When did you stop beating your wife?

In Skypeland, a lady from Vancouver who had been born in Ireland asked why Americans hated Mexicans and in particular Mexican immigrants. A couple of people from the US told her that they did not hate Mexicans. One said that she did not like the government programs for illegal Mexican immigrants when she was not able to afford the same things herself. I tried to answer the question a few times to put it in perspective, but people just interrupted constantly. I said I would be glad to answer her question, but too many others wanted to speak. I was chastised for giving a "smart answer". I tried to answer again, and again was interrupted a few times. So I gave up and went idle in the room and went to another room.

However, I decided that I should try to explain it to this woman. I sent her some instant messages:

[6:48:19 PM] D says: I would explain it to you

[6:48:23 PM] D says: but it is too difficult in here

[6:52:28 PM] IE says: you mean the mexican problem

[6:53:11 PM] D says: Well Americans are not as you depicted them

[6:53:18 PM] D says: or what you hear on skype

[6:53:35 PM] D says: no worse than Europeans

[6:53:37 PM] D says: or Canadians

[6:53:42 PM] IE says: what do you mean

[6:53:53 PM] D says: the US is quite tolerant of foreigners

[6:53:59 PM] D says: and is very good at assimilating them

[6:55:22 PM] IE says: then why do they dislike the mexican people ......i have family in the u. s....and i do understand your point

[6:55:54 PM] D says: They do not dislike Mexican people

[6:56:23 PM] D says: the number one radio station in LA is Spanish... DC...Spanish... NY...Spanish.. Miami ...Spanish... St. Louis...Spanish... Minneapolis...Spanish

[6:56:29 PM] D says: New Mexico is more than half Spanish

[6:56:36 PM] D says: California is more than half Spanish

[6:56:43 PM] IE says: the media must lie all the time then

(I never noticed the media claiming that all Americans hate the Mexican people. Interesting that she would perceive this...)

[6:56:45 PM] D says: Texas is more than half Spanish

[6:56:54 PM] D says: Florida is more than half Spanish

[6:57:01 PM] D says: In 15 years

[6:57:10 PM] D says: the largest population group in the US will be Mexican

[6:57:10 PM] IE says: why are they building a wall across the border

[6:57:18 PM] D says: Because they want to control immigration

[6:57:35 PM] D says: They have 20-30 million illegal Mexicans in the US... Almost more than the entire population of Canada

[6:57:43 PM] D says: They do not enforce the law

[6:57:45 PM] D says: and they want to

[6:57:58 PM] D says: and there is discussion about whether they should enforce the law or not

[6:58:06 PM] D says: Should the law be enforced?

[6:58:08 PM] D says: Canada does (enforce its immigration law).

[6:58:13 PM] IE says: yes it is the goverments fault

[6:58:15 PM] D says: Why should the US not enforce its law ?

[6:58:22 PM] D says: So do not complain then if they want to start enforcing

(I notice these assorted foreign loud-mouths and obnoxious jerks never have a response to this. The US is debating whether it should enforce its laws or not. They have no problem with their countries enforcing their own laws, or even advocate that the US should start to enforce its laws. But when this might appear discriminatory, they accuse the US of all kinds of terrible racist attitudes. There is clearly a large group in the US, which might even be a majority of the population, that is not in favor of enforcing US immigration law. And yet the US is still a racist country? It is amazing how glib they are when they know so little...)

[6:58:30 PM] D says: People are just not understanding

[6:58:35 PM] D says: and they make ludicrous statements

[6:58:38 PM] D says: and blame the US for being racist

[6:58:41 PM] D says: It is stupid

[6:59:06 PM] D says: I live in an area that is 75% African American

[6:59:10 PM] D says: and it is millions of people

[6:59:16 PM] IE says: i do understand and do not call me racist ...i was just asking a question

(Wow what an amazing statement. She thinks I called her racist? She had an IM transcript to refer to as well... This speaks volumes for this woman's capacity to understand English, follow a conversation or engage in reasoning.)

[6:59:16 PM] D says: around Washington DC

[6:59:23 PM] D says: I never called you racist

[6:59:27 PM] D says: When did I call you racist?

[6:59:39 PM] D says: Interesting

[6:59:41 PM] D says: I see

(I all of a sudden realized at this point that this person is unable to follow a conversation and is very defensive. She is not even able to follow a text conversation accurately. This says a lot about her...).

