Is this article slanted/biased/misguided?

Question

Here is the article. http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2006/08/24/news/news3.txt

Explain why and where this article is slanted/biased/misguided, please. Points for best answer!

Answer 1

In making my analysis, I will assume that all the facts cited in the article are correct. I don't know whether they are, but for now I assume it.
"Wave of illegal alien gang rapes sweep America says report"
This title is clearly inflammatory. "Wave" and "sweep" (a mixed metaphor, btw) suggest huge numbers of "gang rapes" by "illegal aliens." It turns out that the number is "at least15," not so many considering the millions of "illegal aliens" that live in the US.
The term "illegal alien" is controversial. People more favorable to this population prefer the term "undocumented immigrant." This term certainly has a bias, but the bias is in favor rather than against. "illegal immigrant" is also popular. It could be said that "illegal alien" has the most unfavorable bias, since it gives the impression that the person is illegal. "Illegal immigrant" is closest to neutral, since it clarifies that the person's immigration was illegal, without otherwise besmirching the person.
The article does not tell how many gang rapes were committed by people who are not illegal immigrants in the same time period, or what percentage of illegal immigrants participated in such attacks compared to what percentage of other US residents participated in gang rapes, or any other statistics that would put the "illegal alien gang rapes" in some kind of perspective. For all we know, gang rapes may be more prevalent among US citizens than among illegal immigrants.
I will frankly say that the statistics that "93 sex offenders and 12 serial sex offenders come across US borders illegally every day" are doubtful. I don't know whether the number is larger or smaller, but I do know that no records are kept of illegal border crossings! These statistics were put in to give an air of credibility to the article, but cannot have any true basis.
In the final paragraph, it is intimated that the "national media" are purposely keeping the public in the dark about the "wave" of gang rapes. I am not one to claim the mainstream news media is balanced, but I fail to see that the number of gang rapes by illegal immigrants is a pervasive enough issue to deserve more attention than it is getting. Further, the article says the "number of victims" will "soar," largely due to non-enforcement of immigration laws!
I will point out that there are much more pervasive problems associated with illegal immigration, than 15 gang rapes in the past few years. Most of us see some of the effects daily, and US citizens benefit as well as suffer from the presence of illegal immigrants.
Frankly, this article seems designed primarily to create ill will against illegal immigrants in the US, by associating the entire group with gang rape. This is clearly absurd.

Answer 2

Yeah, it is. 'Cause in the article, they keep saying how the illegal aliens are causing gang rapes to happen, but there are Americans doing the same thing, and those stories aren't coming into the press. I think the reasoning for this is that some people feel that the illegal aliens shouldnt be here, so they are just looking for reasons to get them out. What they don't say is that no matter what country they are from, some people will gang rape others. It doesn't matter what country, it will happen. Being from another country doesn't mean people are bad, although it seems that is what the author is trying to say in this quote from the article:

William Gheen of ALIPAC warns "Many illegal aliens have a rape and pillage mentality toward America. The government has shown them they can break our laws on many levels without much fear of enforcement. Why should they think of rape or gang rape any differently?"

All the author wants to do is throw the illegal aliens out of this country. And thats not nessicarily true. If a person, any person, is breaking the law, they should be dealt with in the same way, not differently.


Hope this helps!!!