1.) Mentioning that I’m going to vote for Barack Obama, even though I find his policies just left of Bush’s.

2.) Saying that documents required to procure identification for voting should be free.

3.) Mentioning I clicked a link shared by someone¹ but the site was inaccessible from my phone².

4.) I’m pretty sure the person who called me a cunt was pissed that I joked I don’t like squirrels (I do like squirrels, but I have a running gag. I’d mention the friends who posted about Squirrel Appreciation Day yesterday, but I don’t want to offend anyone by putting their name in a post).

5.) I said something I don’t remember which caused someone to freak out on me and call me an Obot. Other people remember that incident. No, I didn’t say anything to that person or say anything that elicited that kind of response from that person. Perhaps someone who saw it can remind me what caused her to lose her ever-loving mind.

6.) Laughing about being accused of being a sock puppet. That was actually funny, because the offended person didn’t even know what a sock puppet was so I linked her to urban dictionary. This, obviously, was a personal attack on her and I was clearly calling her a sock puppet.

I would dig these links up and/or directly quote myself, but I’m not in the mood right now. I’m irritated and not overly concerned about showing that these are actual incidents where I wasn’t ranting about someone in particular. I wasn’t pointing out anything except something like voting or websites that can’t be accessed by my android phone or, god forbid, joking about squirrels.

I can be very offensive. I recognize that. I can also get angry and rant, rant, rant. These situations are different. I’ve been commenting without the passion and fire because I have a lot going on in my real life and I’m just not feeling it. Today’s incident, regarding my highly offensive post remarking on CBS’s inability to code their site for Android, was something I totally wasn’t expecting³. Here’s someone who regularly “reminds” Google+ users that it’s rude not to acknowledge someone who has shared something with you. I did that and the response I got was a snide “I’m sorry to have bothered you with that”. When I explained my post he wrote “You could’ve fooled me”. Really? I mention to someone else that I think birth certificates should be free. The response I got from some stranger was “I don’t understand your rant. My birth certificate was free”. Upon clarification, his response to me was more shin-kicking. I don’t know where that shit came from⁴

The birth certificate thing went like this:

ME: And voting should be free. Meaning that it should cost $0. IDs, birth certificates etc all cost money. So, maybe it should be about allowing us to access these necessary articles of identication without the cost so that it costs $0 to cast a vote.

HIM: Um, my birth certificate didn’t cost me a dime… and neither did my Social Security card – so I’m a bit confused at your rant +Jenny Jinx

I’m sick of having to clarify innocent observations. I’m sitting here rewriting this shit over and over trying to word it in a way that somebody won’t find to be a personal attack on them. That shit is tiring. I’m not doing it anymore. Fuck it. There are plenty of people who read the shit I write who don’t find offense in my observations. I’d much rather “socialize” with them than the people who immediately go on the attack over stupid shit.

Here’s what my problem is:

There have been people in my social networking streams that have been spending a lot of time complaining about what they see in their streams. So, I’ve changed my habits on both Twitter and Google+. I’ve changed the way I reshare things on G+ and have curbed my habit of tweeting whatever the fuck is on my mind on Twitter. I’ve tried to be considerate of what others are experiencing on their own streams. That ends today.

I’ve been on Twitter for almost 5 years and G+ since 10 days after it went live Beta (heh). I’ve never had to defend myself against people whining that I’ve done something wrong so much as I have recently. That’s not a problem with how I do things, that’s a problem with their perception. There are times when I am clearly letting off steam or ranting about something/someone. There are also times when I will say something like “I hate you for showing me that” to someone and that someone will know I don’t really hate him– I’m joking. I appreciate a good discussion and I will apologize if I’ve really said something that has offended someone I respect⁵. I exhibited my ability to have rational debates and other types of discussion with just about any type of online personality⁶. I’m done behaving in a way that is out of character for me– whether on or offline.

