can someone please explain what assimilation means to them? (green card, money, USA)
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Every area is different. My roots are English /Celtic / German as are those of my husband. The earliest ancestors came in the 1600s, the last of our ancestors to get here were about the time of the Civil War (1860s' at latest)
Assimilation to all of them meant picking up their own religion here, learning English ( even if German was spoken at home in the first generation), going to school and becoming American... I guess for the ones pre-Revolutionary war, it was helping to creat the country we have ( yes, we had German forebears then -- 2 Hessians who never went home ).
Where I live now, many ethnic groups still live in clusters and speak the original language at home, but still assimilate into the population. Education and language and a desire to better oneself is what this area would call assimilated.
Well there probably is a type of subculture here that pretty much looks down on everything American, the self-loathing type of Americans who prefer every other culture to the American culture.
At least you speak the language, that's a start. Language is one aspect of culture.
seriously?
i don't like football or attend church so I hate American culture?
Wow.
what happened to religious freedom?
Also, you don't have to like everything the culture ever created to like a culture.
The US has a very diverse culture. Many people doing many different things. By your logic, one would have to like every American-derived form of music. Do you like rap, jazz (includes types of a very diverse array), country (new country, older style, etc.), folk (of various types: from bluegrass to civil rights era), rock.
Or perhaps you meant because football and christianity are extremely popular that to enjoy American culture you must like them. In that case you must be a big Black-eye Peas and Kings of Leon fan. They are both in the Top 10 right now.
If you don't you are self-loathing.
Last edited by bluebeard; 08-17-2009 at 09:48 PM..
I think assimilation is more a buzz-word for anti-immigrant passions than it is anything which can be defined.
Too many people don't know their history, so they're frightened whenever a new wave of immigrants come here, legally or otherwise, and especially in hard economic times. What we see going on now, and the rhetoric generated by it all, is nothing new. For instance, we've seen and heard it all before during the peak years of Irish or German immigration.
Back then, the word assimilation might not have been used, but the things they said meant the same thing: They're not like us and, therefore, something to be feared.
Of course, no immigrant group ever assimilated totally. They tended to do just what immigrants do now: Group themselves by language and culture in communities abandoned by previous immigrants and living as neither fully American nor fully home country. For many years, for instance, Chinese was the dominate language in parts of San Francisco and Yiddish the language of the streets in Brooklyn, just as Spanish is the common language along West Cermak in Chicago today.
What few stop to realize is that it was never the immigrants themselves who assimilated and became fully American, it was their children and grandchildren. Consequently, demanding immediate assimilation from the current flood of Hispanics is unfair and not something even their own immigrant ancestors did, so why demand it of them?
For those who are worried about such things, I urge you to attend Veteran's Day activities at your local elementary or middle school. Watch as the kids, of all colors and ethnic backgrounds (Yes, even including Mexican's) recite the Pledge of Allegience and sing the National Anthem with misty eyes. Follow them around as they visit with invited Veteran's and sincerely thank them for their service. You'll find that second and third generation immigrant kids are no different from yours. They speak American English, with a heavy dose of street slang dominant in your neighborhood, talk about joining the service when the grow up or becoming Doctors or lawyers for firefighters. They all play Wii and know computers better than you do. In other words...they're AMERICAN'S TO THE CORE!
I think assimilation is more a buzz-word for anti-immigrant passions than it is anything which can be defined.
Too many people don't know their history, so they're frightened whenever a new wave of immigrants come here, legally or otherwise, and especially in hard economic times. What we see going on now, and the rhetoric generated by it all, is nothing new. For instance, we've seen and heard it all before during the peak years of Irish or German immigration.
Back then, the word assimilation might not have been used, but the things they said meant the same thing: They're not like us and, therefore, something to be feared.
Of course, no immigrant group ever assimilated totally. They tended to do just what immigrants do now: Group themselves by language and culture in communities abandoned by previous immigrants and living as neither fully American nor fully home country. For many years, for instance, Chinese was the dominate language in parts of San Francisco and Yiddish the language of the streets in Brooklyn, just as Spanish is the common language along West Cermak in Chicago today.
What few stop to realize is that it was never the immigrants themselves who assimilated and became fully American, it was their children and grandchildren. Consequently, demanding immediate assimilation from the current flood of Hispanics is unfair and not something even their own immigrant ancestors did, so why demand it of them?
For those who are worried about such things, I urge you to attend Veteran's Day activities at your local elementary or middle school. Watch as the kids, of all colors and ethnic backgrounds (Yes, even including Mexican's) recite the Pledge of Allegience and sing the National Anthem with misty eyes. Follow them around as they visit with invited Veteran's and sincerely thank them for their service. You'll find that second and third generation immigrant kids are no different from yours. They speak American English, with a heavy dose of street slang dominant in your neighborhood, talk about joining the service when the grow up or becoming Doctors or lawyers for firefighters. They all play Wii and know computers better than you do. In other words...they're AMERICAN'S TO THE CORE!
Give 'em time. They'll assimilate just fine.
Are your referring to legal immigrants or illegal aliens AKA criminals?
