- Being a typical, diplomatically gifted Swede, I’d like to mediate a little.
Perhaps it’s true that East LA, in may ways, is friendly and a far better place than the media constantly keep on telling the World outside this corner of America through papers, movies and the Internet.
Suppose it’s also true that “East LA is a cesspool over-flowing with illegal aliens, gangbangers, and teen-age mommies, all of whom are ignorant, racist, self-entitled, worthless scum.”
What does that leave us with?
1. The crime rate and the “low life” ratio of East La is higher than the American average - True
2. It still is a place where friendship, ambitions and love daily makes progress - Also true
“Don’t shut your eyes to evil, but never invite distrust to your heart.”
This was true in the ghettos of medieval parts of Europe haunted by the Black Death like Florence, Italy in the 14th century, a city that refused to simply lie down and die, a city that decades later gave humanity the Renaissance.
Both shutting your eyes to evil as well as not letting hope in is destructive acts.
A crucial aspect is to what degree a given population understands this.