It’s hard to talk about immigration without sounding like a racist. So let me just say this and get it out of the way: I think Mexicans are superior to me.
By “me,” I am referring to people who are part English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish, Dutch, German, and Native American. There are three of us that I know of. I think my brother and sister would agree that we kind of suck compared to Mexicans.
Compare me to Mexicans on any dimension and I lose. For example, I like to think I’m smart, but realistically, if you pick any topic, there is at least one Mexican who knows more than me. Or is it “more than I”? I don’t know, but I guarantee there’s a Mexican somewhere who does.
And don’t get me started about common sense and street smarts. If my car breaks down someplace where my Blackberry doesn’t have signal, there’s a good chance I’ll die before I figure out how to get help. Compare that to the guy I can see from my office window, working construction down the street. He walked here from Mexico and learned how to be a carpenter just by looking at a hammer. I speak exactly one language. He’s been here a month and knows 1.1 languages. Advantage: Mexican guy.
Mexicans have great looking skin that resists sunburn. I have skin that looks like tapioca spilled on canvas, and I have to wear sunscreen to sit in front of my computer monitor.
How about durability? I can hurt my back just eating a bowl of strawberries. I wouldn’t last long picking them.
How about character? In the suburbs where I live, most people with above average incomes hire housecleaners to come once a week. It’s almost always a crew of three Mexicans. Each crew has a wad of house keys. In the 29 years I have lived in California, the total number of thefts I have heard attributed to Mexican housekeepers is zero. Now, in the interest of not incriminating yourself, compare that to your best male friend who is not a Mexican and ask yourself how many of these crimes he has committed:
- Sex with an underage girl when he was 18
- Marijuana
- Speeding
- Fudging on taxes
- Underage drinking
- Illegal copying of songs
- Driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit
- Stealing office supplies
There’s a good chance your best male friend is a frickin’criminal.
You might argue that any Mexican in this country illegally has broken a law, and that is obviously true. He is guilty of working hard so he can send money home and lift his family from wretchedness. I automatically like that kind of guy, whereas your best friend sounds like a jerk.
I can see the arguments on both sides of the immigration issue. And I’m sure I’d have a different view if I lived in some gang-infested part of Southern California. But the dirty little secret that most Californians know is that Mexican immigrants, legal or otherwise, are bringing up the national average on the “good people” meter. If that were not so obviously the case, the borders would have been shut a long time ago. I’d be down there myself with some boards and a hammer and the hope that some guy on the other side would show me how to use them.
[Update: Unlike many of the readers directed to this blog from racist web sites, Mexicans understand satire. If you do not understand satire, I recommend less challenging forms of entertainment.]
All I can say is that don't compare yourself to others, especially those with Mexicans. Each of us has our own special characteristics and we excel in that certain characteristics.
adbot
New York Immigration Lawyer Marina Shepelsky, located in Brooklyn, assists clients from the New York metro area and across the United States in all immigration and naturalization matters http://www.e-us-visa.com
Posted by: adbot | April 30, 2008 at 02:06 PM
you know its hard to say anything about immigration without sounding racist, but with that said being a construction worker ive actually been in the economy that hispanics effect the most. I've slowly watched hard working americans be pushed from their jobs by buisnesses who use an(ILLEGAL) workforce and its pretty hard to compete, when im not willing to live with my whole family to keep expences low. The whole purpose of legal immigration is to bring an influx of skill and new ideas into our country to keep our technology from becoming stagnant. That being said what we are recieving is poor, uneducated, people with poor health care and its putting a strain on MY tax dollars! Thats not racism thats realism!!
Posted by: mind of wirrick | January 23, 2008 at 04:52 PM
you know its hard to say anything about immigration without sounding racist, but with that said being a construction worker ive actually been in the economy that hispanics effect the most. I've slowly watched hard working americans be pushed from their jobs by buisnesses who use an(ILLEGAL) workforce and its pretty hard to compete, when im not willing to live with my whole family to keep expences low. The whole purpose of legal immigration is to bring an influx of skill and new ideas into our country to keep our technology from becoming stagnant. That being said what we are recieving is poor, uneducated, people with poor health care and its putting a strain on MY tax dollars! Thats not racism thats realism!!
