Senator Conrad Burns (R-Montana) jumped on the bandwagon of Senators making racist quips the other day, saying that the United States is facing an enemy of terrorists who "drive taxi cabs in the daytime and kill at night."
This seems like a good time to share some awesome news: last night I had my first EVER pleasant conversation with a taxi driver! In the past, whenever a cab driver has talked to me, the conversation has quickly traveled from the weather to (a) racist or homophobic jokes, or (b) religious prostheletyzing. (That kind of thing should be right up Senator Burns' alley, shouldn't it?) It was enough to make me hope for cab drivers who speak no English, or who constantly talk on their cell phones. But last night I had a lovely conversation with a cab driver who was originally from Somalia, then spent 7 years as a refugee in Djibouti (sounds like Jabooty, but that means something different--thanks, Google, for setting me straight on that one) before coming to the United States 5 years ago. I told him about my recent biking exploits, and he told me about how, as a child, he got a bike as a gift from a missionary in Ethiopia, which he rode all the time but often got flat tires because the roads there are not good. His entire family is in Ethiopia, but he said he loves living in the United States. All in all, the experience improved my day, and made me feel like I should appreciate the fact that I live in a place where the military will not come kill you in the night because of your ethnic group.
So, Senator Burns must not have been talking about DC taxi drivers. Maybe he was talking about Montana taxi drivers? I am willing to believe that they are a bunch of unstable, gun-hoarding militia members. Note to self: scratch plans to traverse Montana by taxi.
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Ha! In Missoula, Montana, the biggest "city" in Montana, there are only two taxicabs. Not cab companies, but two cabs. You call 'em at home and they come over and pick you up.
Most of the gun owners out there are pretty stable, too.
So does the fact that you made a sweeping, intentionally incorrect generalization cancel out Burns? Do these two wrongs make a right, or somehow come to zero?
Jeff Simmermon, would that I did have the power to cancel out Senator Burns' racist remarks by making negative generalizations about Montana taxi drivers--if that were the case, I could just stay home all day, making jokes at the expense of teensy, unpersecuted groups of people, and thus fix many of the problems in the world.
To clarify, I have nothing against gun owners, although militia members I do find creepy. I have not taken a cab in Montana, although I have been there and found it quite lovely. I did see bumper stickers there expressing disagreement with a plan to add flouride to the water, though, which I must say freaked me out.
Dude, don't you know that Fluorinated water is just the latest way the Feds are trying to poison our children? Jeez.
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