It's not just dumb girls on Facebook who throw the word 'bigot' around http://pacificaforum.org/soft-stalinism-at-the-university-of-oregon.

The idea that ordinary people questioning immigration are 'bigots' is common throughout the elitist left, including moderate left-wingers like Britain's Labour (but not for long!) prime minister Gordon Brown. Working class people find themselves in competition with immigrants for jobs and housing.

The immigrants are sometimes able to take the jobs because they accept worse conditions and lower salaries, and the housing because they are supported by the state. This creates resentment. There are several reasons to avoid calling resentful people names. One is that it's usually wrong - concern over immigration is not 'hate'. Another is that it is elitist to assume you are right and someone else is wrong - people don't like being talked down to. Another reason is that, like it or not, the citizens of a democracy are able to vote for people who can stop immigration. Given the existence of nation states, they are not obliged to let anyone in. Immigration is not a human right.

Arizona has just passed a law authorizing police to ask for visas. This is how not to oppose this law: http://arizona.indymedia.org/news/2010/04/76789.php.

Calling people concerned about immigration 'bigots' is also counterproductive, as Gordon Brown discovered to his cost:  http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/8649853.stm.