A stranger is still someone I don’t know. And I don’t know someone just because we’ve had a few amicable words on a social networking site. I know someone or am in the process of knowing someone, if we mutually take the time to actually understand each other beyond online political ranting and sharing shit on another site. Fuck it. If someone is going to be my friend, they should realize that 1.) I’m a real person, 2.) I’m crazy and 3.) I’m opinionated. They should also realize that I’m not going to be intentionally hurtful to someone without a real reason. I’m not going to go the fuck off on someone because the link they shared isn’t working properly. If that’s what you think of me then see ya. I haven’t got the time for that or you. Period. Honestly, my life is easier and happier without people who are going to think of me like that.

1. This person was highly offended because I gave him credit for sharing the link. He accused me of calling him out.
2. No, worries, the clarification that I wasn’t complaining about the person who posted the link, but the site itself, was also offensive
3. I’ve since edited that post to remove his name and to include “some mysterious person” as to not “call out”
4. That comes from internet culture, I know. I know people are stupid and that anything can be misunderstood in writing. That’s not the point. That’s just an example of one more thing.
5. Key word there. If I’ve offended someone I don’t like or respect, I’ve probably done it on purpose and have no intention of apologizing.
6. I don’t always equate an online persona with an offline persona

He discusses way to avoid the bullies, also known as trolls. Block and ignore is the best method. I even unfollow people who RT shit from the idiots into my TL. That’s good advice, but…

Then he chastises people for standing up to the fuckers. I don’t necessarily agree with that. I don’t think constantly sending them mentions or engaging them is a good tactic, but mockery? Yes. Evidence of that is how the biggest bully flipped out on us “Obsessives” (though one of us is a Pot Stirrer, not truly an Obsessive).

Bullies, I’ve noticed, tend especially to go after people on Twitter who have tried to support others whom they have seen being bullied, by calling out the bullying. Whatever the reason, there is no justification to bully or abuse anyone for anything that is said on Twitter, not even if the intention is to dish out more of the same to a bully or abuser.

I don’t know if that’s really an effective way to get them to back off, but it is a way to refocus their energy off people who really can’t stand up for themselves. I mean, do I really care that some anonymous nobody put my name in a list on his website? No, not really. I think it’s freaking hilarious. It doesn’t hurt me in any way that I can think of. People like me, who don’t give a flying monkey’s ass about what idiots on Twitter write about her, are better targets than those who are genuinely upset. I fight back in a way that drives them mad– with laughter and derision.

Another thing he mentions is that he doesn’t associate with people who don’t use their real names and pictures. That’s not fair. The internet has been a place where anonymous and pseudonymous people have come together to discuss, openly, many different things that wouldn’t be safe for them to discuss were they to use their real name. For example: paganism. In small towns, people still view that as equal to satanism and kids get hurt. Another example is radical politics. People using their real names have been fired from their jobs for posting their real opinions online. Pseudonyms help protect them from real world consequences.

Occasionally, when something attracts my attention, I pause to check those who are following me by looking at their followers, or the tone and nature of their tweeting, and if I do not like what I find, I do not hesitate to block them, even through they have never addressed me. In addition, I follow only people and organizations when (1) they have revealed their true identity; or (2) I know their true identity notwithstanding their use of a pseudonymous nom de Twitter.

Who’s to say if someone is using their “real name” and picture anyway? I could say my real name is Jennifer Smith, but that doesn’t make it so. It sounds like a real name, but it’s not my real name. But, according to Mr. Dean, using that name gives me more validity. I can still behave in an abhorrent manner with that name, because it’s not my real name.

There are people online who know my real name but still call my JJ or Jinx or Jinxi. Why? Because that’s how I’m known. That’s my identity. I don’t use any other name online. I’ve been using it for a long time; it’s how people recognize me. Does that make my opinion less valid? Of course not. I’m also not a bully (though in this piece I could be considered a bully for calling out idiocy).

Consider people who attack others on a regular basis on Twitter. Some of them use what appears to be a real name. One of them is, apparently, an attorney and uses her real name. Another believes herself to be a journalist, though her #TwitterGravitas only allows her to enable her BFF by calling him the poor victim and everyone else evil mean poo-poo heads. Does that make the daily attacks in which they engage less vicious? Of course not. The whole argument against pseudonyms remains as ridiculous even when Mr. Dean puts it forward.

