Extreme "All or Nothing" Thinking Solves Nothing

EXTREMES!  We hate extremes.  Don’t we?

Too hot, too cold, too long, too short, too big, too small, Goldie Locks and the Three Bears said it well.  So why do we tolerate EXTREME, all or nothing THINKING, and its accompanying attitude in the social political arena?  This type of thinking/attitude goes something like this: “All illegal immigrants are criminals, thieves, rapists, thugs, and drug traders; they should all be tarred and feathered, then hanged; better yet, shoot first, ask questions later.”  Or, “All prison inmates only get what they deserve.  Lock them up and throw away the key; let them rot there.”  All or nothing thinking: all Democrats are this way; all Republicans are that way; all these people are lazy, ignorant; all those people are evil, dangerous, and so-on and so forth.  Why do we allow it?  It’s too easy, and requires very little actual thinking.  Perhaps it’s that it allows us to stay in our comfort zone and demands little concentration.  Perhaps it’s a form of denial, a way to avoid real ownership and accountability, enabling us to believe that the sorry plight of a people, their social and economic hardship, suffering and pain, has nothing to do with us: “Not our fault!  THEY are the problem; we’re just minding our own business, making a living here.”

Is it really that simple that easily understood?  Do we “The People” really have nothing to do with the overcrowding of our prisons, for example, or the continuing outpour of illegal immigrants spilling over our borders, just to name two immediate and pressing social/economic issues affecting this nation?  With regard to the immigration problem, are we really that innocent, in terms of responsibility, cause and effect, given the national/international economic policies we’ve supported in the past and considering the financial weight and impact that huge North American Corporations have had and continue to have in countries all across Latin America?  Am I sounding unpatriotic?  Why should one be accused of being unpatriotic just to ask such questions?  Are they not fair and reasonable questions to ask?  Is it not to our benefit not only to ask but to actually seek to understand the, who, what, where, when, how and why, of these volatile issues?

It’s too easy to scapegoat an offender, using all or nothing thinking as in “ALL illegal aliens are bad people; they are ALL subversive villains, lawbreaking criminals, undermining the very foundations of our free and democratic nation.”  To scapegoat the general population of illegal aliens neither addresses the real issue nor explains the root causes.  Yes, we can say, “It’s not our problem.  They’re breaking the law; they’re in the wrong, not us.”  But deep down inside most of us must know that it’s really not as simple as all that.  What goes around comes around.  There is a reason that men, women, and children are willing to endure so much hardship and tolerate so much pain and suffering just to get to the U.S., knowing that they will be generally despised, shunned, looked down upon, disrespected, and ill-used when they get here.  Yes, they are economically motivated (and we’re not?).  And yes, we are a land of great promise and great opportunity (that’s why we love it here!).  And so they sneak in and we are looking for them, ready to treat them all as criminals and villains of the worst kind!  Why?  Perhaps it’s because it is easier to abuse and mistreat lawbreakers and villains than it is to justify the maltreatment of poor, hard-pressed individuals and/or families whose only real crime is that of trying to survive and make ends meet, i.e., have a better life.

Is it possible, just possible, that our very own North American mega corporate powers and their financial dominance and dealings in Latin America are part of the problem?  And is it also possible that our present and failing approach in dealing with the drug trade is also part of the problem?  In other words, while we are so busy getting up and arms over the many poor suffering men, women, and children who daily make the run across our borders and while we are busily chasing and attacking the little people, is it possible that we are at the same time casting a blind eye to the real powers and forces that are benefiting from the system as it is and has been, the BIG People who are daily raking in billions of dollars, exercising more and more influence and control over our lives, as well as the lives of the little peoples on both sides of the border, while we say, “That’s just Free Trade at work, it’s good business”?

It is the small people who carry the brunt of the load of economic depression and hardship; it is the small people who are desperately looking for ways to break out and make it; it is the small people who are most willing to do what it takes, willing to do the dirty work, to work long and hard, and not ask for special privileges or handouts; yet it is the small people who are the first to be accosted, accused, crossed and double crossed in the name of justice and respect for the law.

Think about it.  Is our immigration problem simply a matter of shoring up our borders and keeping the small people out; is that all we have to do?  Or are there deeper more profound issues and dynamics at play here?  Are the many small, eager but desperate people, who are crossing our borders on a daily basis, are they really the CAUSE/SOURCE of our immigration problem?  Or are they merely a symptom of a greater social/economic problem that we are failing to see or acknowledge, let alone address?  What do you think?