[6:59:58 PM] D says: And I am from Canada

[7:00:12 PM] D says: so I know plenty about the problems with Canada and the French population

[7:00:24 PM] D says: So do not lecture me too much about the "Mexican Problem"

[7:00:33 PM] D says: I even speak Joual

(Joual is the French dialect, or "l'argot" spoken in Quebec and most of the rest of Canada. Canada has two official languages, English and French and 1/4 to 1/3 of the population of Canada speaks French as a first language. Canada also has and has had a large number of language tensions between the Francophones and Anglophones, and lots of French do not like English speakers and vice-versa. Canadians are proud of their racial record but have a pretty tension-filled relationship between the two linguistic communities.)

[7:00:36 PM] D says: Do you speak Joual?

(I thought she should speak Joual if she is so concerned with intercultural harmony especially since both languages appear on every product, including milk carton and cereal box, and half the radio and television stations are French).

[7:00:58 PM] IE says: what are you talking about

[7:01:02 PM] D says: I thought so

(I immediately knew she was all talk and really did not live up to what she claimed. She did not even know about the other major culture in her adopted country.).

[7:01:08 PM] D says: Thanks so much

[7:01:11 PM] D says: Now we know

[7:01:29 PM] IE says: what is your problem .......

(A bit angry and defensive here, obviously...)

[7:01:53 PM] D says: If you want to lecture the Americans about their "racism" perhaps you should learn Joual first.

[7:01:56 PM] D says: And then come talk to me

[7:02:19 PM] D says: No offense

[7:02:27 PM] D says: but people in glass houses...

(I get annoyed when people can always see other's faults and complain about other's shortcomings bitterly, but do not even see their own).

[7:05:01 PM] IE says: you seem you do not like other peoples views or ideas

(Where on earth did she get this? When I said I disagreed with her view that Americans are all racist and hated Mexicans and presented evidence to the contrary? She is allowed to have her view. She just does not want to hear it disputed at all or evidence to the contrary I guess...Interestingly, she seems to harbor similar attitudes to some of the other Irish people I talked to. I wonder why that is?).

[7:05:22 PM] IE says: because you know everything

[7:06:13 PM] D says: Ma'am you are allowed to believe whatever you like.

[7:06:21 PM] D says: But when you say things like "when did you stop beating your wife ?"

[7:06:25 PM] D says: you might get a certain response

[7:06:28 PM] D says: you understand?

[7:06:43 PM] D says: I will not waste more time on you

[7:06:54 PM] IE says: i never said that statement

(Wow, that is amazing. I guess she does not understand metaphoric and allegorical statements, or figures of speech. She took it completely literally, obviously. The question "when did you stop beating your wife?" is a very well known example in English and logic of a "loaded question" or plurium interrogationum, a type of logical fallacy:
http://www.fallacyfiles.org/loadques.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loaded_question).

[7:06:57 PM] D says: since it is clear you are not interested in other information or other views

[7:07:07 PM] D says: And you do not seem to be able to understand much English

[7:07:10 PM] D says: so good day to you

(I decided I had had enough of this nonsense and I figured I would end it as soon as possible).

[7:08:17 PM] IE says: when did i say that statement "when did you stop beating your wife "

[7:08:44 PM] IE says: i am very open to all views

[7:08:59 PM] D says: Clearly.

(Well I was being somewhat sarcastic here of course...).

[7:09:07 PM] IE says: i do understand english

[7:09:12 PM] D says: I noticed.

(Of course, I was being sarcastic again...).

[7:11:16 PM] IE says: when did i say that statement because that is not the way i live my life ....i do not speak like that......you must have mixed me up with another person

[7:21:12 PM] IE says: you can not make a statement like you did not think you are correct ...

(She still does not get it, of course).

[8:39:59 PM] D says: You have made it eminently clear what kind of person you are and what your views are and your ability to understand English idiom and figures of speech and follow a conversation.

[8:40:38 PM] D says: You have revealed inadvertently your own cultural biases and awareness and I think it is quite telling. Thanks so much.

[8:50:30 PM] IE says: you seem very judgemental

[9:01:58 PM] D says: Me?

[9:02:20 PM] IE says: yes

[9:02:31 PM] D says: You can read it all later when it is published. I will send you a link so you can see what impression you created. But I suspect you will not understand it

[9:04:20 PM] IE says: you did not tell me when you heard me say the statement "when you stop beating your wife"

[9:04:52 PM] IE says: where is your answer

[9:10:37 PM] D says: I will let you read it in the blog entry

[9:11:09 PM] IE says: what blog

[9:11:30 PM] IE says: I never used that statement

(Well duh...)

[9:13:50 PM] D says: http://skypelandadventures.blogspot.com/2007/10/when-did-you-stop-beating-your-wife_14.html

After this, I did not hear back from her... I wonder why not?