You see, that is the problem. "some are good people." The ideal is all, yet that is not achievable, so we leave ourselves debating how many criminals and ne're-do-wells will we as a country tolerate? Let's say that we close our eyes and let 100 people in. Out of those 100 people, 10 end up in our prisons, or even just 1. So what do we tell the victims of these criminals "some are good people"? Clearly not the ones committing the crimes. The problem I see here is that there is large community of ignorant people, our president included, who think that people are naturally civilized and naturally yearn for a Judeo/Christian ethic and culture. Nothing can be further from the truth. Look how far the US has fallen away from its own Constitution, the reasons are legion, but the declining lack of respect for others (basically the Golden Rule) and a weakened work ethic lead the list. These things stem from a culture, not from an orientation course or by fiat. A major argument against the liberation of Iraq is that "the Iraqis don't respect a democratic form of government." Given that a democratic/republican form of government has been unknown in that region for the history of mankind (which is lengthy considering that most anthropologists consider that region the "Cradle of Civilization"), their argument has basis. Same is true for the Latin Americans. The Aztecs weren't great on respecting individual rights, and the Conquistadors from Spain and Portugal didn't improve things there at all. The Roman Catholic "influence" merely syncretized their pagan religions with a formal heirarchy - which is why they look at tortillas and burnt bread and see the Virgin Mary, and see the dude that played Jesus in Mel Gibson's movie and bring their ailing children up to him to heal.
A discussion I had recently with my wife concerning these "some good people". There was a lengthy series in the Dallas Morning News concerning the state of women in the border towns of Mexico. One segment focused on the maquiladoras (sp?) and how they were mostly staffed by women. The reason why women were the employer's choice, was not necessarily from the nature of the work (though some work would be "beneath" the pride of many Mexican men), but because women were less likely to fight with their employers and fellow employees, sexually harass (or worse) the women and/or show up to work drunk as would the men. IOW, in terms of manual labor, men usually have the advantage over women, yet employers shunned men because after the drunkeness and brawlings, the women were far more reliable and productive. Employers even find the men so less valuable then women that it is cheaper for the employer to provide day care services and cater to the special needs of women, rather than risk it with men.
So where do all these men go when they can't find work in Mexico? Right on over to the good ol' United States! That's right, the same men who can't land jobs in Mexican maquilidoras because they are lazy, violent drunks and perverts are embraced by this president who compares them to native born American Citizens as "hard working, strong family values". Yes, our president, during the debates, using the typical American as a measure of comparison, claimed that uneducated, illiterate, violent, drunken perverts and bums were "hard working with strong family values".
Another poster to this thread mentioned this alleged strong work ethic. During Hurricane's Ivan's sojourn in the Caribbean, for some stupid reason my family chose to take a cruise which was rerouted so that one of our stops was in Belize. We were pleased by the excellent work of those who we came in contact with while there. The next day we went to some port along the eastern Mexican shoreline that was obviously built to accommodate the cruise industry. We rented a poorly maintained golf cart and wandered south of the nearest fishing village. The "roads" literally were ankle deep in refuse and garbage, mostly beer bottles and food packaging, but also dirty diapers and God only knows what else. There were quite a number of "homes", dilapidated and would definitely be condemned in every jurisdiction of America, yet many had bright shiny cars or trucks parked in the "yard", while nude children played with a dead chicken next to the collapsed porch that was littered in empty beer cans and bottles.
While passing through on the non-tourist side, we came across another couple from our ship who had stopped to assist some Mexicans who had their car buried to the frame in sand. Apparently the owner of the car decided that once the car was stuck that the best thing to do would be to spin the tires so until one could see daylight under the drive wheels, transforming what should have been a push and shove into an excavation project. Even though we were paying by the hour for a vehicle, we spent a good half hour on our bellies digging sand out from all around the car, our wives were retrieving material (other than the wet leaves the Mexicans wanted to use) to provide suitable traction once the car's frame was cleared of the sand. Beyond getting the wet leaves, the three Mexican men and the one Mexican woman just stood around impatiently waiting for us Gringos to rescue their car. When the time to try to drive the car came, the woman took her place behind the wheel, the other gringo and I positioned ourselves to lift and push from the front, and one of the Mexican men rested his left hand on the fender of the car. Due to our work and effort, the car was back on the "road" again and the four packed themselves into the car and drove off without a single "gracias" or "thank you".
Our cruise ship, the fourth largest in the Caribbean, docked the following day in Cozumel - the mother of all tourist traps. Our ship came in shortly after day break, and we tied off next to this ship that seemed to be an order of magnitude larger than ours. Basically, between our two ships, we added six to seven thousand people to the population. The cabbies were patiently waiting in a queue literally miles long to hustle us from the ships to the town. We arrived at Plaza del Sol by nine o'clock. NONE of the shops were open. We asked one of the street hustlers when the shops would be opened and we were told that their hours of operation generally were from eleven or so till four that afternoon. Five hours. Could you imagine any retail shop, other than a Korean owned/operated donut shop only open for five hours? We were also informed that the best deals were made the last hour before closing. So basically we only had one hour to shop in a town that has no industry other than tourism. BTW? The ships left after sunset so the hours were not because of the ship schedules.
My experience with the Mexican people in their own homeland removes any question as to why Mexico will always be a failure as a nation and an impediment to prosperity and integrity. The people I ran across were lazy drunken ingrates - and those are the people whose jobs are to cater to tourists with fat wallets and low purchasing discretion.
Very informative, thanks.
-read later-
good post/essay