Most of the people with whom I’ve become friends with don’t use their real names in public online situations. There are many very valid reasons for this. If I chose to ignore them based strictly on their reluctance to out themselves, I would not have come to know these remarkable people. My own life has benefited by not assuming everyone who uses a pseudonym is doing so for nefarious reasons. Eventually I came out to these folks and they to me, but it took some time. Learning to trust them is not something I’ve ever regretted.

The folks on Twitter are not assholes because they’re anonymous. They’re assholes because they’re insulated and have found a group that will cheer on their attacks. They’ve successfully intimidated other people against speaking out against them. These other people like to say “I don’t want to get involved” but I don’t necessarily believe that. Mr. Dean is correct when he says that people who speak against the group are targets– even if they were once part of the group.
For people who do not like confrontation, this tactic is very scary. A target is identified and if the conflict goes on long enough, the group is warned “I will unfollow you if you follow this person”. The instigators are declared the victims and if their supporters are true friends, they’ll stop associating with the “bullies”¹. I’ve both seen this happen and been subject to it. A lot of people will say “Pshaw, who the fuck are you to tell me who to follow?” but the implication is there. Their “true friends” will get the hint and avoid all contact with the accused bully– if they are seen supporting the target then they could become the target.

I’ll go so far as to say they are “emboldened” not by those that mock them or give them negative attention. They enjoy the power they have over the people who are stuck in the middle. The ones that will silently, and not so silently, side with them through unfollows and blocks. They enjoy watching people flock to their defense and hold others to a standard to which they themselves are not held. That is the attention they crave. They are the victim in every scenario, they are protected and they are cherished. They enjoy that and feed on it. They create the crises from which they must be saved². And they do get saved by their ultra-aggressive group of Wannabes. It’s not the anonymity that drives them. They may not behave this way when face to face with someone, but they’re not the slightest bit ashamed of putting their real name– and reputation– to their behavior.

Their favorite targets are those that have a professional online reputation to maintain. I find that interesting. And every time one of those professionals blocks them they whine that person is a coward and afraid of “debate”. Meh. Maybe they’ll pick, pick, pick until the professional target strikes back. At that point they’ll whine that s/he is “unprofessional”. The behavior is so recognized that when it’s over-exaggerated in a mock conversation, people not in on the game can see what it’s about. So, why do their targets not block them on sight? Who cares if they whine about cowards? They don’t want a debate, they want to frustrate someone to the point that they will say something that can be used against them over and over. That tidbit will then be repeatedly fed to their core group of supporters, who will attack on their behalf. It’s a cycle they love to keep going and people who take them seriously actually make it worse on themselves. By engaging them, you’re feeding them. The old adage “Don’t feed the trolls” seems suitable in this instance³.

Except when the behavior is so over-the-top ridiculous that it begs to be mocked. I’m all about that.

P.S.

Check out Gizmodo’s funny take on this issue.

Originally posted the first portion of this on G+

1. Either their targets or the people who actually speak out against them.
2. See here for Serial Bully
3. None of this is to say bullying is a joke. There are real online bullies, those that hunt for and find personal information and create havoc in someone’s offline life. Those that stalk and prey on the weak don’t shy from the intertubz. This post doesn’t address that.

They are no different than the PUMAs were with Clinton back in ’08.

Sure, they’re smarter and don’t use so many exclamation points. But they behave the same when someone dares write anything negative about Obama. The same refusal to believe that he can be at all fallible. He’s no more than a rock star to them and damned anyone for saying otherwise.

This is illustrated best by the most recent event– the failure of the Super Committee to kill Medicare come to a compromise. Previous to the final decision, some of the nuPUMA² kept reminding people that Obama couldn’t work with the Congress he has. They were hamstringing him and there was nothing he could do. He was powerless against them. Some were saying that Obama was staying out of the Super Committee workings; keeping hands off. He is, afterall, at the mercy of Congress and has no influence over them.

