August 11, 2013
The Myth of the Mexican Work Ethic
By Jeremy Egerer

There are two kinds of men that this article will necessarily offend. The first, and most obvious, is the kind of man who honestly believes in an exceptional Mexican work ethic -- the man who attempts to befriend or utilize the Mexican population to prove himself not to be a racist, to acquire their votes, or to unfairly associate himself with qualities belonging to others. But the second kind of man, in my opinion, deserves to be offended far more than the rest, for, hoping to find an essay about the laziness of Mexicans, what he is actually going to find is an essay about the foolishness of white Americans.

Being half-Hispanic, I have always heard, since as far back as I can remember, that Mexicans have a superior work ethic -- that they move quickly, and do much, and complain never. I do not necessarily debate these claims concerning the migrant laborer, but if I were to assert that these characteristics belonged to Mexicans as a whole, I believe I would do both Mexicans and Americans a disfavor.

In a sense, the claim is correct: Mexicans can be said to do the jobs avoided by whites, for less pay, and at a faster pace. Anyone at least remotely familiar with agricultural labor knows that whites largely avoid it, and that they avoid it because it is too difficult for the pay given. If we begin with this premise, that the pay is not enough to attract white people into this brand of heavy labor, we begin with a very sensible observation: that what is preferable to one man is not preferable to another. And if we can say that one labor is preferable to one man, which to another is not, we may say in this case that it is because one comes from a better circumstance, and the other from a worse one.

There are certain cases in which culture makes certain labors unpreferable: long-forgotten is Tocqueville's account of Native Americans, in which their disgust for the settled life of the farmer kept them from settling, which kept them from producing, which led to the depletion of resources, which led to the unsustainability of their uncivilized social arrangements. And I remember reading about certain Asian cultures in which the noble women kept themselves out of sunlight as much as possible, to keep skin fair as possible, to ensure they looked as little like the farm-laborers as nature would allow. But I as a blue-collar laborer do not see anything so unmanly and backward in white working-class culture to suggest any of these options: they see glory in dangerous and dirty fishing expeditions and honest living in plumbing and construction, being a culture which still, despite a growing tendency toward softness and litigiousness, shames younger and effeminate youths when they can't keep up, and takes pride in performance.

But I sincerely doubt there is anything in Mexican (or any other) culture which prefers difficult to moderate labor, and scanty pay to equitable; and I believe that in the case of the migrant laborer, what makes him tough and fast is not his ethic, but his desperation. Coming from a land of practical war and starvation, caused not by whites, but by his countrymen -- perhaps even by himself -- he seeks lands and people who've established some form of justice, and therefore have established employment. But he cannot simply help himself to whatever is available; skilled labor requires skilled language, and furthermore, the Mexican has no documentation, no education, and no recommendation. He flies where he cannot be regulated, and where his talents, which are few yet common, are best utilized. He flocks to the street corners and agricultural centers, looking for employers with plenty of work and little sense of patriotic duty.

It has been said that American farmers constitute the heartland of America. If this is the case, then America is suffering from coronary disease.

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http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/t...l#ixzz2biXUqYvC