[elhudy]

> I don’t care about illegal immigration because it doesn’t affect me. They aren’t competing for my job or the job of anyone in my social circle.

This seems like kind of a naive take. Illegal immigration affects your country>state>community>social circle>family>personal well being in that order. You might be several orders of magnitude removed from its effects on a personal level but that doesn’t mean it isn’t affecting you. E.g. simply the fact that illegal immigration is happening in your country means it IS influencing nationwide politics which in effect influences voters and your local politics. Your anecdote about your friend is testament to this.

Your opinion on illegal immigration matters, man, whether it affects you directly or not!

[scarface74]

How is that argument any different than arguing that the country supporting gay marriage will lead to the “eternal damnation of this great country?”. Of course I don’t believe that. But for conservative Christians the order is

<h1>YOUR IMMORTAL SOUL</h1> > country>state>community>social circle>family>personal.

They have a deep emotional belief that supersedes everything else.

They think that anything that doesn’t put “God first” is “naive”

Yes I know HN doesn’t support HTML markup.

[elhudy]

I’m not following…

What i am saying is that regardless of whether or not you take a stance on illegal immigration, the fact that the issue is ingrained in our political system means that it does in fact affect you albeit indirectly. It follows that you should probably have an opinion on the matter and be open to discussing that opinion even if you are not directly affected by it.

[feet]

It never really effected american jobs, we have had migrant farm workers for such a long time but only recently has one side of the political spectrum decided to make a big deal about it. It's fear mongering nonsense

[elhudy]

I feel like I’m being misunderstood and talking in circles here, and maybe that’s my fault. it’s tough to keep track of this conversation on mobile in between holiday activities.

I’m going to chalk this one up as an L and move on.