In a radical example of blame shifting and boundary making, Latino immigrants have been blamed by some as the causes for the fires that have devastated California in the last days.
The New York Times reported on October 27th, 2007 that two "deportable men" where arrested on arson charges, one in San Diego and one in Los Angeles. The same article says that people crossing the border sometimes set fires, which could have maybe caused the fire.
Someone in Nashville, Tennessee posted a fake CCN website that claims that the Chicano student organization Mecha ("Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan") described as a "radical Hispanic separatist organization" started the fire! Fake site at
(after the request of CNN the false website has been removed, I downloaded a copy but I won't put it online since this entry is gathering too many visits...).
Real site which also contemplates the arson theory at http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/10/25/fire.wildfire.ca/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
These arson theories look for a concrete individual or group of individuals to blame, which is easier that just blaming "nature" or God. But the arson conspiracy theory goes against the very name by which the fires have been called "wildfires" meaning natural occurring fires, that serve to bring nutrients back to the soil to nurture future flora. This arson theory also ignores the growing dryness of the American West and the droughts brought about by global warming (Gertner 2007).
Links
Archibold, Radal and Will Carless. 2007. Glare of Fires Pulls Migrants From Shadows. The New York Times. October 27, 2007http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/27/us/27illegals.html?ex=1351224000&en=9e65caf811d74bab&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
Gertner, Joe. "The Future Is Drying Up." The New York Times. October 21, 2007.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CEFDA103CF932A15753C1A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
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