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The other day a video made the rounds on Twitter of a very angry, intolerant, prejudiced, wheelchair-bound xenophobe yelling at someone. Why? Evidently, just for speaking Spanish!
At first, I didn't listen to the video because I knew it would upset me, especially after I saw it autoplay (without sound) on Twitter. From the body language and facial language, I know I would not want to watch the video.
In a way, I still wish I had not watched it. So be warned!
The guy in the wheelchair evidently went ballistic because someone near him was speaking Spanish. The Spanish speaker was a Puerto Rican man near him was sitting in his chair speaking Spanish to his mom.
Other than the actual confrontation itself upsetting me...the other upsetting feelings I had was how sorry I felt for the xenophobe's ignorance!
==> Sorry for him that he had such hate weighing him down.
==> Sorry for him that he felt so self centered (and privileged) that he would even think of intruding on someone else's life like that.
I mean, how could another human language possibly upset him? Why in the world would you initiate a confrontation with someone over their language?? I love learning other languages, and the idea boggles my mind!
Why & how did the xenophobe allow himself to get to such a foul state of existence? Why is he so afraid of others?
Maybe I should feel sorry for the Spanish speaking guy for having his 'pursuit of happiness' so harshly intruded upon by such a hateful person...but really, all I could keep thinking was how sorry I was that the xenophobe was living with all that hate!
Now, I am certainly aware that a xenophobe is dangerous -- I mean, no matter how 'sorry' you might feel for a bomb, you certainly don't want to be around one...and that's how I feel about the xenophobe -- I don't want him around!
If the man had not been in a wheelchair, had not been in an airport, had not been being video taped, he would most likely have tried to hurt the Spanish speaking man -- after all, he bumped his wheelchair against them as it was. So, yea, a bomb.
In a perfect world, the xenophobe should have been arrested for public disorderly conduct. I think the Spanish speaking man handled himself very properly, although I think it would have been better to have stopped talking after a while because it was like adding gasoline to the fire.
In the post so far, I have avoided using the words 'white nationalist' or 'racist'. The man probably does hold those beliefs, but I really wanted to emphasize the hate and fear the guy seemed to have of another language and culture.
It just is crazy!
At first, I didn't listen to the video because I knew it would upset me, especially after I saw it autoplay (without sound) on Twitter. From the body language and facial language, I know I would not want to watch the video.
In a way, I still wish I had not watched it. So be warned!
The guy in the wheelchair evidently went ballistic because someone near him was speaking Spanish. The Spanish speaker was a Puerto Rican man near him was sitting in his chair speaking Spanish to his mom.
Other than the actual confrontation itself upsetting me...the other upsetting feelings I had was how sorry I felt for the xenophobe's ignorance!
==> Sorry for him that he had such hate weighing him down.
==> Sorry for him that he felt so self centered (and privileged) that he would even think of intruding on someone else's life like that.
I mean, how could another human language possibly upset him? Why in the world would you initiate a confrontation with someone over their language?? I love learning other languages, and the idea boggles my mind!
Why & how did the xenophobe allow himself to get to such a foul state of existence? Why is he so afraid of others?
Maybe I should feel sorry for the Spanish speaking guy for having his 'pursuit of happiness' so harshly intruded upon by such a hateful person...but really, all I could keep thinking was how sorry I was that the xenophobe was living with all that hate!
Now, I am certainly aware that a xenophobe is dangerous -- I mean, no matter how 'sorry' you might feel for a bomb, you certainly don't want to be around one...and that's how I feel about the xenophobe -- I don't want him around!
If the man had not been in a wheelchair, had not been in an airport, had not been being video taped, he would most likely have tried to hurt the Spanish speaking man -- after all, he bumped his wheelchair against them as it was. So, yea, a bomb.
In a perfect world, the xenophobe should have been arrested for public disorderly conduct. I think the Spanish speaking man handled himself very properly, although I think it would have been better to have stopped talking after a while because it was like adding gasoline to the fire.
In the post so far, I have avoided using the words 'white nationalist' or 'racist'. The man probably does hold those beliefs, but I really wanted to emphasize the hate and fear the guy seemed to have of another language and culture.
It just is crazy!
