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It's funny people brag about the melting pot that occurs in this city. The different cultures, food, religions, traditions, etc but then go on to hate the very same thing. lol
Funny thing is New yorkers act like it's a melting pot of different cultures like commuting to and from work but at the end of the day we all go into our separate little caves and tribes.
Funny thing is New yorkers act like it's a melting pot of different cultures like commuting to and from work but at the end of the day we all go into our separate little caves and tribes.
On top of that, I'm irritated by the whole idea. I'm not in any way anti-immigrant, and I love the diversity of NYC. Like probably just about everyone else here, I'm descended from immigrants, and not so very long ago. But when my family arrived, they dove into America and never looked back. One set of grandparents belonged to a club for their original nationality, where, as far as I can tell, they mostly met to sit around and play cards, but they never would have felt it necessary to prance around in public. It certainly would never have occurred to my grandparents to wrap themselves with the flag of their past country - literally, as I saw some Dominicans doing. It seems to me that once you decide to move here, you commit to the melting pot concept, and you MELT.
It was not very long ago that people were forced to assimilate or face all sorts of discrimination. Many even changed their surnames and shed off every trace of their otherness. That was wrong. I think you can celebrate your heritage and assimilate. It doesn't have to be a binary choice.
My parents and I are immigrants. We arrived from the former USSR in the late 1980s. For the better part of my childhood I grew up in the predominantly Italian neighborhood of Bergen Beach. Many of its residents were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generations Americans.
I would argue that my parents and I were more assimilated than many native born in the neighborhood.
We never claimed to be Russian-Americans. Just Americans.
We never claimed how we loved Russian food and how great it was.
We never claimed how beautiful of a country Russia was and how we loved to visit it.
It seems to me that to a lot of Americans, especially white Americans of European ancestry, assimilation has a special, utterly hypocritical definition.
First off, Italian-Americans tend to be very chauvinistic about their culture. Greeks do it too, as do Russians.
It can be annoying at times when you are having a conversation and the other person constantly interjects some factoid, "Do you know the Greeks invented that?", but the bottom line, it doesn't hurt anyone. Let people have pride in their culture.
Problem is they move to predominantly English-speaking areas and then assert their Russian culture, refusing to assimilate. If they were living in Brighton Beach, could understand, but don't see the point of leaving an ethnic area to move to one that is completely the opposite to then assert your identity.
Identity is a funny thing and has to do with liberalism and conservatism. By definition, to be conservative means that change is difficult while liberal is more open-minded. (I'm not speaking of politics but of mindset.) One would think if someone leaves their country to live in another, there may be a bit of liberalism; after all, it takes a lot of courage to resist the status quo and leave your country to live in another. But liberalism and conservatism isn't an all or nothing proposition. People can have different set-points in different facets of their life.
Regarding ethnic enclaves, it can be comforting to be around your own kind when you are in a new country. Immigrants have always done this. However, pragmatically speaking, failure to step out of ones comfort zone and learn the language and the culture of your new land can harm you; it can limit your ability to get an advanced education, limit job prospects. But if some old grandma living with their child lives with her grandchildren in an ethnic enclave, it will likely have little impact on her day to day life. But it won't be impact neutral. She will still encounter issues when ever she has to leave her community. I'm pretty forgiving with older people. With children, that's a different story. Once upon a millennia ago, I lived in another country. It wasn't very long but it was longer than a vacation. I picked up the basics of the language pretty quickly. Though my grammar was horrendous and my vocabulary limited, I was able to get by without English. It was a wonderful experience; it was empowering and I learned a lot about the subtleties of the culture by learning the language. These are just things you can't learn by just being present. This is why I am a huge advocate of total immersion vs. bi-lingual education for immigrants. It's also efficient because the instructor teaches in English and doesn't need to know a half a dozen other languages.
Everything is racist now, it's actually quite funny. The labelling of my comment regarding the 1st Amendment as racist could quite possibly be the height of Orwellian irony. Is the whole Constitution racist now?
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