A lot of criteria are used to award Quote Of The Day honors in this blog. And stereotyping entire groups of people is one of them…
…which leads us straight to former Florida Governor and possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush.
Here is what Mr. Bush had to say on Fox News yesterday, about illegal aliens who cross the border from Mexico:
“I\’mgoing to say this and it will be on tape, and so be it. The way Ilook at this is someone who comes to our country because theycouldn\’t come legally, they come to our country because theirfamily\’s dad who loves their children was worried that their childrendidn\’t have food on the table, and they wanted to make sure theirfamily was intact. And they crossed the border because they had noother means to work to be able to provide for their family. Yes, theybroke the law, but it\’s not a felony. it\’s kind of — it\’s a — it\’san act of love. It\’s an act of commitment to your family. I honestlythink that\’s a different kind of crime that should be, there shouldbe a price paid, but it shouldn\’t be — it shouldn\’t rile people upthat people are actually coming to this country to provide for theirfamilies. And the idea that we\’re not going to fix this but with withcomprehensive reform ends up trapping these people, when they couldmake a great contribution for their own their families but also forus.
I find it amazing that so many people, Jeb Bush obviously included, think a positive stereotype is, somehow, less wrong, less offensive, than a negative one. It isn\’t.
I happen to agree with Mr. Bush that there are Mexican people – a lot of them – who come here for no reason other than to seek some way of supporting themselves and their families. (Thank you, Mexico, for making it impossible for them to do so in their own country). And, like Bush, I see illegal aliens who come here for that reason in a different light than I see illegals who come here to exploit our social safety net, and “get” everything they can out of our hides, or to traffick illegal drugs, or for a host of other less than positive reasons.
But by what basis can that be generalized into an all-purpose “they”, as if this is the way we should look at every Mexican illegal?
The point is that there is no “they” here. We are all individuals. Each person is different and each person\’s individual circumstances are different.
Every time someone puts a “they” on millions and millions of people, you can pretty much bet that you will be hearing a stereotype – i.e. “Oh, you\’re one of those people? That means I know all about you even though we have never met” – and it is dead wrong.
Therefore, I award Quote Of The Day honors to Jeb Bush for, however benevolently he meant it, speaking in every bit as narrow-minded a way as someone who insults Mexicans based on a negative stereotype of them – or, for that matter Blacks, or Irish, or Jews, or Italians, etc. etc. etc.
We are all individuals. Can we please remember that?
