hey i don't know you but i just wanted to point out the fact that Klansman believe they are objective and that the rest of the world hides frmo the truth, not that i am calling you a racist or anything but i think you may be borderline. im white but i dont feel threatened by different ethnicities in my neighborhood and the various things they do to get by in life. the reality is we are still not at a point in society where things like affirmative action is no longer neccessary. i think its sad and unforunate how white middleclass males complain about being a minority...no offense man but everyone is a minority and everyone gets screwed somehow one way or another.

Oh God Phil, here we go again, I love that you bring this up and right after refusing my criticisms....Lets look back here....women, the minority in our society (not in numbers) are raped by men (a woman is raped every two minutes) and you find it perfectly acceptable to use the language freely which shows YOUR ignorance towards a minority (regardless of culture in your own country....why don't you work on yourself before critiquing others

Let me first point out again, I DID NOT WRITE THIS. ok, now...

Nic, I do agree with you on some points, but I think my point is mistaken, probably something I failed to mention before. The reason I say something like this is because I feel if I move to a foreign land, I must adapt, not make that enviroment adapt to me. If I moved into your house, I wouldn't expect you to change everything, and do everything my way. If you spoke German in your household, I wouldn't force you to learn English, I would learn German. Thats more what I'm trying to say, not that I'm threatened my Mexicans and I hate Mexicans (or any other ethnicity) or anything. Hopefully I'm clearing stuff up, not making it more confusing. Also if you notice, most of this post is not even about "illegals" it's really about how people wont listen to what others have to say. Not that they have to agree, but at least listen and think about it.

This leads to the next topic, Emily, thanks for coming back. Let me ask this, how can I 'refuse' criticism? Seems to me I said I agree with you and saw your point, I listend to what you had to say, you have a different view, and thats great, thats what life (and this website) is about, different people, different views. I'm not sure where women or raping came up in this post, but I think you give a perfect example of the point of this post. I think you have "labeled" me (also resorted to name calling, as well as giving us random factoids), and now get very irate whenever I say something somewhat controversial. I may be wrong, but this is my feeling.

On the controversy over words issue:

I don’t think Phil was trying to make you believe that his viewpoint is correct but merely to explain his views. Understanding and respecting someone’s views doesn’t mean you necessarily have to agree with them. I think Phil understands your viewpoint, but that doesn’t mean he is going to change his own opinions. You, however, and understandably so, refused to listen from the start.

I would certainly agree that “raped” is a strong word for describing an experience at the bookstore. It’s not the word I would have chosen. But that doesn’t mean it’s necessarily wrong to use it. I’ve even heard girls use the word rape to describe being ripped off. They are using it differently than you and that doesn’t mean that it downplays your meaning of the word or your experience, which is what I think you are mostly afraid of, tell me if I'm wrong.
Like many words in the English language words have different meanings. So naturally, I googled it: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/rape

Words naturally change and take on new meanings over time. For example, the word “wench,” if you called a girl a wench, they would probably take offense to it. But its original meaning simply refers to a young woman, nothing more.

I think the bottom line is, yes, you make a very good point but in order for other people to be receivable to your views, you also have to be open to their views. And you two will probably never agree on this issue, but that doesn’t mean you can’t respect each others opinions, or keep words from evolving.

I have a few things to say about this.

First, I don't think illegal immigrants are making these requests as demands. I don't doubt that there are incidents across the country like this, but until I see proof that even a large minority, let alone majority, of illegal immigrants are doing this (demanding all these things listed above), I'll assume these statements are based on hearsay and isolated incidents.

Second, who cares if they "demand" these things. We're not obliged to meet these "demands". If I go to a store and "demand" that I get free groceries, the clerk doens't have to follow my order. However, if he does, should/would I say, "No thanks"? I don't think so.

Finally, we'll get into the whole "melting pot" thing. The US is a country that evolves (and should evolve to remain the best country we know of), in my belief. There are the obvious changes (technology being the biggest), but we've got different dialects across the states, different attitudes, politics, and so forth. I'm not saying illegal immigrants, or legal for that matter, shouldn't be willing to adapt, but don't we become richer for taking on new qualities ourselves? The English language isn't going away, but if I can pick up Spanish and learn new things from people who were willing to keep their identities, I'll be quite happy.

For what it's worth, this comes from a lower-middle class, white, male.

I'd say it’s really not the minorities that are demanding anything from us; it’s our own government giving everything for free. I mean a very good example is those Iraq prisoners’ pictures, where our solders tortured the Iraqis. It wasn’t them who were suing those fighting for our country that took pictures and held this event; it was our own government who were punishing those at fault. Now we’ll let these radical Iraqis kill our fellow soldiers, but yet when we do something somewhat wrong to them we incriminate ourselves. I can’t say I totally disagree with them having some sort of punishment, but why are we punishing ourselves even after what they’ve done to us. Anyway my point in this matter is, I feel we are at fault for most things on that list. Weather it be demanded by them, or our government feeling guilty for not giving them what they want, somehow it is being done. Like you say, Dann, it’s not everyone revolting to get what they want, but it’s the little stuff that will eventually take over. Another thing to think about is this: If you put a frog in boiling water, it will jump out. If you put a frog in water, and then heat it to boiling, it will boil alive. If government takes away all freedom, you would revolt, if government takes away one freedom at a time, you’ll blindly follow. Maybe this is a whole other topic in itself…

On the other hand, yes I agree, we must learn from others, learn new things, and try to improve ourselves. Actually one of the biggest points of this post was exactly that.

stop making excuses for mexicans. they have infested our country, and there is NOTHING good about it.

the next time a drug addict rips you off, thank mexico.