by Guy Graybill
Any group, in any nation, that shows disrespect, of criminal proportions, for others within their own nation or elsewhere, cannot claim to be members of the national populace. Therefore, the Mafiosi are not true Italians, or – in America – they are not true Italian-Americans.
Similarly, the Klansmen of America are not true Americans, the fascists of Germany were not true Germans, the Hutu of Rwanda are not true Rwandans, the Stalinists of the Soviet Union were not true Russians; the Khmer Rouge were not true Cambodians; neither the Nationalists nor the Maoists were true Chinese; the members of the Assad regime are not true Syrians; the Taliban members are not true Afghans; the drug cartel members are not true Mexicans, etc. Huge and hapless numbers of the world's population still live in nations where murder and other acts of barbarism indicate organized thuggery that cannot be considered to be national.
The Tuscan peasants are Italian. The opera stars of Milan are Italian. The pasta cooks of a thousand eateries are Italian, as are the Neapolitan street singers, along with the writers, sculptors and painters of the Italian Renaissance. The heroic Italian-American soldiers of the American military are among the true Italian-Americans, as well as some great Italian-American songwriters and singers, jurists and legislators, lawmen and housewives, educators and inventors, actors and sports stars... and so many more.
Sad though it is, the Mafiosi and the Klansmen, as well as the Taliban, the Stalinists, the Assad supporters, the Hutus, the Khmer Rouge, the Chinese Nationalists and Maoists, the Mikado's imperialist troops, the Mexican cartel members, etc. are all part of that immense international 'jackassery' that keeps civility and freedom from flourishing. Damn the lot!