There are jerks everywhere. There are jerks where I come from in America, and there are jerks in the heart of Europe, here in Berlin.
A jerk is someone who shows no respect for other people, because they dress differently, talk differently, or were born with skin darker or eyes shaped other than the local standard.
Ultimately, jerks are people with such a deficit of character and self-respect that they feel a need to belittle and intimidate others to fend off feeling small, scared and insignificant themselves. So we need to help them change the way they think and the way they feel about themselves. But first of all we need to stand up to them. Because words and deeds do have consequences.
I was painfully reminded of this recently.
