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So that is the big difference between them and the Irish? I'm open to new ideas.
The Irish came here to work and have a good life. They came here LEGALLY and those that spoke Gaelic, stopped speaking it and didn't teach it to their children, because they were now in America and they were going to live as Americans. They didn't want handouts, they had something called pride. They worked very hard here, which cannot be said for the Latinos, that are pouring in day after day, taking ranches and killing people for their land. Irish didn't come over just to have anchor babies.
Sure, there were Irish gangs that caused problems, but that started out, due to poverty. Most wanted a better life. The Irish were considered the lowest of the low, due to their poverty, but that soon changed. The illegal Mexicans are bad because they get everything that we as citizens don't even get. What we work for, they are handed. They don't need to work, because our government caudles them. And the worst part, is that they don't even try. This is the illegals, not the ones that came here legally.
This thread must make liberal heads explode. They want to compare the experience of Mexicans with that of the Irish, who were treated badly in earlier times. To do this though, they have to admit that the Irish were treated badly in earlier times! The Irish, a white ethnic group that suffered discrimination (and for some outright slavery). That goes against the "liberal" narrative that whites are the cause of social injustice and that whites share some kind of collective guilt over things of the past. What's a lib to do?
Do NOT try to box people. I'm very liberal and not only did the Irish get treated the way Mexicans do today, but the Germans, Polish, Italians, and all of the Eastern European emigrants were treated like trash. With the Irish there were just so many who immigrated, so maybe they stand out more.
I made my point in my first post on this thread. People find excused to justify their fear, and xenophobia. If it weren't the Mexicans it'd be someone else. Small brains and small hearts equals fear and loathing.
Hell yeah, I'm a liberal. I'm 1/2 Native American and I like anyone regardless of color or origin as long as they honest people with open minds.
When humans stop treating other humans like the trash they throw in the dump AND then find reasons to justify it then the world just might end. Stop justifying hatred based on someone being different than you.
This thread must make liberal heads explode. They want to compare the experience of Mexicans with that of the Irish, who were treated badly in earlier times. To do this though, they have to admit that the Irish were treated badly in earlier times! The Irish, a white ethnic group that suffered discrimination (and for some outright slavery). That goes against the "liberal" narrative that whites are the cause of social injustice and that whites share some kind of collective guilt over things of the past. What's a lib to do?
My head hasn't exploded yet... I missed the whole liberal narrative you speak of, but I might have skipped that issue of the newsletter that we all recieve on a monthly basis.
What's more interesting is that you acknowledge that the Irish suffered discrimination--as did the Germans, Polish, Italians, Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Syrians, and Greeks upon their arrival--yet you probably don't see any irony that the same arguments being used against those groups (they're taking us over, our culture will never be the same, they have too many children) are the same ones used today against Mexican immigrants.
Throughout American history, immigrants have frequently been blamed for a variety of problems. In the early 1800's, the Irish and Germans were the targets of nativism. Then, Southern and Eastern Europeans were the problem. Chinese immigrants were the focus of early 20th century persecution. My question is, are Mexican immigrants being unjustly blamed, like the other immigrant groups, or is there something inherently different about them? Despite being conservative on almost every other issue, I personally feel that the Mexicans are unjustly blamed for many problems, but I would like to here other opinions.
I had to vote no because the Irish, my ancestors, came as legal aliens and went through Ellis Island but most of the Mexicans are entering illegally without permission to enter. The only ones you mentioned who came illegally were the Chinese in the 1850s and 1860s to work as unskilled labor and for little money. They built the western third of the first transcontinental railroad and were very often murdered by the largely Irish hands from the Union Pacific. Whole faces of cliffs were blown up taking many Chinese workers with them. Of course, the race by the two companies caused most of that murder of Chinese so maybe some of the left people here can squeal about those wealthy business men.
First off, I'd like to start by saying that my father's side is 100 percent Irish. We've been here since the famine.
A big misconception is all Irish came here legally. That is not entirely true. Many Irish were turned away upon arrival (as were many other nationalities) only to remain here illegally. Also, many Irish entered the country illegally at Ellis Island by falsifying information such as surnames. After all, it is the Irish that are the reason Smith is one of the most popular names in America.
As for Mexicans being the new Irish, this is somewhat true. Both are Catholic. Both tend to come from large families that wane in size from generation to generation. And, yes, both are unfairly blamed for many of the issues in our country.
The main thing all immigrants have in common in this country is we want them when they come as workers. As soon as we realize they are people, we want them to go away.
These folks just want to come here and work, and find a better life. Same thing as my ancestors. Just because our religion, language, and skin was different than theirs, we were all just people looking for the same thing.
You have to know that both the Irish and the Mexicans are and were largely Catholic. Yes, one group wanted to improve their lives but they did it legally since it was so hard to swim or wade the Atlantic and so easy to walk across the border today.
Big difference with regard to acceptance of Mexicans in the USA in 2011 - The Irish came here legally and all were accounted for through Ellis Island.
There is absolutely no possible way anyone could compare the legal immigration of our Irish ancestors to the illegal flood of Mexicans in the USA.
It's like comparing apples to horses.
Most of the anti-Irish problems stemmed from the fact they were largely Catholics and so many of the LEGAL immigrants of that day were also Catholics.
Most of the Mexican illegals are also Catholic but when they refuse to attend American Catholic churches along with their refusal to assimilate we see many of their problems here coming from that.
Just a question: Should i assume that all Irish came here LEGALLY? Is that a fact?
Maybe you need to consider how tough it would have been for them to sneak in when the ships they had to come on had to dock at our ports because swimming or wading the Atlantic just wasn't feasible. There were no planes back then either. Yes, the Atlantic is much deeper than the Rio Grande or any of the valleys and gorges the Mexicans come in from.
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