve414]

what goes up one day might keep you imprisoned the other...... i as a mexican national have no problem with the wall. here things are getting better we have a long way to go but our country is moving forward... moving away from the dependency of the usa and making more deals in europe asia and the middle east .

[Nolan22694]

Cerve414, as a citizen of the United States, I strongly admire you for being a Mexican who wants to improve Mexico rather than simply come to the US. I hope that one day Mexico does become a more strong and structurally integrated nation so that the US and Mexico can stand proudly besides each others as allies.

[cerve414]

its very simple nolan. Education is the key to success. I got educate yes i do not make what i really would probably make in the states but it provides for all my needs. i just hate the steriotypes your country has of mexico. we are as mucha melting pot as you guys. asians blacks europeans ext reside here with harmony and no racial barriers. i also dont like that if i wanted to take my kids to disneyland for example i will be denied not fair, and yet you guys can come and go as you please.

[SomeGuy578]

What a joke

[orionz51]

the wall aside people can enter the u.s. legally. but those who cross the wall and enter illegally have no respect for the country they are entering because they take without giving back. ask any one of the thousands of completely legal immigrants that work hard to do it right way and see what they think about freeloaders.

[kschlyer]

Good point. While I was documenting the nature and impacts of the border wall last January, in a three day period we witnessed two spots where the wall had been breeched, ramps erected, and cars driven through.

[rezn66]

East and West Germany was still ONE COUNTRY. And how dare you have the nerve to compare Germany to two of the shittiest countries in the world.

[kschlyer]

No offense intended. I'm not comparing the countries, but rather the use of walls to solve problems that would be better solved by well-crafted policy than by steel and concrete.

[rezn66]

You must not know what a metaphor is.

[gurielzeigerman]

What are you trying to accomplish with this?

[kschlyer]

Just hoping to spark discussion about the idea of walls, their impacts and symbolism, and their place in a modern world.

[gurielzeigerman]

Walls only have two purposes, Either to keep something in, or keep something out. And just a comment. the situations you are comparing are completely different. The berlin wall split a city in half, even split families in half. The wall between the USA and Mexico is a border between two countries to keep illegal immigrants out.

[gurielzeigerman]

Your comparison is unfounded. Especially since those who died trying to get over the berlin wall were murdered, while those trying to get over the us-mexico border are killed of their own accord, because they ventured unprepared into a desert. It is absolutely different.

[skandranon6]

I should have known... its a tree hugger video...

[updikew]

A poignant video on the terrible history of walls. My main thing with the U.S.-Mexico border wall is that it doesn't work and costs a ridiculous amount of taxpayer dollars. Show me a 25 foot wall and I'll show you a 26 foot ladder. It's a crappy substitute for true immigration policy. The only thing that this wall slows down or hurts is wildlife, including a bunch of endangered species. Do we want to tell our children and grandchildren that we were responsible for the extinction of species?

[forzared101]

We have the right to decide who comes into our country.

[Septagon47]

The basic premise is true. And I agree with Idalia. But why did the originator not include - in her rant - the wall in Israel? Hmmmm?

[kschlyer]

very similar issue, but my expertise is on this wall. someone else will have to make a video on israel...

[ms4fryung]

If walls preventing communication between people could disappear, then we would never have gotten to this forsaken place at all. Idalia Tearney, Sebastopol, CA

[Septagon47]

"Good fences make for good neighbors." Some 'down easterner' said that. I brought up Israel because the situation there is much more radical than the aphorism would cover, and to invite discussion. I'm a proponent of spiritual oneness. However, if there were - physically - no walls at all, how would we construct houses? There is such a thing as being too close. "... somewhere" - as dad would say "between sublime and ridiculous!