Opinions, everybody’s got one. Here’s mine.

My opinions and observations (below) are to be accepted or denied as you wish.

Many years ago,  while in between photo jobs, I was working part-time for an auto auction. One day I was riding in a large passenger van while we were being driven around to pick up cars that were to be auctioned the next day. Two women were talking ( between themselves) about their love of God, and how it affected their lives. Finally the driver of the van asked them to keep quiet. He said he was a god (small g) fearing Christian (maybe a small c) too, but he didn’t carry it so far. I mean I go to church, he said. I guess that’s the way most Christians prefer to have their god, and as I said, I was once like that myself, so I do understand.

I should mention that I lose subscribers every time I write about the subject of God.

I bring this up, because very often, opinionated people will tolerate anything but God talk. I can imagine a day in America, where you will be taken in by the authorities and examined if you mention God, small g or large G. Talking about God, especially the Christian God, makes some people so uncomfortable that they simply cannot tolerate it. It’s okay of that’s your way, everybody has a right to their opinion and their own level of tolerance. It’s called free will.

On to politics.

I would like to offer a few (quite a few) words about one of Donald Trump’s latest controversies. This one being over what he said about the judge who is hearing the case about Trump’s school for investing in real estate.  I only ask that you please read all of what I have to say if you intend to form an opinion.

I try to always approach these things with an open mind. That being said, I will admit that I do not like Donald Trump, nor do I like the politically correct speech police that oppose him. Today’s subject is a home run for me, I can probably make everybody angry. I can’t lose (or win).

I grew up adjacent to an area that contained several  large family farms. They employed many legal and probably many illegal immigrants, primarily from Mexico. Some of the children of those immigrants were my friends.

Where I came from, when a white person said “did you see what that Mexican over there did?”, it was an ethnic slur. If somebody said, “ lets ask that Mexican kid if he wants to play ball”, it was just a way of identifying which kid you were talking about. It did not matter, whether they (who we called Mexicans) were citizens or not, or whether they were born here, or whether they came from Guatemala, El Salvador, or they actually came from Mexico. They were all Mexicans to the white people of that era, at least in this area.

Most of you know my hatred of political correctness. That being said, when Donald trump says that the judge is bias, because he’s a Mexican, he (Trump) is either showing his age, and is still innocently using terminology from 1962 (remember, he has been surrounded by “yes men” all his adult life), or it was meant as a slur. I am betting on the latter.

The judge was born in Indiana, USA. He is a full-blooded American. He is of Mexican heritage, and Mexican American would have been appropriate, or Hispanic or several other terms to describe why he (Trump) believes him to be prejudicial. That having been said, he has a right to his own terminology (free speech) and he still brought up a valid question, and one that needs to be asked in America. An America that is afraid to ask that question of everybody or anybody about bias, is an America of cowards. A fearful nation in decline.

There is of course, some discriminatory thinking among every group in the nation, and the world.

The question of bias on the part of white people, be they judges, police, teachers, employers and more, is asked every single day in this nation. It is asked out loud for the world to hear. It is never asked of any other races or ethnic groups. I have known my share of Hispanic/Mexican Americans, as well as black Americans, who were extremely bias, and even downright racist. That is what political correctness and the current assault on free speech that we are experiencing in America today, results in. Narrow minded, one way bigotry. Usually by the same people who claim to oppose bigotry.

Whether this Mexican American judge, hearing a case concerning Donald Trump, knowing what Trump has said in his campaign, can be free of any bias, is a valid question.  Whether Trump has the sense to ask the question the way a thinking American who is interested in justice would, is also a valid question.

Whether you agree with any of my comments or not, they are meant to expose the often blatant hypocrisy that exists in society, and they evolve from common sense and never from racial, religious, ethnic, or sexual biases or hatreds.

I fully expect to get back on the photography train with my next post. I hope to see you right here.

Have a great day,                                                                                                                          Wayne