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I think that we are WAY past the time where we can blend into some kind of melting pot. I must prefer the term "mixed salad", where we are all part of a whole in which we exist harmoniously together, but we keep our individual cultural identities. Btw, the "mixed salad" analogy is not mine, but I forget who said it.
(I do wish that we could encourage everyone who lives in the U.S. to know how to speak and understand English, though -- even if they choose not to speak it -- because a common language is one of the great unifiers and aids in all forms of communication, and I ALSO wish that we could all share some of the same values that MOST people agree are good, such as following the so-called "Golden Rule" -- meaning showing respect for each other -- obeying laws that are the good for everyone, and earning what you have as much as you are able.)
Last edited by katharsis; 05-12-2017 at 09:44 AM..
You can see a melting pot in, of all places, Mexico. Spanish elites had mixed with the native population for so long that now there's little cultural distinction between whites and mestizos (of similar income). There are, of course, numerous indigenous groups that have never assimilated.
We need to celebrate our diversity because it makes us stronger. Think of all we gain from immigrants. Wonderful cultural things like great ethnic foods.
I feel like this kind of statement is always touted without much evidence to back it up. One of those things "everyone knows to be truth" like 'if the groundhog sees its shadow...'
The countries in the world doing the best are basically homogenous monocultures - the Scandinavian countries, Japan, South Korea.
Multi-cultural countries are more violent, less cohesive, have more political turmoil.
The "great food" is not enough. Americans for generations have melted old world foods into American ways of cooking and preparing same. There was still an expectation that you "become American" when you move here. That expectation is no longer here. And yet, Americans are constantly told that we have to accept people AS AMERICANS, even when they themselves don't identify as such except when convenient.
Balkanized communities living in segregated cities is NOT good. Not speaking the same language is NOT good. There must be some level (a high one, I'd argue) of assimilation for a society to exist.
After all, if you don't "identify" with me on any level, other than that we happen to live in the same geographical boundary, then I am a LOT less likely to want MY money to go towards YOU and YOUR family in the form of social programs, etc. You are a stranger. (See above why monocultures also tend to have the best social welfare states.)
I feel like this kind of statement is always touted without much evidence to back it up. One of those things "everyone knows to be truth" like 'if the groundhog sees its shadow...'
The countries in the world doing the best are basically homogenous monocultures - the Scandinavian countries, Japan, South Korea.
Multi-cultural countries are more violent, less cohesive, have more political turmoil.
The "great food" is not enough. Americans for generations have melted old world foods into American ways of cooking and preparing same. There was still an expectation that you "become American" when you move here. That expectation is no longer here. And yet, Americans are constantly told that we have to accept people AS AMERICANS, even when they themselves don't identify as such except when convenient.
Balkanized communities living in segregated cities is NOT good. Not speaking the same language is NOT good. There must be some level (a high one, I'd argue) of assimilation for a society to exist.
After all, if you don't "identify" with me on any level, other than that we happen to live in the same geographical boundary, then I am a LOT less likely to want MY money to go towards YOU and YOUR family in the form of social programs, etc. You are a stranger. (See above why monocultures also tend to have the best social welfare states.)
Exactly! This is one of those parrot-like talking points leftists like to repeat over and over, but have no proof to back it up. In fact, I find most of them are ignorant about the world and have never really experienced other cultures around the world.
Exactly! This is one of those parrot-like talking points leftists like to repeat over and over, but have no proof to back it up. In fact, I find most of them are ignorant about the world and have never really experienced other cultures around the world.
Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen — written in blood — from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.
Can you cite one speck of hard evidence of the benefits of "diversity" that we have heard gushed about for years? Evidence of its harm can be seen — written in blood — from Iraq to India, from Serbia to Sudan, from Fiji to the Philippines. It is scary how easily so many people can be brainwashed by sheer repetition of a word.
Thomas Sowell
Good ole Sowell, the sage of logic! Yep, it's comments like 'diversity makes us stronger' that really shows the true ignorance of those on the left. One has to just look at them and smile, because you know they aren't even capable of having a logical conversation.
We need to celebrate our diversity because it makes us stronger. Think of all we gain from immigrants. Wonderful cultural things like great ethnic foods.
Diversity makes the ruling class stronger, by dividing the bottom 99% along racial, ethnic, and religious lines.
Diversity certainly does NOT make ordinary Americans stronger.
And so have Puerto Ricans who were born and raised stateside. They all do, eventually. You just have very short term thinking individuals that can't see past their own generation and think nobody is assimilating
Yup..I would point out that assimilation is a two-way street...many of the current mainstream events and holidays started in another culture.
The widespread use of Spanish in the Southwest..by both Hispanics and Whites...is another example.
I think that is what many of the Alt/Right really fear...that immigration will lead to assimilation..and that their values and views will be subsumed by an America that has been changed by the adaptation of other culture's values.
Yup..I would point out that assimilation is a two-way street...many of the current mainstream events and holidays started in another culture.
The widespread use of Spanish in the Southwest..by both Hispanics and Whites...is another example.
I think that is what many of the Alt/Right really fear...that immigration will lead to assimilation..and that their values and views will be subsumed by an America that has been changed by the adaptation of other culture's values.
The only thing a "host" culture has to do is ALLOW newcomers the ability to assimilate.
That means allowing them to interact, go to school and work with the host culture. There doesn't have to be a reciprocal "adoption" of ANY cultural practice or norm of immigrants. If it happens, it happens. But that is NOT a requirement.
Assimilation means you, as an immigrant, conform YOUR behavior as best as possible to the host. It means NOT making demands of the host culture that graciously allowed you in to accommodate YOU and YOUR culture. After all, ostensibly, as an immigrant to any country you went there because there was something about that new place that offered you something your "home" did not. Why would you then turn around and try to make it "like home?"
THAT is what is infuriating about the refusal of many "immigrants" a... they seem to be working overtime to reduce this country to the very thing they fled! For example, the Middle East is a crap hole BECAUSE of the Muslim religion that they now want us to accommodate and normalize in OUR society...because THAT works out real well where you came from, eh?
BTW< the SW has Spanish names and influences because another WHITE culture (The Spaniards) made it that way. Hispanic doesn't mean "not white". Spaniards and the English intermarried, warred, had alliances and otherwise had been dealing with each other for hundreds and hundreds of years before colonialism.
Yup..I would point out that assimilation is a two-way street...many of the current mainstream events and holidays started in another culture.
The widespread use of Spanish in the Southwest..by both Hispanics and Whites...is another example.
I think that is what many of the Alt/Right really fear...that immigration will lead to assimilation..and that their values and views will be subsumed by an America that has been changed by the adaptation of other culture's values.
Assimilation means adapting to the mainstream culture not changing it. So the so-called Alt/Right does not fear assimilation and in fact desires it from foreigners who migrate here.
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