Folks who come here legally (including from Mexico) are much more likely to assimilate and become 'American'------------definitely their children. Illegals, OTOH , are more likely to cling to their ancestral culture. We don't need the latter group, period.
Are your referring to legal immigrants or illegal aliens AKA criminals?
Folks who come here legally (including from Mexico) are much more likely to assimilate and become 'American'------------definitely their children. Illegals, OTOH , are more likely to cling to their ancestral culture. We don't need the latter group, period.
Come on. Even if every illegal here was suddenly made legal, do you really think all this talk about the Mexican invasion would end and they'd be welcomed with open arms? I doubt it, don't you?
Legal/illegal is just a smoke screen for those who are afraid of immigrants. The fact is that throughout most of our history, there WAS NO legal process for coming here; people just showed up and moved on in. Essentially, millions came here "illegally," including many of our ancestors, and it wasn't the end of the world. Heck, even my own ancestors just dropped by and stayed, without the benefit of government regulation. By y'alls reckoning, the whole family should be deported back to Scotland and forced to start all over.
Come on. Even if every illegal here was suddenly made legal, do you really think all this talk about the Mexican invasion would end and they'd be welcomed with open arms? I doubt it, don't you?
Legal/illegal is just a smoke screen for those who are afraid of immigrants. The fact is that throughout most of our history, there WAS NO legal process for coming here; people just showed up and moved on in. Essentially, millions came here "illegally," including many of our ancestors, and it wasn't the end of the world. Heck, even my own ancestors just dropped by and stayed, without the benefit of government regulation. By y'alls reckoning, the whole family should be deported back to Scotland and forced to start all over.
Forget the past. In the past it was also legal to drag slaves over from Africa, there was also land available for homesteading. The past is over.
We're a welfare nation now, we simply cannot keep on being a borderless nation with no immigration laws. We simply cannot take in the over 2 billion impovershed people of the world and give them a nice life here with all the materialist things they would like to have.
The fact is that throughout most of our history, there WAS NO legal process for coming here; people just showed up and moved on in. Essentially, millions came here "illegally," including many of our ancestors, and it wasn't the end of the world. Heck, even my own ancestors just dropped by and stayed, without the benefit of government regulation. By y'alls reckoning, the whole family should be deported back to Scotland and forced to start all over.
How can you so blatantly contradict yourself? If there were no laws regarding immigration then no one came here illegally.
And keep in mind, that your ancestors might have come but many people went back to Europe because there were no welfare programs if they couldn't make it here. A little known fact is one third of immigrants returned to Europe in a short time, many couldn't hack it here. Now if they can't learn the language and can't find work, they simply head over to the nearest welfare office.
seriously?
i don't like football or attend church so I hate American culture?
Wow.
what happened to religious freedom?
Also, you don't have to like everything the culture ever created to like a culture.
The US has a very diverse culture. Many people doing many different things. By your logic, one would have to like every American-derived form of music. Do you like rap, jazz (includes types of a very diverse array), country (new country, older style, etc.), folk (of various types: from bluegrass to civil rights era), rock.
Or perhaps you meant because football and christianity are extremely popular that to enjoy American culture you must like them. In that case you must be a big Black-eye Peas and Kings of Leon fan. They are both in the Top 10 right now.
If you don't you are self-loathing.
Seriously. We're supposed to respect all the cultures of other countries but in other countries there also is no single culture. Do you think in Mexico, everyone plays soccer or goes to church but the liberals are simply in awe of Mexican culture.
America-loathers like to insist that the American culture is the only culture that must be condemned and denigrated but they adore every other culture and insist that illegals coming here must hold onto their culture and never learn a thing about the USA.
Seriously. We're supposed to respect all the cultures of other countries but in other countries there also is no single culture. Do you think in Mexico, everyone plays soccer or goes to church but the liberals are simply in awe of Mexican culture.
America-loathers like to insist that the American culture is the only culture that must be condemned and denigrated but they adore every other culture and insist that illegals coming here must hold onto their culture and never learn a thing about the USA.
What you are saying simply has no relevance to anything I said.
I think you have a narrow view of assimilation and what it means to be American, and indeed what defines American culture. I am just as American as you, and do not loathe it at all, yet I am not Christian and don't watch football.
Are your referring to legal immigrants or illegal aliens AKA criminals?
Folks who come here legally (including from Mexico) are much more likely to assimilate and become 'American'------------definitely their children. Illegals, OTOH , are more likely to cling to their ancestral culture. We don't need the latter group, period.
even legal immigrants have aspects of thier former cultures. americans speak english, they didn't form a new language. many of the customs, foods and traditions were brought over and is still a part of american culture.
to divorce the human element from the concept of assimilation is to be unrealistic. people are comprised of their backgrounds and where they came from and will influence the culture of wherever they go. they are not some computer program where it's deleted before they set foot on another shore.
it's not so much about whether they 'cling' or embrace who they are culturally or not but that they abide by the important laws of where they reside. for instance, if a belief or practice were to conflict with laws in a society you wish to enter, then by default that belief or practice must be dropped or not practiced as well the receiving country should not have to accept outrageous things which insult them but also there needs to be reasonableness on both parties about what is important as a group and what is just personal or individual.
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