Ignorant or evil?

"Prejudice is the child of ignorance." -- William Hazlitt

I always like to say that I believe that people are inherently good. They may be uninformed or ignorant, but in their hearts, all people want the same things and care about others. After the last few days, I wonder if I'm wrong. Two separate instances at clients of mine have made me doubt my belief.

The first was a few days ago. My client, who lives in Sun City West, was complaining about a crew of people that had came out to work on his tile. They had arrived later than they were scheduled for and he was complaining about it. He automatically assumed they were illegal Mexicans. They may or may not have been. But that's not the point. He was equating tardiness with laziness and in turn with illegals.

He said that he was going to go out with a baseball bat and take care of all of them. He could just throw them in the garbage bin and no one would care because the were just "illegal Mexicans". He wasn't going to really do it but that's how weak-minded braggarts roll. They will complain about everything and will never take the time to actually get at the root of issues. Why don't you attack companies that would hire illegals?

The second instance just occurred today. I overheard a few workers talking at a plastics plant that I do work for. A lady was complaining that her ex-husband was going to visit a mission in Mexico with their kids. They were taking some toys to this mission, who in turn gave them to orphans in the area. It's obviously a very unselfish and humanitarian thing to do. They only thing that she could say was that if you want to see Mexican orphans, just go down to the local soup kitchen.

In the same conversation, a 2nd worker was complaining about how the show Amazing Race spends too much time in Third World countries. He commented, "Nobody wants to see that kind of filth and poverty." You pathetic, fucking clueless idiot. Welcome to the real world. Life isn't just your little protected middle-class existence. Just because he don't hear about pain, sickness and poverty doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. When are people going to learn that it is not how we treat those in the same financial position as us but rather how we treat those that are not as lucky as us. What a novel concept. "Open your hand to the poor and needy neighbour in your land." -- Wow ... let me see, who said that ... that's right, JESUS!! Some people who claim to be Christians have seemingly forgotten that.

You complain about Third World countries ... why don't you take a look at the one right next to us. Nowhere else in the world does a first world country share a border with a third world one. You want to know the reason why people cross the border? There is your reason. If you want to stop people from crossing the border, get rid of the incentive for doing so. Do things that will help to bring up the economy of Mexico. And penalize those companies that hire illegals.

Now, the immigration issue is a non-partisan issue that intelligent people can justifiably disagree about. But the xenophobia that I see exhibited by far too many people is indicative of a far bigger problem. Little people with little minds always want to blame others for their failures in life. Whether it be blacks, Mexicans, poor people, etc., it's always someone else's fault. It high time that you people look in the mirror and figure out what's wrong with you instead of trying to blame the ills of the world on others. You people make me sick.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly." -- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.