What an honest American really thinks

I recently received a chain letter from a close family member, with the subject line "What an honest American really thinks" purporting to be by Andy Rooney.  It is hard to resist that title, isn't it?  Full disclosure, I am Hispanic and this particular family member is white.  I decided that rather than having a long discussion again, which I know would make the family member feel singled out, it makes more sense to make it a post, hopefully making it into one of those "teachable moments."  Anyway, the email itself is too long to do a full point by point debate, and it's laced with truisms such as "Guns don't make you a killer. I think killing makes you a killer," which few would disagree with.  Still, there are three important points that I would like to make.

First, a simple google search will show that this is a seven year old chain letter which Andy Rooney has disavowed. So at the very least, the author is not an "honest american;" he's not even honest about his identity. In fact, Andy Rooney want's to sue him for defamation. 

Second - one that hits a little closer to home - I disagree with the racial views especially as implicitly targeted at Hispanics with the language issue.  In an ideal world, would everyone speak the same language? Of course, mistranslation can be a big problem in international politics as well as daily life. However the phrase "[i]f you want to be an American citizen you should have to speak English" takes it a few steps further - it is pretty direct anti-immigrant rabble rousing. It is the logical equivilent to say if you don't speak English (implicitly if you speak Spanish), you're not worthy of citizenship. This rabble rousing has a negative effect on everyone who is Hispanic, be it for speaking Spanish, having a Spanish accent, looking Hispanic, or having a Hispanic name. I fit this category, and heck even my ethnically white spouse fits into this category too. The more anti-Hispanic sentiment increases, the harder it is for us to find jobs... there's no way to hide the second word in our resumes has to be a Hispanic surname.  In fact, I've even been in a job interview where the interviewer said "you don't sound Hispanic." This proves to me that in the new environment where job applications are just online, a Hispanic surname is an obvious obstacle.  But my spouse and I have discussed it, and we refuse to bow to external pressure and change our name.  Linking this back to my preferred field of international politics, changing our surname would be little different than a country conceding to a terrorist's demands - in a word, unthinkable.

Finally, everyone has the right to say and believe whatever they want. The author is correct that he "[has] the right NOT to be tolerant of others because they are different, weird or tick him off" ... although the author does not have the right to defame Andy Rooney. Regardless, it is important to note that many - if not most - members of a racial group don't seek out to be lumped into a race. Instead, we have race thrust upon us by bigots such as this author - be it by skin color, accent or name. While it is obvious that the author "really thinks" these things, every time I receive an email like this I am disappointed to see that some members of my family believe in them enough to forward them to their friends and family.

It would be nice if everyone in the world was tolerant of each other, but being a student of realism, I doubt it will ever happen.  At the very least, these family members should realize that this rabble rousing has an effect on members of their own family, often even the ones that they are emailing. Maybe that realization will help grow a little more tolerance.

For my part, I hereby pledge not to let casual bigotry from my family pass without a confrontation, and I welcome others in my family to do the same. 

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Non Sequitur Post Script:  Seriously, and this goes to everyone out there - fact check your stories.  You can read wikipedia, and blogs and chain emails, but if it doesn't sound real then it probably isn't.  I personally limit my reading to articles have links to news sources - CNN, Fox News, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NPR, BBC, Times Online - you know the news sources you've heard of before.  For the newer political claims, try the non-partizan Factcheck.org, they write articles exclusively on this sort of thing, and - like me - they vigorously cite all of their sources.  As their articles prove, they aren't a pawn of the Democrats or the Republicans.