Stupid people tricks
So I heard last night on MPR (Maryland Public Radio if you're not familiar) an interview of an illegal immigrant from Mexico. It covered why she had come here and how she had done it etc... etc... It was very educational and I felt sorry for the situation she had been in in Mexico. Frankly, I'm not too big on the illegal immigration issue. I really don't see why they (citizens of other countries) can't come and go or become U.S. citizens as they please. I'm all for all the Mexicans coming to America then Mexico collapsing because it doesn't actually have any people, America annexing the now unclaimed land, and declaring it new Texas.
At this point, if you know at least SOMETHING about this entire issue, you'll realize that I've done no homework on it whatsoever and don't really know all the details. That's fine with me because it's not my problem or concern and it's not specifically what I've decided to complain about today. It's just the backdrop for that which I've decided to complain to you today.
At the end of the interview this woman talked about how, since her green card was a forgery, she couldn't get it renewed like a legal immigrant would. Instead she had to go down to a parking lot in the city and buy a new counterfeit green card. She said that she hated doing this because it made her "feel like a criminal". Then she went on to say that "eventually you realize that a fake document is just a fake document and you don't worry about it because there are people out there who are really breaking the law." That really infuriated me. Of COURSE it makes her feel like a criminal! She IS a criminal! Yes! There ARE people out there REALLY breaking the law. She's one of them!
It's not the particulars of her situation that bothers me. Again, I felt sorry for her and I don't really know enough about our immigration laws to form a reasonable opinion. But the attitude that you see so often these days that some crimes aren't "real" crimes and don't "really" make you a criminal pisses me off to no end. Breaking a law, ANY law, makes you a criminal. I don't care if it's pirating MP3s or Jaywalking, or being an illegal immigrant.
Do I commit "little" crimes sometimes? Yes. I've run red lights. I used to own a crap load of illegal MP3s and software, I drank alcohol a few times before I was 21, and I even shoplifted once or twice in my youth. Do I feel these are justifiable? NO! Do they make me a criminal? YES! Would I argue that I wasn't if I got caught and called on it? No. I'd be surprised if everyone out there hasn't committed some minor crime in their life. We all do, but that ISN'T justification that it's O.K. and nothing short of someone having a gun to your head and forcing you to do something illegal is justification. It drives me crazy when people think that doing certain things that are explicitly illegal are O.K. for some reason or another. It seems to me that it's tied in with the external locus of control that becoming more and more prevalent in society today. Nothing is ever anyone's fault anymore. No one ever takes responsibility for their own actions and it drives me crazy. Soon I predict that "there's no free will" is going to be a legal defense in court and no one will ever have to take any kind of accountability for their actions.
At this point, if you know at least SOMETHING about this entire issue, you'll realize that I've done no homework on it whatsoever and don't really know all the details. That's fine with me because it's not my problem or concern and it's not specifically what I've decided to complain about today. It's just the backdrop for that which I've decided to complain to you today.
At the end of the interview this woman talked about how, since her green card was a forgery, she couldn't get it renewed like a legal immigrant would. Instead she had to go down to a parking lot in the city and buy a new counterfeit green card. She said that she hated doing this because it made her "feel like a criminal". Then she went on to say that "eventually you realize that a fake document is just a fake document and you don't worry about it because there are people out there who are really breaking the law." That really infuriated me. Of COURSE it makes her feel like a criminal! She IS a criminal! Yes! There ARE people out there REALLY breaking the law. She's one of them!
It's not the particulars of her situation that bothers me. Again, I felt sorry for her and I don't really know enough about our immigration laws to form a reasonable opinion. But the attitude that you see so often these days that some crimes aren't "real" crimes and don't "really" make you a criminal pisses me off to no end. Breaking a law, ANY law, makes you a criminal. I don't care if it's pirating MP3s or Jaywalking, or being an illegal immigrant.
Do I commit "little" crimes sometimes? Yes. I've run red lights. I used to own a crap load of illegal MP3s and software, I drank alcohol a few times before I was 21, and I even shoplifted once or twice in my youth. Do I feel these are justifiable? NO! Do they make me a criminal? YES! Would I argue that I wasn't if I got caught and called on it? No. I'd be surprised if everyone out there hasn't committed some minor crime in their life. We all do, but that ISN'T justification that it's O.K. and nothing short of someone having a gun to your head and forcing you to do something illegal is justification. It drives me crazy when people think that doing certain things that are explicitly illegal are O.K. for some reason or another. It seems to me that it's tied in with the external locus of control that becoming more and more prevalent in society today. Nothing is ever anyone's fault anymore. No one ever takes responsibility for their own actions and it drives me crazy. Soon I predict that "there's no free will" is going to be a legal defense in court and no one will ever have to take any kind of accountability for their actions.