Then the Super Committee failed. No compromises on killing Medicaid/Medicare/Social Security and making the Bush tax cuts permanent. No accepting GOP extortion, in my opinion. Suddenly, the nuPUMA are celebrating Obama’s victory. He put pressure on them, you see, it was all his doing.

Good grief, make up my fucking mind. Either he has no influence and can get nothing done, or he can twist arms and get his way.

Well, see, if you ask this question then the issue becomes “Are you going to vote?” I don’t know why. I don’t understand the way that works. Ask an honest question and get that shit back. Of course, PUMA didn’t make sense to me either.

Another example is the police violence on Occupiers. I am a staunch supporter of the Occupy Movement. I truly believe that this country is fucked because politicians are bought and paid for by the banks and their lackeys. I understand the movement and get their point. I roll my eyes heavily when someone says “What do they want?” It’s a leaderless, nonpolitical movement. There is no Heritage Foundation to make the message palatable. You have to actively discuss the issues with occupiers and pay attention. Even if you don’t agree with the movement, the violence against the Occupiers is uncalled for. It’s extreme, ugly and is obviously an attempt to suppress the message. Tear gas, rubber bullets, arresting the press, confiscating equipment, using billy clubs against student, pepper spray on elderly ladies, ramming people with horses. If you watch what is happening you’d think it was happening somewhere else³.

I was one person that questioned why Obama will make a statement in support of Egyptian protesters, but ignore the violence perpetrated against American citizens. We wondered why he didn’t issue a statement against the violence. He is, afterall, a Constitutional scholar and the leader of this country. Was a simple statement too much to ask?

Apparently it was. The nuPUMAs were up in arms. Why hadn’t we spoken out against police violence before? Why would we think the President would have any influence over the local law enforcement agencies⁴? Why would he want to get involved? He has no responsibility, you see, to the people of this country. That responsibility lies solely with the mayors and police chiefs. Or something. It’s crazy to expect the President of the United States to have any kind of influence over local politics or to be able to issue a simple statement against the use of force on the Occupiers. He is just the President. Only one man. No one important. I mean, not even he mentioned the police violence against Black folks in this country.

Until someone came across an article from May that said the U.S. was going to investigate cities for civil rights violations (police brutality⁵ and what have you). Well, there you go! That should be enough! That action back in May was actually Obama’s action against violence used on the protesters. Of course, it also shows that Obama didn’t ignore police brutality against People of Color, but that is not the point. I’m such a negative nelly. Forgive me.

I think the nuPUMAs do more damage to Obama than we do. The teabaggers are out for blood, but nuPUMAs excuse his worst offenses and his weakest policy with “He’s got no power.” How is that possible? I actually saw a nuPUMA say that if someone is accused of terrorism they don’t deserve due process. Remember who else said that? I do and his name was Cheney. Assasination lists are ok, as long as Obama is in charge; keeping someone imprisoned without a trial is ok, as long as Obama is in charge; rendition is ok, as long as Obama is in charge; etc etc. Remember when Bush used his Executive office to give himself unprecedented presidential powers? I do too. Obama, gods love him, has helped himself to those same powers.

I’ve also recently seen “Inside Job”. I’ve got to say, the fact that Obama kept many of Bush’s financial advisers makes me ill. But I really expected him to be another Clinton, so that’s not too surprising. What’s surprising is that his Bush-like policies are getting lauded by some of the same people who want Bush in jail⁶.

I don’t like the nuPUMA and that’s who this post is about. I know in 2012 I’ll cast a vote for Obama because I’ll have no other choice. I’m pretty sure he’s already won the election considering the candidates that have been chosen to run for the GOP side⁷. I don’t like nuPUMAs because I didn’t like old PUMAs. They bug the shit out of me. Always twisting and turning and putting aside their previously held beliefs. Honestly, I think I’m going to start just copying and pasting their silly contradictions just so I can keep them bookmarked while pointing and laughing at the same time.

1. The people that have come up with those labels are themselves paid pundits, or trying to be.
2. I’ll come up with a better name for them, but this one will do for now
3. I realize these things happen here all the time. But with Twitter and other social networking tools the images get out much, much faster.
4. The very agencies that were, of course, authorizing the force used against the protesters.
5. I’ll look for it. I don’t have the link handy right now.
6. Which is never going to happen because we have to move forward.
7. Could they get anymore comical? Really?

