Not to be a nitpicker, but the problem with criticizing Trump’s wall by mocking its ineffectiveness is that it provides an implicit justification for the high-tech border dystopia championed by Dems as a “smart” alternative to the bogeyman of “Trump’s Wall.” (THREAD) https://twitter.com/LaikenJordahl/status/1349016926572449798

This “smart border security” means more militarization, more surveillance tech, more Border Patrol agents, and more suffering + death — all served up with a big “we’re better than Trump” smile by the Dems. (Read: "Our approach to enforcing global apartheid is more sophisticated")

And I'm not being hyperbolic about the suffering and death:

More than 3,000 human remains were recovered from the Southwest borderlands under Obama.

Not to mention his administration's deportation of more than 3 MILLION people and caging and criminalization of many more.

Most of the existing wall was not built by Trump, much of it went up under Dem presidents, and all of it (until recently) enjoyed wide bipartisan support

Clinton, Schumer, + Obama voted for the 2006 Secure Fences Act, for example

Calling it "Trump's wall" obscures this history.

This report by @memomiller, @TNInstitute, and
@NoMoreDeaths digs into this complexity.

"US President Donald Trump’s obsession with ‘building a wall’ on the US-Mexico border has both distorted and obscured public debate on border control..." https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/more-than-a-wall-report.pdf

I also wrote a short piece a while back for
@highcountrynews https://www.hcn.org/articles/ideas-democrats-also-gain-from-the-border-wall

Arguments like, "the wall is bad (or stupid) because it's an ineffective method of enforcing border security" are inextricably + structurally bound to a justification for (better) border security, which is a euphemism for enforcing global inequality thru state violence

I think @stschrader1 put it best in this recent interview on another topic (the Capitol incident):

"Our monetary, political, moral and ideological investment in this thing called 'national security' is a complete fantasy." https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgqvwb/of-course-the-police-didnt-keep-the-capitol-safe-thats-not-their-job

Don't get me wrong, videos like this are hilarious. And I don't mean to criticize your crucial work, @LaikenJordahl, or the work of anyone fighting the wall.

We need to tear it down.

But I think this narrative, mocking the wall in this way, might ultimately be detrimental.

Anyhow, just some thoughts aimed at dialogue and justice, not meant to shame. And yes I do realize this is Twitter, and that tweets can't always flesh out all the nuances lol.

I know your focus + the focus of @CenterForBioDiv is principally concerned w/ protecting wilderness + wildlife, and the wall is terrible in that regard. But, as you know, so is a "smart" border, which destroys wild deserts like Cabeza Prieta with roads, traffic, drones, etc.

sorry, one other thing: https://twitter.com/_maxgranger/status/1327073977869631489?s=20