Posted by: mind of wirrick | January 23, 2008 at 04:51 PM
can the U.S. or any country, really own the land and prohibit people from entering or leaving? i don't think that is right. watch poccahantas
Posted by: Stephanie | October 27, 2007 at 09:21 PM
I'm glad someone out there realize that the problem is not really with illegal immigrants, atheists, north korea, Anna Nicole Smith, or who or whatever happens to be the big issue on FOX. The problem is that we are blaming everyone else and not taking initiative to do something about it. Oh boo hoo, the mexicans took my job, oh so sorry didn't know you wanted to wash dishes or pick grapes. Hey if your willing to do the job i'm sure that the nice farmer would hire you. And to those who are loosing jobs in manufacturing, well its really the fault of the factory owner not properly investing in new technology, and the lack of care that goes into production. Yeah China makes cheap things but hey Germany and Japan (with the highest labor cost in the world) are making products that are far superior to anyone and they are not in danger of loosing their jobs.
there are people out there with good intentions like this guy on http://old-things.blogspot.com he has good ideas and seems like a likable guy but i think the energy is wasted. Your not going to stop illegal immigration so start focusing on how to start improving education.
Posted by: chen yu | September 25, 2007 at 02:04 PM
The next Republican President better have some good ideas because this is what is really hppening:
In the U.S. interest rate are going lower, Gold is going higher, Oil is going higher, inflation is going higher, the dollar is going lower. What is wrong with this? Everything! At some point the FED is going to have to raise rates bigtime. We are in a very, very, precarious situation at the moment. I think Gold will tripple to over $2,000 an ounce when the market finally wakes up and sees the real inflation. Last I checked a lower dollar = higher import prices. There is no inflation deflator here. With commodities on fire you can forget about that. Bernanke should have never lowered rates last week. However, the Fed might be doing something that few have talked about. Maybe the Fed has abandoned the dollar to crush the trade deficit. Good luck, it will take 20 years to correct our 6% of GDP trade deficit and move it back to under 1% of GDP, unless you want to seriously disrupt the global economy. We are in for tough times people. Very tough! The FED will not be able to save housing with lower rates. We are in for a 10 year decline in home prices. It is called a cycle!
Posted by: Ames Tiedeman | September 22, 2007 at 11:33 AM
End all immigration now or face American cultural ruin by 2050.
Posted by: Ames Tiedeman | September 13, 2007 at 09:01 AM
I just had to write after reading those revolting Septic (you’ll have to look up Cockney rhyming slang for that one) responses you posted.
I came to the U.S. in 1982 as an 18-year-old immigrant from England. Despite the generally common language of the “natives,” my sense of Robinson Crusoe-ness was largely alleviated by the Mexicans I worked with and came to befriend.
I watched the only football available on TV at the time on Telemundo; in an odd way, it made me feel at home, and I have maintained a mild soft spot for the Mexican league since then.
Sharing much in common, despite our language differences, has often struck me. I can think of few other nations that have such frequently shite, underachieving national football teams yet whose fans continue to adore them beyond all common sense than do the English and the Mexicans. We and they are self-deprecating, think that excessive drinking is an unapologetic prerequisite for a pleasant evening, and will have a punch-up and fall over laughing afterward. Thoughtful, argumentative, loyal and kind: I’ve ALWAYS thought this. That’s how I have come to know Mexicans.
I’m hard-pressed to say a bad word about the Mexicans I’ve met in the past two decades. I have run out of gas twice—both times, within moments, Mexican nationals stopped to help. The first were gardeners who gave me gas; the second, a young man, his wife and young son in a beat-to-shit, barely running car who drove me to a gas station and back to my own car. Neither accepted payment.
And to that guy who wrote “Little brown animal”? Easy to type, coward, but I promise you: Repeating such filth in my presence would result in a “Congratulations, you’ve just met England” sticker on your recently head-butted, caved-in face. Till England slaughters Mexico 5-0 in their next meeting, Mexican!
Shanbo5150
Posted by: Shan B. | August 21, 2007 at 05:54 AM
WTF? Mexicans do not speak Castilian? That is a very ignorant remark! Of course Mexicans speak Castilian! All Spanish speaking countries abide by the Real Academy of the Spanish Language.
And who says it is very simple? Just compare the number of tenses in the English language against the number of tenses in the Spanish language.
Another thing: The original Mexicans’ language (Nahuatl) contributed many words to Spanish and other languages. Examples: tomate (tomato), aguacate (avocado), chocolate, etc.
