BCBlog

As I sit in my office, I can hear most of what people chatter about outside my door, but I try not to get involved. People are stupid, generally speaking, and I tend to not suffer fools gladly.

This morning I was treated to someone (it’s almost always the same someone) describing something he heard on the Pompous Windbag show (aka “O’Reilly”) about how people in such-and-such (he can’t remember the location) aren’t allowed to actually include descriptions in their descriptions. When police in this unnamed locale release a description of a crime suspect, they’re not allowed to include any mention of race, he says. That’s just like — he adds — some European country or another, probably Sweden (the bugaboo of Republicans), where someone described a crime suspect as “fat” and was excorciated for it.

Sigh. I shake my head and try to ignore it, but it continues, veering off into utter racist tripe.

“I mean, what are we supposed to call these people anyway? Black people, I mean? Is it African-American now? ‘Cause it used to be Negro or Colored, and those things were just fine one day and the next you couldn’t say them. Everything is so PC now.” That’s almost verbatim. With a little work, that could be the basis for a fine stand-up routine, but as it is, it’s just completely wrong. Yet it’s believed as gospel truth by a certain segment of the population, including this guy in my office. Fortunately, he has no children, and won’t, so at least he’s not raising mini-losers.

“And the Mexicans,” he continues, and yes, he really used the definite article. “They’re all in an uproar, wanting their country back. It’s their country, and they want it back!” Is xenophobia always coupled with utter ignorance, or just most of the time?

In the meantime, I heard someone describing poll results on the radio yesterday, and he mentioned that when they broke out their result by zipcode, it turned out that the zipcodes most affected by illegal immigration, where people were most likely to know illegal immigrants, were the least likely to describe it as a problem, while the people in least-affect zipcodes, like where I used to live in South Dakota, were the most likely to describe illegal immigration as a threat to… everything. A stark demonstration of how ignorance breeds fear.

Sometimes I wade in and argue that this guy is just mouthing ignorance, which is ondoubtedly why he only ever speaks to me when he’s absolutely forced to for work reasons. I’m not sure if he actually hates me, or just really dislikes me, and I don’t care. Today, though, still reeling from the nationwide stupidity of people losing their minds over the “Dubai ports deal,” I just weep for the future.

It’s one thing to say that “people are stupid,” and I do that a lot. It’s another thing to actually see and hear it demonstrated, day in and day out.

I’m tired.