I was doing a little reading today and followed a Balloon Juice commenter’s link back to her blog. She had this post up about how she cancelled her Comcast service and some poor schlup had the job of calling her to ask for a bill payment. Unfortunately for him she’d cancelled her service and didn’t owe any money. She told how she cussed the dude out and the wrote that she would’ve felt bad for mistreating him except, you know, he works for Comcast.

Because, you know, job options are so plentiful right now, if one chooses to work for one of the worst companies in America, well, one would be a piece of shit who deserved verbal abuse.

Here’s the facts about this poor guy’s job:
He applied for some other teleservices company because he probably needed to pay his rent. I know, that’s shocking and god knows he should’ve been more vigilant. I mean, he really should’ve opted for homelessness instead of that kind of job. So anyway, he gets hired at this other company and, guess, what? Comcast has a contract with that particular company for customer service/tech support/billing/sales/collections. This guy didn’t apply to and get hired by Comcast. He applied to and got hired by a company to which Comcast outsources.

This chick is happily relating a tale of cussing out this Devil who dared to work for a company she disliked. Except he really doesn’t work for that company. And he if he didn’t need the fucking money he most assuredly wouldn’t be doing a job that put him in direct contact with bitches like her.

I do a similar job to this guy. I was damned lucky to find the job I have, but we are contracted with a major media company to do their teleservices. My job is tech support. I remove viruses and do network troubleshooting. What I do is not free support for the media company’s regular subscribers. When they call me looking for free support, I have to tell them to pay for the support. Sorry, but that’s my job. And assholes like the woman who was so proud that she cussed out a Comcast “employee” think if they are abusive to me, I’ll bend to the pressure. I’m lucky insofar as I can say “No”. And I’m at the point now where I take a little bit of pleasure of being able to say “I’m sorry but I’m not going to help you unless you pay” because of people who treat other people like she treated the guy whose suck-ass job requires him to collect on payments due (or supposedly due).

Just the other day I had some woman call up and tell me “You will help me or I’ll cancel my service.” I was almost giddy when I replied “I will NOT help you unless you pay the extra fee”. We went back and forth for a good 10 minutes like that. She thought if she bullied me I’d just give in to her. I’m lucky in that the company for which I work doesn’t require me to put up with verbal abuse. When people start cussing, I hang up. Too bad too sad, asshole.

With this particular company, every single department is outsourced to a separate company. Each company has their own policies and their own bunch of folks who are only looking to pay their bills. Each department receives a different amount of money and is expected to had a different amount of calls. Even the in-home service people, the ones that come out to fix shit, are contractors¹. We don’t sign up to actually work for these mega-corporations that piss you off so much– sometimes it just works out that the companies we do work for contract with those evil empires.

I appreciate the people that understand that I have rules to follow and I’m doing a job for someone else who makes the decisions. I will bend over backwards to help them in any way I can (without risking said job). The first time someone becomes aggressive with me, though, they get shut down. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if that guy she cussed out put her down for a callback at a later time. Why? To irritate her. Because he’s not the piece of shit in that scenario, she is. So, she’s annoyed that she got a call. Well, she could’ve very easily have said “Sorry. I cancelled the service and I’m not paying” and hung up. No, she had to take out her frustration with Comcast on some poor guy who didn’t deserve it (and from her version of events, he was polite to her). Folks like him don’t have a whole lot of tools in their arsenal to get back at assholes like her. God knows most of the time, the company doesn’t give a flying fuck how their employees get treated by the public at large (mine does and that’s what makes it awesome).

I have a friend who works for a company like that. It just happens that when people call that company they have to wait a long time to get a live person. If she senses that the person on the other end of the phone is going to start going off on her, she’ll disconnect the call. That quick. Oops. They’re forced to call back and wait on hold a little while longer. That might not be fair to the next customer service person who gets the call, but it irritates the rude customer to no end. That’s how she handles assholes and, really, who can blame her? Why should she have to listen to someone going off on her for something she has no control over?