Posted by: Jesus Pena | August 21, 2007 at 05:41 AM
Dear RipplingBeast,
You point out that I don't have any facts to present to support my position, and this would be true if my position was something to do with the original discussion regarding Mexicans' superiority/inferiority. I have a perfectly valid reason for this - my position is actually "Your arguments are full of more loopholes than a frilly lacy thingy". Due to this it would be improper for you to assume my position regarding Mexicans. Considering all the evidence that I presented in my original post, we could be on the same side for that issue.
I do, however, find it intriguing that you posted a reply to say "I wont bother answering". For the sake of simplicity I will spell out my original points.
You exhorted Vidal to "Learn to read what is actually written", and I have shown that a perfectly valid interpretation of what you wrote is the opposite of what you intended. This suggests that there could be an issue with the clarity of your writing. Furthermore, your phrasing of how you have "yet to meet a Mexican who was my equal in any area but musical skill" implies that rigorous testing was conducted, for which I am highly doubtful.
You state that Scott knows "full well that 'smart' and 'educated' are entirely different" yet when Vidal questioned your claims of "intellectual superiority" you used cubing a four-digit number as an example. Not only did I show that this is potentially not as impressive as it sounds, but it is also a skill that is learned rather than innate (at least, in most people) and so runs counter to your distinction of what constitutes "smart".
In response to Alyssa you stated that the Mexican derivative is "simpler than 'real' Spanish". I showed that categorizing language difficulty is not a straightfoward task, and in any case it would be difficult to surpass a native speaker's ability in a short period of time.
To further illustrate my point regarding your writing clarity, you argued to Vidal and Alyssa that "Mexicans never learn it (Spanish) to a significant degree" and that the Mexican derivative is "still called by the same name", which confuses the issue as to which language you are referring to. If you are not referring to the Mexican dialect, then your point that Scott would be able to equal a Mexican's ability is probably accurate but doesn't support any argument regarding language ability. It could be equally true for any language that Mexicans don't practice.
Your point that people should wash their hands is good advice, but doctors recommend that you should wash for at least 30 seconds and this is not common practice.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/Resources/Nibbles/abc.pdf
Doorhandles and handrails have been identified as being hygiene risks, and airborne bacteria can be transmitted by laughing as well as by coughing.
http://www.nydailynews.com/12-22-2003/news/story/148292p-130829c.html
http://www.med.umich.edu/1libr/wha/wha_tb_crs.htm
However, your original post makes no mention of your attempts to ensure people wash their hands for the recommended duration or trying to prevent people from laughing, which suggests your enforcement of hygiene standards is inconsistent at best, and may not achieve your goal of avoiding contamination. Moreover, in several countries your own practices would be considered substandard, and if citizens there acted in the same way you did you would not enjoy visiting at all.
You often rely on anecdotal evidence to support sweeping statements, such as your claim "persons from every other Latin country get offended... and I quote Oscar from Venezuela...". I'm sure I could find a Venezuelan who would disagree with Oscar and then your point would be entirely refuted.
Where you do provide more detailed statistics, the basic premises seem not to be supported with evidence - your links only look at race, and so the inherent assumption is that this is the causal factor. One of the links even states that "The majority of Hispanics have no driver's license", so possibly a point of comparison could be "People With No Driver's License" rather than the general population. It could be that Hispanics without licenses have LESS accidents than other groups without licenses, in which case it could be argued that Hispanics are BETTER natural drivers than the general population. In this example the causal factor for the high accident rate could be the fact they haven't attended Driver's Ed.
In general, your posts tend to highly hypocritical - you ask "How many Mexicans have you actually KNOWN PERSONALLY, Scott?", and then don't provide any numbers yourself when stating you have "yet to meet a Mexican who was my equal". Perhaps all three Mexicans you met have been complete wastes of space, I don't know, but you don't exactly go out of your way to show this.
You criticize Vidal, saying "You are such a wonder, to know what is in another's heart" and then state "Parsec, it's obvious that I scare you". I can't show that you are a racist, since you do try to point out you would take similar actions against anyone, but you have no problem implying I am an "uncreative lazy fool" without supplying any evidence.
This in no way impacts on your position regarding Mexicans - if you can address all the points that I raise in criticism of your arguments it could potentially remain intact and would only be the stronger for it. I would thoroughly recommend taking the time to distinguish whether someone is criticizing your position or your argument and responding appropriately.
For the record, if this sounds like weaseling out of me taking a position, I personally think you're an ass and that the chance of any given Mexican I meet being superior to you is pretty good. Just don't ask me to prove this in a court of law.
