Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Charles Simic, who spoke no English until his late teens, will be the second New Hampshire poet in a row to serve as U.S. poet laureate. Yesterday, the Library of Congress announced Simic's appointment to succeed Donald Hall and Charles Simic writes:
Poetry in my view is a defense of the individual against all the forces arrayed against him. Every religion, every ideology and orthodoxy of thought and manner wants to reeducate him and make him into something else. To sing from the same sheet is the ideal. A true patriot doesn’t think for himself, they’ll tell you. I realize that there’s a long tradition in poetry of not speaking truth to power and, in fact, of being its groveling apologist. I just don’t have it in me.
and I say.....
Last edited by Yac; 08-08-2007 at 03:56 AM..
Reason: quote shortened,copyright protection, provide alink to the article
Starting in the 1960's, the USA made the problem of diversity worse when the following things became commonplace:
- identity politics
- ethnic politics (overlaps with identity politics)
- hyphenated "Americans" (Africa-American, Mexican-American, Japanese- American, Italian-American, etc).
- cultural/language accomodation (examples include printing voting ballots in Chinese, Spanish, etc), bilingual education, discouraging assimilation but instead encouraging cultural solidarity with the immigrants former homeland, etc.
All of these things were designed by the "New Left" (as they were called back then*) to cause the USA to rot from within, to break apart, to cause infighting, the balkanize.
Starting in the 1960's, the USA made the problem of diversity worse when the following things became commonplace:
- identity politics
- ethnic politics (overlaps with identity politics)
- hyphenated "Americans" (Africa-American, Mexican-American, Japanese- American, Italian-American, etc).
- cultural/language accomodation (examples include printing voting ballots in Chinese, Spanish, etc), bilingual education, discouraging assimilation but instead encouraging cultural solidarity with the immigrants former homeland, etc.
All of these things were designed by the "New Left" (as they were called back then*) to cause the USA to rot from within, to break apart, to cause infighting, the balkanize.
Good point, and you are right this country is rotting from within. And what's really sad is the left has so much hate for America they don't even see anything wrong with it happening.
Neo-Cons are usually Republicans that love war and are much more liberal than the true Republican conservatives of old. Bush is a neo-con, as is most of the administration.
Here is a link and you can read what Wikipedia says.
The poet you quoted claims that diversity has the potential to be an electrifying force so long as slowly implemented. He suggests that cultural changes cannot be made overnight. Therefore, that would seem to jive with the present-day (and past as well) situation of first-generation immigrants continuing to carry on in their traditions while their children act more like the culture that surrounds them.
Quote:
- identity politics
- ethnic politics (overlaps with identity politics)
This seems to simply be a facet of the diversity the poet advocates. It would be worse if it were the other way around American-Africans, American-Mexicans, etc. Am I being "too diverse" for you if I call myself a Russo-Germanic-American?
Quote:
- cultural/language accomodation (examples include printing voting ballots in Chinese, Spanish, etc), bilingual education, discouraging assimilation but instead encouraging cultural solidarity with the immigrants former homeland, etc.
I'm ambiviliant on the point of printed materials. All citizens should vote, and certain civic forms NEED to be understood by all, even if they can't/won't learn enough English to read legalese. I know conversational German and Japanese, but I'd be lost if you handed me a ridiculously-complicated (standard) government form in those languages.
Bilingual education (meaning to educate children in a secondary language) seems like a positive thing to me. If you want to say that children in the United States should be educated in English as a primary language to assist in assimiliation, I'll agree with that. Having English as your first language no more dilutes your cultural heritage than would it make me any less of an American were I to speak only Cantonese from this day forward.
[quote=sponger42;1229214]So, what's the thrust of your arguements?
I think we're moving way to fast... it's smothering American's and our culture...
"All of these things were designed by the "New Left" (as they were called back then*) to cause the USA to rot from within, to break apart, to cause infighting, the balkanize."
Neo-cons are not much more liberal than old-time Republicans. They are much more conservative: "neo-con" stands for "neo-conservative." I really don't think Bush, for example, can be seen as "more liberal" than the traditional Republican.
Good point, and you are right this country is rotting from within. And what's really sad is the left has so much hate for America they don't even see anything wrong with it happening.
Hawkeye48....
why do you think the left has so much hate for America, or do you think it might be b/c they "think" they are right and refuse to see any other point of view...maybe also, control freaks who can't control their own lives...?
Why do you say they hate America?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
