Just Asking: Here's a thought experiment. Imagine a "foreign element" in the population. Perhaps the first thing you notice is the music. These days it seems impossible to go from one radio station to another without hearing some of "their" music. It's so loud, so crude. They refuse to learn your language, and seem to demand translation (or at least endless linguistic patience) in all things. They eat food that you find disgusting -- and they seem to rub it in your face, too, because it's turning up everywhere these days. They're different; you can just tell by the way they walk and talk, and the way they dress -- god, the way they dress. They're loud and lewd, and they have no taste at all.

They are, let's be honest, not like you, maybe even inferior, and you hate them and wish them back to their own damn country, or at least out of your town. Recently, some people (your people, that is) burned down one of their restaurants, kind of to say, "You're kind isn't welcome here." Now you know about the kinds of things that went on in Alabama and Mississippi in the civil rights struggle, and civil rights are important to you. You're not inclined toward violence, really, but you feel some sense of cultural satisfaction, a modicum of justification, since these people were polluting your town.

So it's pretty clear what's going on, right? It's obvious that you're a white person, maybe in Denver or one of the larger towns outside of LA -- maybe Orange County or something. Might as well admit it: You're a bigot, and you're complaining about the hispanics.

But what if you're French, complaining about Americans?