I’m a little different when it comes to people like that because I’m allowed to tell the other person “I would appreciate it if you don’t cuss at me” and then disconnect if the abuse continues. I’m also allowed to explain that I will lose my job if I do any kind of service for free. Most people understand that and will calm down. Some folks don’t give a flying fuck and those are the people who tend to be abusive to the voice on the other end of the line. I guess for those people it doesn’t matter that they’re talking to people just trying to do a job to pay the bills.

On that note, I like my job. I like being able to do a job in my field (though a low-level job) and it’s shown me that I’ve been a little bit snobby in thinking that most people know how to use the intertoobz². I’ve gotten really good at losing the jargon and explaining things in really elementary terms. I think it’s hilarious when people get me and then say “I was supposed to be transferred to a technician” and I get to say “I am the technician”. That cracks me up every single time³. It makes me laugh when people call for help and then assume that they know more than me. And I love talking to people who are chatty and just want to be friends (those folks are awesome). The people like the one that got me to writing though? Pfft. They can fuck off.

It’s a good thing she can afford to work for The Most Awesomest Corporation Evar. Some of us are stuck doing what we can to get the mortgage paid. Sadly, that includes interacting with assholes like her.

1. Those guys are often independent contractors and get paid by the service call.
2. A surprising amount of people have no idea how to even get online without help
3. It happens a lot.

I was reading a forum¹ and a lady there mentioned that she’s angry that Georgia’s new immigration law separates American-born children from their immigrant parents. I haven’t really considered that part of the immigration equation, but I’m thinking I would take my child back with me were she really young or give her a choice to say if she were old enough to decide for herself. I’m not sure that the fact that these parents put their children in the custody of family friends is so heinous, because the kids are citizens and the parents aren’t. So, I don’t really have an opinion on that right now².

Anyway, the discussion devolved into that same “arrest all illegals” shit and somehow the “illegals” were stealing American heritage from legal citizens.

How the fuck is it possible for them to steal someone’s heritage, by the way? The only thing I can figure is that they’re having children with American citizens and somehow contaminating our gene pool. Still, which heritage? I want the exact heritage they’re stealing, because it varies by area of the country, right? Here the primary heritage is Scots-Irish and German. Are they going to take our traditional Pork, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes on New Year’s Eve? Bah!

Now, I get fired up thinking of how American companies exploit these folks in their homeland and basically force them to seek better living conditions far, far away. If their lives were livable in their own country, would they risk so much to cross the desert? Really? No. I refuse to believe they would. I get pissed off at my state legislature, but I can tell you that it’s not so bad here that I’d swim across Lake Erie to get into Canada. No fucking way.

Then this dumbass says that Americans expect to much money and we should, basically, lower our standard of living to compete globally. Lower it. Further? It’s so unfair to these companies that they have to pay their employees wages and follow labor laws and make sure their workplace is safe. We are fucking behind the curve here, people. Behind it! There are not enough poor people in this country. And if more people would be voluntarily poor, then our country could compete in a global marketplace. Those motherfuckers expecting decent wages are all holding us back! Don’t you see it? Sure, a guy making $25 an hour is going to spend more money on stuff, buy a home, buy a nice car and be able to afford health insurance. But he’s bringing the rest of us down. It’s that selfish motherfucker’s fault our manufacturing industry moved out of our borders. If he’d have been fine living in a hut, making less than minimum wage³ and not caring about his teeth, then we’d still have jobs. It’s the guy wanting to have a good life causing our economic woes, bitches!

Instead of saying “Well, maybe the poor saps in Guatamala would do better with wages more in line with ours, allowing them to have a decent life, then they wouldn’t want to leave everything they know and come here” this guy thinks we should all just lower our standard of living, which would, I don’t know, make coming here less appealing? Instead of allowing our own people the opportunity to flourish and do better, we should be happy with the part-time minimum wage shit offered by companies like WalMart. And then those dirty fucking South and Central Americans wouldn’t want to come here. Or something.