Yrs (literally),
Parsec.
Posted by: Parsec | August 14, 2007 at 03:29 PM
Speak for yourself, my self-loathing friend. A defining mark of the liberal is his irrational worship of the other. Something has to substitute for God in his worldview.
Posted by: J Maxwell, Mexifornia | August 13, 2007 at 02:16 AM
Parsec, it's obvious that I scare you, and I'm smiling as I watch your desperate attempt to hold onto a position which is nothing more than thieving lies.
Since you don't have any facts to present to support your position, I won't bother answering your attempt at satire, either literally or satirically.
And wash your hands. But more importantly, cleanse your heart of the desire to steal what others have created, and of laziness,which comes from cowardice. Stop trying to destroy that which is better than what you have made simply because it shows you to be an uncreative lazy fool. Rectify your own shortcomings rather than trying to pull others down who have done better.
Posted by: RipplingBeast | August 12, 2007 at 02:59 PM
Hey jobaby did your dad pay their health insurance too or did us evil white tax payers pay for it.
Posted by: Brad McDonald | August 12, 2007 at 09:44 AM
Dear RipplingBeast,
I am sorry that you feel inferior to Mexicans, you obviously feel strongly about this since you repeat "I have yet to meet... my equal" several times. I, too, have yet to meet my equal and it is my hope that someday I can meet another Mexican so that I can compare them to the girl who beat me by 1% in my math test. I do have to ask about your musical ability testing - did every Mexican have exactly the same repertoire of songs and play them with the exact mistakes you did? How did you compare ability between guitar and piano, or did every Mexican play the same instruments as you?
I also learned to cube four-digit numbers at an early age. Why, before I entered high school I could multiply 1000 X 1000 X 1000! In my head (although I must admit it still takes me about a minute)! However, I must congratulate you on your ability to do this without attending any math classes at all, since you take great pains to separate learned material from innate ability elsewhere.
I fully agree that the language used in Mexico is not a "real" language like Castillian Spanish and is therefore easier to pick up. I often use a similar comparison between languages - for example, Japanese is obviously easier to learn than English, as Japanese only has one irregular verb while English has many! I am confident that I will be able to master the intricacies, and that no native Japanese would be able to tell the difference in a matter of weeks. Unless you were cleverly arguing that Scott would be able to speak Castillian Spanish as well as a Mexican in a short period of time! Aha! I think Scott is a much more capable linguist than that - I believe at the end of the same period Scott will be able to speak Swedish just as well as a Mexican too!
I commend you on your enforcement of your personal hygeine ethic. I am confident that you also disinfect your hands after opening public doors or touching handrails, since studies have shown that bacteria is far more likely to be transferred this way than by coughing. However, I must warn you not to travel in East Asia - unless you have several pairs of "indoor", "outdoor", "bathroom" and "garden" shoes, plus wear a mask to prevent your breath from contaminating others when you are feeling slightly under the weather, then you will risk getting severely assaulted daily. But why should you subject yourself to their standards - what's good enough for you should be the rule everywhere, isn't that right?
I also like how you use anecdotal evidence to reinforce a lot of your points - I mean, if one or two other people said it then it must be true. These anecdotes are also solidly supported by links to statistics that use solely illegal alien status as a method of comparison to the general population. Obviously there is no need to check for other comparisons, such as groups with similar socio-economic or education levels, because everyone knows that the mere fact that they are illegal immigrants is their defining feature. Incidentally, did you know that convicted criminals make up a disproportionately large amount of the prison population compared to their representative proportion of the US population?
Yrs (satirically),
Parsec
Posted by: Parsec | August 11, 2007 at 07:48 PM
Wow. You were right, Scott. There are a lot of white supremacists who read your blog. But, then again, there are a lot of white supremacists here in AmeriKKKa.
Posted by: hiikeeba | August 11, 2007 at 01:05 PM
The "update" notes the blog entry is satirical. Hate to pick nits, but is it really?
Satire generally promotes positions, often via hyperbole, that the author does not hold to.
I'm not so sure that's the case here.
[You think I believe you can logically compare all Mexicans to one individual and come up with anything meanginful? -- Scott]
Posted by: Joe Baby | August 11, 2007 at 10:26 AM
Scott,
Nice post. I'm a white american who grew up working side-by-side with Mexicans on my dad's construction projects.
