A Bad Man Cometh

There was a guy on the subway the other day who warrants some space on this blog. Now, I subscribe to the same policy of recognition that Time Magazine used to. Their Man of the Year (now Person of the Year) seemingly once was truly the most influential individual, for good or ill. These days, it's one positive copout or another. I don't want to be told that some generic person such as "You" is the person of the year.

This guy was no person of the year, but he was the person of our ride, that's for sure. He started off pleasantly enough, and we thought he might be one of the good guys with a cart full of recycling. We got corrected fast enough, though. First he started disparaging the minorities in LA's South Central neighborhoods. In the interest of keeping peace and trying to have as pleasant a ride as possible, the subject was changed.

He, of course, would not be induced to changing his tune. Somehow or another, MacArthur Park came up. It's a park a bit west of downtown. It's commemorated in the song of the same name, and itself commemorates General Douglas MacArthur. Well, our friend felt that if 5,000 immigration agents descended on the park and fell upon the first people they found, they would round up that many illegal aliens. I found his math faulty, to say nothing of his general belief system.

There are always going to be such objectionable people around. I generally try to avoid engaging with them on the belief that it is a fruitless endeavor, but when in a group, I'm often in the company of people who have no such policy. I guess there's the impulse to put an odious man like that in his place, but considering that he subsists on an income derived from the collection of cans and bottles all day, every day, I'd say that life put him in his place.