I’m going to say again: Why should we lower our standard of living so that corporations can make bigger profits? If more people make more money, they’re going to spend more money. They’re going to have pride of workmanship because they get to fucking build stuff. They’re going to be able to own their homes and raise their families and then spread the fucking wealth. Poverty will probably always be here, but I know that the area where I live now did a whole lot better when we had factories and steel mills. We’d congratulate people for getting into Republic Steel or the Hoover Company. Because those were good jobs. Those people didn’t get food stamps or need the medical card or have to go to food banks. They could pay their fucking gas bills every goddamned month. They didn’t have to worry about losing their homes. Back in the day, Hoover vacuums were the shit. People got paid good money to put them together and they took pride in that. Not anymore. Nope. Gotta look at that bottom line so these fucking CEOs can have their fleet of jets.

People want to point at the immigrants as the problem. They don’t want to look at why the immigrants are flocking here. Look at this article about WalMart’s jewelry (5 pages long). Think about what kind of fucking life the people in that factory have compared to the life they could have picking vegetables here. It’s no wonder that they want to come here. Our corporations go there and rape their land, barely pay their people (they’d try to get free labor if they could– believe that) and leave a mess. Then we buy the shit they make. Of course they want to come here. They want to buy the shit they make too. I know I don’t blame them. If I had a life like that I’d do what I could to improve it. In fact, my own heritage originates from people who fled horrible conditions to come here.

There’s an argument that we’re making the lives of those people better by offering them employment opportunities, but I don’t buy that. If we cared about making their lives better, our corporations would be required to pay them decent wages and follow strict labor and environmental laws. They lived decently before we came in and built our factories and shoved our own culture down their throats. If we insist on doing that then we should insist that they be afforded the same labor protections that we enjoy.

The problem isn’t that we’re giving them such a wonderful life (obviously we’re not) but that Americans don’t want to pay the price for people making a livable wage. This argument extends to the crap about “illegals” picking our crops. Georgia’s having a problem with that right now and Americans aren’t stepping up to do the job. They don’t like the work. But even worse is they don’t like the idea of paying a higher price for otherwise cheap food. Instead of eating food in season, as the case historically has been, we want it year round, but we want it cheap. So the huge commercial farms need workers to harvest these crops from hot climates– workers who are grateful for less than minimum wage and who won’t bitch about unfair treatment. My side argues for immigrants using the argument that we’re going to have to pay more for food. Why the fuck shouldn’t we? If we paid fair wages to everyone we exploit– here and abroad — shit would get extremely expensive but more people would be able to afford it. And companies would be less likely to look elsewhere to build their manufacturing facilities. We’d all benefit from fair treatment of the immigrants before they decide to leave their homes.

I get very frustrated that people think that those suffering are the ones who should be punished. When Park Farms ships in workers, they get a fine, but other than that they’re free from prosecution. Some dude complains about his treatment in that chicken plant gets called a criminal. The root cause of the immigration “problem” isn’t even examined because corporations enjoy special benefits for…job creation?

Just imagine if these folks didn’t have a reason to leave their homes. Would they bother you then? Imagine if their standard of living was on par with ours. They’d visit here and then go home. Home, to their families and their own way of life. They leave home for a reason and that reason is our own fucking greed and apathy.

So endeth the rant.

Updated:
I added the link to the article about the effect of the Georgia immigration law. I’d like to point out that the point of that article, to me, isn’t that the current workers are probationers. It’s that these jobs are available and in such an economy, the government has to encourage “legals” to take them. Consider that and then consider the pay.

Also, we’ve already been forced to lower our standard of living in this country. I know 4 families who have had their gas turned off because the rates are so high and their incomes are so low. Our environmental standards are going to have to get lower too, thanks to the need of these same gas companies. They’re raising their rates for us while their polluting our ground water. Makes perfect economic sense.

1. Sorry, folks, it’s private, so it makes no sense to link to it.
2. I’m all over the place because I really do think there could be some benefit in these children going to their parents’ homeland and coming back here later as citizens, but I don’t know for sure.
3. Which is wrong! Holding us down!