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I think the English settlers in New England expressed that same sentiment when the Irish immigrants began to arrive, and then again when the French, German & Italian immigrants arrived.
Have Americans destroyed our nation and culture on behalf of multiculturalism?
I'm asking this question because American life is changing rapidly.
What are your thoughts?
Answer: No.
Now, my question is this: Does no one else see this contradiction?
How can we destroy the (implying one) "culture of America" if America claims to be multi-cultural? Shouldnt that mean that there is more than one American culture anyway, and that those cultures are also American now? Therefore we would equally be destroying those cultures. I mean, they do live here. Dont tell me we are still viewing America as one culture, yet claiming to be "multicultural"...if so, why not just tell the world that we only want one kind of culture and one group of people here? This country isnt practicing true multiculturalism imo.
I think the English settlers in New England expressed that same sentiment when the Irish immigrants began to arrive, and then again when the French, German & Italian immigrants arrived.
^^ Very True. Dont forget the Native Americans...Im sure they felt the same way also...They probably felt as though their culture was being destroyed in the name of multiculturalism as well.
I don't think that there is a monolithic American culture (in the same way it could be said that there is British culture or Italian culture.) I live in Pennsylvania, but if I go to Maine the culture is different from where I live. Same with the Southwest or Minnesota or Oregon. It's all different, and it's all valid. America's never been a melting pot, more like a tossed salad. I think the people who complain that American culture is being ruined are the same people mentioned above: WASPs.
It hasn't been destroyed, but by & large our culture has been watered down until its unrecognizable.
Some might say its "evolved" into what we see, I'd opine "devolved" is more apropriate.
Yeah I know. We were fine until those Europeans with their monotheistic religions, capitalism, democracy, and guns and horses came around.
Culture in any country is a constantly changing deal. Culture is defined not just by place, but by time as well. There is no such thing as a "pure" culture.
This is especially true for America. The Western Hemisphere today is basically the result of globalization.
Those that have said that previous ethnic groups have bemoaned the new interlopers coming into the country are absolutely right.
The majority of past immigrants came to the country for a variety of reasons but nearly all had a desire to "become" American...adopt American customs, learn the language, etc. I believe what many bemoan today is that there seems to be a growing number of immigrants, legal or otherwise who do not have this desire. Many perceive a desire to keep the culture from which they came to the point of demanding (in some extreme cases) that American law doesn't pertain to them, that they keep their old culture, shun and reject American culture and mores, and in some cases, not even learn the language of the country to which they have immigrated. Another factor that trouble some people is that there are growing numbers of American citizens who support this attitude and support the idea of America accommodating these desires, of the present culture adapting to the newcomers rather than the reverse.
Some worry about where do these accommodations stop? I once taught in a high school where there were 27 foreign languages spoken as first languages. There has been a push in many areas of the nation for many governmental publications, (ex.: ballots) be printed in Spanish. I guess the question I have in these kinds of situations is where do you stop? If it's acceptable and appropriate for Spanish-speakers only to be accommodated, how is that fair to the Russian, the Iranian, the Laotian, etc.? Doesn't it become cost prohibitive at some point, and at another, just the practicality of such actions become problematic.
Many fear that the above attitudes will lead to, as mentioned by an earlier poster, further "Balkanization". History has not been kind to nations in the long run that did not have cohesive cultures and languages.
Personally, I believe the saying "When in Rome, do as the Romans do" doesn't only apply to Americans in Rome...
that they keep their old culture, shun and reject American culture and mores, and in some cases, not even learn the language of the country to which they have immigrated.
This has happened as long as there's been immigration. When my German forebears moved to Cincinnati during the 1870s they attended church services in German, read newspapers in German, their children attended German-speaking schools. But they also raised a generation of American children, who continued to have American children. Just because people of a specific ethnic group chose to live in the more familiar surroundings of Little Italy or Chinatown or Polish Hill doesn't mean they weren't interested in being Americans. It was true then and it's true today.
I don't think that there is a monolithic American culture (in the same way it could be said that there is British culture or Italian culture.) I live in Pennsylvania, but if I go to Maine the culture is different from where I live. Same with the Southwest or Minnesota or Oregon. It's all different, and it's all valid. America's never been a melting pot, more like a tossed salad. I think the people who complain that American culture is being ruined are the same people mentioned above: WASPs.
It's definitely different depending upon where you go. For someone like me, who works in NYC and lives in NJ, it's disconcerting sometimes to go on certain forums and message boards and see the blatant anti-Semitism (that's picked up speed for sure), anti-Muslim sentiments, etc. I think I tend to think that things are better than they are throughout the country until I read some of these things. Apparently there are people out there who have no contact with other groups.
Not that NY/NJ is bias-free, but apparently it's much less than other parts of the country where the people are more homogenous to begin with.
This has happened as long as there's been immigration. When my German forebears moved to Cincinnati during the 1870s they attended church services in German, read newspapers in German, their children attended German-speaking schools. But they also raised a generation of American children, who continued to have American children. Just because people of a specific ethnic group chose to live in the more familiar surroundings of Little Italy or Chinatown or Polish Hill doesn't mean they weren't interested in being Americans. It was true then and it's true today.
I agree. The area I live in was settled by the Dutch. When I was growing up, there were two churches of the same denomination (Reformed Church in America, which came out of the Dutch Reformed Church) half a block away from each other. The reason was that two generations earlier, the younger folks had broken away to have a church that held services in English, while others wanted to continue with the Dutch services. Now everyone spoke English, but there were two separate churches. About 25 years ago they merged, sold both buildings and built a new church.
One of the churches, by the way, was bought by a German-speaking congregation who wanted to hold services in German. Guess what--25 years later, everything is held in English as most of the older immigrants have died.
As a side note just to show how persistent division tendencies are--my paternal grandmother looked down on my mother's family because her family spoke a "better" dialect of Dutch. Do you know how small the Netherlands is, and yet they found reason to divide themselves over her over a damned dialect.
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