Monday, October 16, 2006

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.

9 comments:

Scott said...

That was a crazy sick game. I'll comment on this post tomorrow but that was a insane game.

Goodness.

dbackdad said...

That game made me want to puke. It would have been one thing if the Bears had just come in and whupped us. But no, we were lulled into thinking we actually had a chance. But that ol' Cards magic came through as usual ... snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Uggghhhh!!

Added to that is the fact that I can hear the horns honking and Bears fans cheering through my open windows because we are so close to the stadium.

Scott said...

Ugh, that's obnoxious. Bears fans have nothing to be proud of after that one. The defense looked good the last half, but that was one of the worst jobs of quarterbacking by Grossman I've ever seen.

dbackdad said...

I play in a fantasy league and my opponent had Grossman. He was the only player left playing that either of us had. With even the most basic of average games by Grossman, my opponent would have beaten me. But Grossman had one of the most spectactularly abysmal games that I have ever seen by a quarterback. Truly a thing of beauty.

Scott said...

Well, about your post.

It's a good rant. Xenophobia is rampant in this area as well. Much of it is based on a misunderstanding of economics (They're ghuna take our jorbs!), misunderstanding of where tax money goes (They're steelen' our social security!), and a bunch of racism mixed in. Of course none of these are true, and much of the emotion is ramped up by this nonsense 300 million population hysteria. For goodness sake people are simply incapable of having informed logical opinions.

The only thing I disagree with you here on Lance is your thought of punishing businesses who hire illegals. If the Government decides they want to call immigrants "illegal" then it is the Government's job to stop them. Businessmen aren't policemen or border patrol agents. Why should we or anyone stand in between two individuals who make a choice to enter in an employment contract.

dbackdad said...

A very good point Scott. But couldn't that same logic be applied to underage workers? As long as a business knows it is doing something illegal when it hires someone, isn't it culpable?

Scott said...

Not in my opinion because under aged peoples do not have the same right to contract as people of legal age. It's the same as underage sex laws. Even if the minor agrees to consensual sex, it's not legal since they don't have full rights to their own bodies.

Immigrants have all the rights that we do because they are humans and are created with the same unalienable rights that we all are. These rights aren't given by the Constitution, they are simply recognized by it. So citizenship is not a prerequisite for rights. Immigrants do have less privileges as citizens, but that's a different story.

At any rate, immigrants have the same right to contract that any of us do. Children don't.

dbackdad said...

... immigrants have the same right to contract that any of us do -- I agree. The onus is on the employer, however. There are already laws on the books forbidding the hiring of illegals under penalty of fines and imprisonment. It's that these laws are not enforced. My wife has worked in restaurant management for many years in Phoenix and has seen first-hand how arbitrarily the existing laws are enforced by INS. You cannot be telling me that companies should be allowed to enter into contracts with any of-age workers they choose regardless of immigration status? These companies are fully aware when they hire someone whether they are legal or not.

They choose to still hire illegals because they know that enforcement is not serious and even if they are caught, penalties are light.

Illegal Hiring is Rarely Penalized

Scott said...

You cannot be telling me that companies should be allowed to enter into contracts with any of-age workers they choose regardless of immigration status?

I understand it's illegal, but so is smoking pot. I don't think either should be illegal so I won't fault either offender for their actions. I simply believe the Government is acting outside it's authority by making hiring illegals, illegal.

I see no harm in illegals being hired and see no reason why it should be illegal. I also see no reason why they should be called "illegals". So that's basically my point.