Compassion and Righteousness

One argument that I have heard in recent communications is that in the past the immigrants assimilated into the countries to which they come, whereas now they do not.

I state in response that there are miles to go between not assimilating and having ill will.

I did not assimilate anywhere. However I have no ill will either to America, where I lived for a long time, or to Australia, where I reside at this time. I have found amazing qualities in any number of people in both countries; and I wish well both to them and to the countries in which they live.

If somebody actually does have ill will – as I did when I was younger – then that should be confronted. If a person actually has ill will toward the country in which he resides, then he should be given a choice: Either be loyal to the country or go elsewhere. I see no reason at all for America or Australia to support people who want to bomb them or the people who go around gang-raping girls; and I am all in favor of action to either deport or jail such people.

Not all immigrants are created alike. I would like now to make distinction between people who do not assimilate and people who actually have ill will. I never assimilated; but I do not have ill will either toward America or toward Australia. Whereas there are any number of Muslims who have ill will toward both. These people should be given a choice: Either be loyal to the country in which they live, or else leave the country.

My parents have assimilated into America, and both of them have lived fairly decent lives. I did not assimilate anywhere, but I have made all sorts of contributions. There is the room for people like them, and there is the room for people like me. Whereas there is absolutely no room for people who actually bear ill will. If someone thinks that America is the Great Satan or anything of the sort, then he should not be in America.

When I was living in California and making good money in the software industry, I started reading Ward Churchill as a result of going to a bookstore. What I read made me hate myself, and it made me hate the Western Civilization, in which I at the time inhabited quite a comfortable place. I realized later that I made a wrong choice. There are all sorts of good things that have come out of the Western civilization; and it is wrong to bear ill will toward it while inhabiting a place in it.

Any civilization – Western or otherwise – has the right to get rid of people who bear it ill will. I used to bear ill will to the Western civilization, but I do not do now. I had all sorts of experiences, some of them quite painful, to realize that it is important to have good will toward the places in which one risides. Ward Churchill was right to teach compassion for his people. He was wrong to claim that the Western civilization is sociopathic or evil.

I have found good people in all sorts of unexpected places. I used to have contempt for the people who are regarded as “rednecks”; but the more I dealt with those people the more I got respect for them. There are all sorts of things that all sorts of people do wrong. I realized all sorts of wrong in my character. And that gave me compassion to all sorts of other people.

It is rightful to have compassion for people who are not like oneself. It is wrong to oneself be a bastard. One should be compassionate to people who come from other cultures; it is wrong to be nasty to people who come from one's own. Compassion is meant for everyone. Righteousness is meant for oneself.