Xenophobia

A friend of mine sent me a little something yesterday:

A Somali arrives in Minneapolis as a new immigrant to the United States. He stops the first person he sees walking down the street and says, "Thank you Mr. American for letting me in this country, and giving me housing, food stamps, free medical care and free education!"

But the passer-by says, "You are mistaken, I am Mexican."

The man goes on and encounters another passer-by. "Thank you for having such a beautiful country here in America!"

The person says, "I no American, I Vietnamese."

The new arrival walks further, and the next person he sees he stops, shakes his hand and says, "Thank you for the wonderful America!"

That person puts up his hand and says, "I am from the Middle East, I am not an American!"

He finally sees a nice lady and asks suspiciously, "Are you an American?"

She says, "No, I am from Russia!"

So he is puzzled, and asks her, "Where are all the Americans?"

The Russian lady looks at her watch, shrugs, and says "Probably at work".

So, I sent him a short little note:

You might consider looking up xenophobia in the dictionary ...

This morning's e-mail produced the following:

It's a joke Joe. I don't hate strangers or foreigners. It says a lot about some of the shortcomings in our system. I am all for helping people in need, but those that can help themselves need to pull their own oar. It seems......forget it.

To which I replied:

What am I to think when so much of what you write to me involves a negative view of "ferriners"?

I honestly don't think he gets it. I guess some of his best friends are "ferriners"