Another reason Mexicans are better than white americans: Mexicans aren't wasting any time blogging. They're too busy building, cleaning, serving this country working 12 hours a day and 10 on the weekend...while pot-belly whitey sits on his lazy ass watching TV all day and complaining bout dem Mexicans stealing jobs.
That Mexican who is crossing the border illegally to work here is a better American than Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaudh, and Mike Savage - three "americans" who don't make, build, or produce jack.
Posted by: Kevin | August 11, 2007 at 06:27 AM
If Mexicans were better than us they'd have a decent standard of living in their own country. There's lots of countries that don't have the resources (oil, minerals, farmland), manufacturing capability or tourism that Mexico has and still provide a much higher standard of living for their citizens. Mexico is a shameful country. The government there encourages and aids their poor to invade their neighbor and then berates their neighbor for not treating them better than they were treated in their own country. Most Mexicans would go back home if they could make a life for themselves. Seal the border, arm Mexico's poor and let them fight for what's theirs.
That said, I didn't take any offence to your post Scott, but Dilbert's much funnier.
Posted by: Arty | August 10, 2007 at 04:27 PM
Scott -- good post -- too bad you have a bunch of morons commenting.
Posted by: sj | August 10, 2007 at 04:24 PM
Oh no! You're being boycotted by people who don't understand your humor!
I have no doubt these were a large fraction of your revenue.
Posted by: bubba | August 10, 2007 at 12:40 PM
Illegal immigrants do the jobs Americans refuse to do, such as the execution style murder of 3 promising African-American college students listening to music, and the point blank shooting in the face of a beautiful young woman for her cellphone. You bet, illegals doing things native born citizens just don't want to do.
Posted by: Karen | August 10, 2007 at 07:56 AM
Please note that some of the comments have the wrong name on them.
Posted by: Brad McDonald | August 08, 2007 at 10:46 AM
Jon said:
I suspect the rich people/corporations that pay for officials to get elected also benefit from "illegal" immigration by way of higher profits (as a result of lower wages). This is probably the real "mysterious" reason behind our porous border.
I can´t agree more. MOST mexicans cross the border to feed their family, and they work more than the average american yet being paid less. If this wasn´t true, the border would be sealed and cheap workers would be brought from, say, China (that happens, still).
They say that inmigrants don´t pay taxes, therefore they are "stealing". But what about the money the boss saved paying them way less than average?
What about the cut for the (illegal) use of social security number gets? What about the constant fear of being deported, making them prone to constant intimidation by others (like say, a minor car crash)?
And feeling superior doesn´t make a life. Only responsible action makes one.
To all whitetrash/brainwashed comments: Get a life. The world is bigger and more complicated than you think.
Posted by: David | August 07, 2007 at 11:53 PM
I have just requested the DRUDGE REPORT to link this blog. Adams deserves the exposure. If he has the courage of his convictions he would call Matt Drudge and request it himself. That ain't gonna' happen.
Please, I request that all readers go to drudgereport.com and scroll down to the blank box on the right side which says, "send news tips to Drudge" and post a link to this page with a brief description such as, "Dilbert creator, Scott Adams, goes crazy on illegal immigration."
Give Scott the coverage he so justly deserves. He will soon discover how wrong his position is - in his wallet.
Posted by: George | August 06, 2007 at 08:46 AM
Scott --
You're full of PC-Namby-Pamby Multiculturalist garbage. I figured your wealth and power would lead you to side with the bosses who want to replace the average guy with cheap immigrant labor.
Hey I guess anti-White racism is the only "acceptable" racism.
I suppose you've never lost a job to cheap H1-B labor, or outsourcing. Wow. Color me surprised.
You ought to write for Wall Street Journal, or some paper in the Hamptons or Malibu. You can make cheap jokes at the expense of those who actually built this country from your gated country estate.
[To the posters above, yes Mexican Immigration authorities built a massive wall on the Southern border and have shot dead in the street impoverished Guatemalans trying to enter Mexico. But we are evil and racist for preferring to take care of our own citizens first over being Mexico's job creator.]
Well Scott I look forward to your writing about how much you admire Mexico's Carlos Slim, world's richest man, who has a monopoly on everything in Mexico from Telephones to rice. Glad to see you on the side of the bosses.
Too bad I'm going to skip over your pro-Boss trash. Thanks for saving me the time it took to read your stuff in the paper every day.
Posted by: Jim Rockford | August 05, 2007 at 11:05 PM