Time to get mean.

[AllyCat]

In one night at work I overheard people talk about how disappointed they were with the elections. Then they started trashing illegal immigrants and how they can come here, work, and send it "home to Mexico" and not help our economy. I then heard two women talking about their church groups and their support of the poor. "But I don't want to donate to the company food drive because I have no way of knowing if the people who get the food really need it or are just lazy".

WTF has happened to people? Why are they so mean?

I launched on the first group talking about illegal immigrants and said that rather than cracking down on the people who come here illegally, we could actually enforce the laws we have so the corporations don't keep hiring them. After her retort that "they do jobs Americans won't do", I said that Americans won't do those jobs for $5/hour with no benefits or worker protections. If they were given a living wage, they would do them. "oh I suppose so" was the response.

The other lady I couldn't even be nice. I turned around and said "Would you seriously not give food to the donation drive because someone might game the system? Lots of needy people should get no food just because someone who doesn't need it that badly might get something? Who are we to judge what is happening to someone else?" She stammered and said
"that's not what I meant". "That's what you said" was my response. "Well, ..." and she hemmed and hawed and said "of course I would still give" and then changed the subject.

I'm done being nice to people about this kind of stuff. I don't know where this kind of thinking comes from, but I am making an promise to tackle it head on with no sugar coating. I'll be diplomatic where necessary and if I have the energy, but I am done listening to this kind of talk from ANYONE.

[gateley]

1. Good for you! You're an inspiration. And I just posted that we don't seem

to care about anyone else anymore. It's so sad. :(

[State the Obvious]

2. They do it because... no one calls them on it.

You did. Nice job.

Now if we could get the entire Democratic party to do what you did.

[abq e streeter]

3. Excellent--I hope you're proud of yourself, because you should be

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Beautiful rant.

The whole spirit pervading the GOP is really evil.

[tabatha]

5. Is that your photo? Gorgeous.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

6. Stolen from an internet resource I must keep secret.

;-) I would be happy to point you to the locale if you would like though.

[tabatha]

10. Sure.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

15. The bookmark is on my other computer at home. I will PM you the link when I retrieve it.

In the interim, here is the full size image

[tabatha]

16. Wow! Exquisite! Thanks.

[Rixtang]

7. Standing Ovation

You have set an example that we all need to follow through
with. I hear the talk at work as well and ask them what they
would do if they were in their shoes. I am 55 today and this
was a great present. Thanks!!

[AllyCat]

11. Happy Birthday!!

[bigwillq]

17. Hello

Welcome to DU! :hi: Happy Birthday!

[NuttyFluffers]

8. good. the time for polite society is over. dangerous lies are killing us.

it's time to fight dangerous lies with exposure and shame. the time for coddling the "tender feelings" of delusional borderline-sociopathy is over. people are hurting and dying all over; other people can just get over themselves and their delicate sensibilities.

[LawnKorn]

9. K&R

[laughingliberal]

12. Good job. The same bunch has no problem with tax cuts for companies who send our jobs overseas.

We hand billions in tax cuts to corporations who don't invest in our economy and ship our jobs off. And it's a lot more than the money the 'illegals' are sending home to Mexico.

[ljm2002]

13. About the retort that ""they do jobs Americans won't do"...

...if she really believes that, then why in hell does she object to the illegals in the first place?

She's against them being here, and yet she'll defend the corporations who hire them because in her view, they can't find American citizens to do the jobs. A perfect illustration of cognitive dissonance in action. Well, actually not, since cognitive dissonance would imply (a) there is cognition to begin with; and (b) that the person in question might actually notice the dissonance.

Well anyway, your point that Americans don't want to do these jobs for $5/hr and no benefits is right on target.

[AllyCat]

18. She was mostly objecting to the fact that they send the money out of the US

"which hurts our economy".

[ljm2002]

19. Yes that's another common refrain...

...at least that one is understandable, although I do not know myself how much it hurts our economy. But many undocumented immigrants work and pay taxes and Social Security while not being able to avail themselves of the benefits, so I'd guess it's a wash. In the meantime, though, they still try and demonize these people while making justifications for their employers like "Well Americans won't do these jobs anyway". If that is true, then it does not make any sense to vilify those who come here to do those jobs, does it?

[uncommon]

14. Good. We need to give up on the idea of keeping the peace and speak our minds.