Our America
Richard W. writes:
I had to come to Seattle today to get an instant passport. The government office was the picture of efficiency. I arrived at 8:00 and by 8:20 I was on the streets. Pickup the passport after 2:00 That’s the good news. I asked at Starbucks where to go for a Wifi connection and was told the main library a few blocks away.
Since sitting down at the nicely furnished table I’ve been surrounded by:
One Mexican man studying English, who seemed pretty determined and other than yelling the equivelent to “Hey, Jack” to a buddy seemed ok.
A very studious Japanese man, age 30 reading Japanese books two slots down.
A group of 15 black people age 10 to 25 standing oustide the bathroom, talking loudly, laughing, disturbing everyone in site and glaring at those of us who looked at them as if to say “please, behave”.
A transsexual sleeping at the table, head down.
Another Mexican reading comic books who when through a ritual of taking off his 4 layers of clothing, scraching everywhere, smelling his clothes closely, and hanging them over the dividers and chairs.
Some good, lots of bad. The lowering of standards is so complete. I won’t be volunteering to pay more taxes to build more places like this where I can be glared at, risk lice infection (or worse, God only knows what disease the sickly looking transexual has), and be surrounded by people who can’t answer a single question in English.
Ah, our America. Happy Forth of July? Hmm. I think I’m viewing it as a day or mourning.
Still, hope your weekend goes well. Hotdogs and beer are hard to ruin.
- end of initial entry -
Paul K. writes:
I have had experiences similar to those of Richard W. at the library. There is an excellent university library nearby which I use, though I am not affiliated with the university. The numerous computer terminals in the public area not only allow you to search the catalog, but give you access to specialized databases, enabling you to accomplish a significant amount of research. I have done serious work there, surrounded by other like-minded non-affiliated persons. Unfortunately, word seemed to spread through the local black population that you could also use these computers to access the Internet and look at various Hip-Hop sites, watch YouTube videos, do personal email, etc. So, in this soaring Gothic-revival cathedral of scholarship, the terminals soon became monopolized by baleful, dull-eyed youths in their absurd ball caps, hoodies, and baggy trousers. Guards could have forbidden them entry, but with what rationale would a liberal institution justify such discrimination? The solution: there are now only six terminals available to the public, all others require input of a ID number. Also, no one who is unaffiliated with the university is allowed into the library after 6 PM. A problem whose source is clearly identifiable is addressed by restricting the rights of everyone in nondiscriminatory fashion. [LA replies: Just as all Americans are made to suffer insufferable indignities and humiliation in getting on an airplane, simply to allow the authorities to avoid examining the one population that actually represents the threat.]
There is also a problem with library staff. I have often benefited from the extra effort research librarians are willing to put in to help direct me to a source. Unfortunately, library jobs have now joined the pool of sinecures for affirmative action hires. It is with a sinking feeling that I approach a sullen black or Hispanic “librarian” seeking help. Generally they are in the middle of animated conversation with a coworker and their attitude seems to be that I am bothering them with some nonsense. Most look as if they can’t imagine what people want out of dusty old books. If you’ve used the Fifth Avenue Branch of the New York Public Library you will have noticed this phenomenon. (In fairness, I will say this is not true of the university library, where the non-white workers are students and have a good attitude.)
LA replies:
“It is with a sinking feeling that I approach a sullen black or Hispanic ‘librarian’ seeking help.”
Your use of the word “sullen” bring to memory something from about 25 years ago. A young lady and I had gone on an outdoor outing in New Jersey. We took a bus back to the city, and it was filled with blacks. After we got off the bus, I remarked on how “sullen” the blacks on the bus had been. She said I was racist.
Adela G. writes:
I am puzzled as to why Richard W. would refer to Seattle as part of “our America.” It has been years since I considered any of the metropolitan areas of the Pacific Northwest as part of “our America.”
My understanding (not borne out by the experience of visiting alarmingly liberal in-laws in small-town OR) is that there are pockets of conservatism in the hinterlands of Oregon and Washington state. Nevertheless, places such as Portland and Seattle, by their egregiously left-wing orientation, not only disqualify themselves in my eyes as part of “our America” but I suspect that most of the residents there would agree with me about that, of nothing else (while omitting the “egregiously,” of course).
Just one example, Seattle is a sanctuary city. This has already had the not-unexpected result of illegal aliens who would otherwise have been deported committing violent crime.
It would be more accurate, I think, to refer to Seattle as part of “their anti-Americanism.”
John Hagan writes:
I’m writing you from a small village in central New Hampshire on this holiday weekend. This village is just about the same as it was almost thirty years ago when I first started to visit it. The area is 98 percent white, has a low crime rate, and is prosperous. We have a large influx of retirees moving here because it’s safe, the cost of living is reasonable, and though unmentioned in public, but not in private, there is essentially no minority presence.
As idyllic as it seems here…. there are dark clouds on the horizon. Fifty miles to our south the largest city in the state, Manchester, is now close to 15 percent minority, and the crime rate has skyrocketed. Murder, beatings, drugs, rape. Things that only happened elsewhere now happen in NH everyday. As of 1980 there were less than 100 people in jail in the entire state of New Hampshire. Think about that. Since then we have built two new prisons with a third one soon to be finished.
We have a lot to be thankful for here. Things are much like they have always been in this area day to day…. but like some Alfred Hitchcock movie something is just slightly off, you feel it. You sense it in the whispers in restaurants when people talk about what’s going on in the southern part of our state. You feel like these days are some of the last good days until the infection that is covering our beloved nation creeps up here, and we join the rest of modern America.
Until that day comes, we go about our business thankful that the America we knew in our youth still survives here, its heart still beats, its values still in place.
Terry Morris writes:
Richard wrote:
Ah, our America. Happy Forth of July? Hmm. I think I’m viewing it as a day or mourning.
He should be, particularly since the liberalization of America is now so complete and thorough that even patriotic folks like Richard refer to the day set aside for Americans to celebrate the great epoch of our nation’s independence as “the fourth of July” without a second thought, not even to whom he’s speaking to.
LA replies:
Isn’t Mr. Morris being a little tough on Richard W.? Yes, of course, the proper name for the holiday is Independence Day; I personally often use that name when others are calling it “July Fourth.” But it’s been commonly called “July Fourth” for an awfully long time, probably going back well into the 19th century, and to suggest that the use of that familiar, even traditional name is a symptom of the much more recent radical liberalization of America is, I think, not correct or fair.
Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 03, 2008 06:24 PM | Send