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You are an American when you are born here to parents that are born here. If you or your parents were born in another country, then you become American when you pass the citizenship exam.
You are an American when you are born here to parents that are born here. If you or your parents were born in another country, then you become American when you pass the citizenship exam.
There is a difference between being an American and being a citizen. By our legal definition, there are many citizens who have never set foot on American soil, and many non-citizens who have been here for many decades and raised their families here.
By one of my marriages, I have two sons, one born in the USA and one born in another country. Both were from the same parents, and they were raised together as brothers. How can you argue that one of them is more American than the other?
Hmm,at what point will 350 million people ,from the 4 corners of the world. living in an empire that spans an entire continent, reaches from Maine to Guam,from Porto Rico to past the Article Circle,that has yet to reconcile the fiissures that plunged a smaller, more homogenous country into all-out war 150 years ago,all become one?
I know there's an answer,I'll think really hard and get back to you in about 15 years.
Hmm,at what point will 350 million people ,from the 4 corners of the world. living in an empire that spans an entire continent, reaches from Maine to Guam,from Porto Rico to past the Article Circle,that has yet to reconcile the fiissures that plunged a smaller, more homogenous country into all-out war 150 years ago,all become one?
I know there's an answer,I'll think really hard and get back to you in about 15 years.
While the US may be especially diverse, all nations require belief in an abstract idea of national unity that may not correspond to any actual increased similarity vs other people. One person's view can be that it is an effort to increase national unity based on forging a national identity, patriotism, and shared values, while another person's view can be that it is following blind nationalism, artificial identity, xenophobia, and national myth. Identity is human-created and a sociocultural idea, so there is really no "fact" to be found. Identity is what you believe it to be. Some nations are based on ethnicity, sometimes which wasn't seen as nearly distinct before the founding of the nation. Some see it as a shared set of values, such as the US. Some are based on religion. Some change with time (is Chinese an ethnicity or nationality?).
Most nations are formed with much ideology and identity politics. Most with some sweat and blood to back it up. Once the borders are up, real differences may start to increase, similar to as if a river or mountain range suddenly separated to populations.
As for the OP, it means different things to different people. Some people would even say you have to be Christian, or partake in certain hobbies or interests. My view is that is it a pretty individual question, and the answer might not be as much of a yes or no, but more of answer to certain degrees (someone who has lived here for 10 or 20 years might feel "in the middle" of his/her home country and the US). Everyone should answer this question with their own feeling. After all, this is an American ideal: the idea of charting your own path, identity, and pursuit of happiness.
While the US may be especially diverse, all nations require belief in an abstract idea of national unity that may not correspond to any actual increased similarity vs other people. One person's view can be that it is an effort to increase national unity based on forging a national identity, patriotism, and shared values, while another person's view can be that it is following blind nationalism, artificial identity, xenophobia, and national myth. Identity is human-created and a sociocultural idea, so there is really no "fact" to be found. Identity is what you believe it to be. Some nations are based on ethnicity, sometimes which wasn't seen as nearly distinct before the founding of the nation. Some see it as a shared set of values, such as the US. Some are based on religion. Some change with time (is Chinese an ethnicity or nationality?).
Most nations are formed with much ideology and identity politics. Most with some sweat and blood to back it up. Once the borders are up, real differences may start to increase, similar to as if a river or mountain range suddenly separated to populations.
As for the OP, it means different things to different people. Some people would even say you have to be Christian, or partake in certain hobbies or interests. My view is that is it a pretty individual question, and the answer might not be as much of a yes or no, but more of answer to certain degrees (someone who has lived here for 10 or 20 years might feel "in the middle" of his/her home country and the US). Everyone should answer this question with their own feeling. After all, this is an American ideal: the idea of charting your own path, identity, and pursuit of happiness.
Most countries are full of people just living their lives without the delusion their country is the center of the world.
Most countries are full of people just living their lives without the delusion their country is the center of the world.
True....and most of these non-delusional, hard-working countries are blessedly free of outsiders entering their society to claim a "piece of the action". Their societies are so inward-looking, and the lives of their citizens so circumscribed and dull, so completely focused on 'just living their lives', that they don't concern themselves with 'others'...and relatively few outsiders are tempted to go there.
In this country, we don't have the luxury of being "left alone". Therefore, it's sometimes difficult for us to 'just live our lives', like the folks in those other countries you mention. Lots of people want to come here, plug into OUR system (with or without our consent), and live THEIR lives, too...among US, whether we like it or not. Sometimes, they come here and they don't even PRETEND to like us.....but they still insist on coming here, rather than staying home and 'just living their lives'.....and that's where the friction starts.
If people would quit 'coming here', we'd quit complaining about immigrants. MOST of us would probably soon relax, and begin 'just living our lives', as you recommend.
True....and most of these non-delusional, hard-working countries are blessedly free of outsiders entering their society to claim a "piece of the action". Their societies are so inward-looking, and the lives of their citizens so circumscribed and dull, so completely focused on 'just living their lives', that they don't concern themselves with 'others'...and relatively few outsiders are tempted to go there.
In this country, we don't have the luxury of being "left alone". Therefore, it's sometimes difficult for us to 'just live our lives', like the folks in those other countries you mention. Lots of people want to come here, plug into OUR system (with or without our consent), and live THEIR lives, too...among US, whether we like it or not. Sometimes, they come here and they don't even PRETEND to like us.....but they still insist on coming here, rather than staying home and 'just living their lives'.....and that's where the friction starts.
If people would quit 'coming here', we'd quit complaining about immigrants. MOST of us would probably soon relax, and begin 'just living our lives', as you recommend.
Most of the US is made of people who were "outsiders" within just 2 or 3 generations ago. The country you seem not to like exists due to outsiders.
[quote=macmeal;11036214]True....and most of these non-delusional, hard-working countries are blessedly free of outsiders entering their society to claim a "piece of the action". Their societies are so inward-looking, and the lives of their citizens so circumscribed and dull, so completely focused on 'just living their lives', that they don't concern themselves with 'others'...and relatively few outsiders are tempted to go there.
In this country, we don't have the luxury of being "left alone". Therefore, it's sometimes difficult for us to 'just live our lives', like the folks in those other countries you mention. Lots of people want to come here, plug into OUR system (with or without our consent), and live THEIR lives, too...among US, whether we like it or not. Sometimes, they come here and they don't even PRETEND to like us.....but they still insist on coming here, rather than staying home and 'just living their lives'.....and that's where the friction starts.
If people would quit 'coming here', we'd quit complaining about immigrants. MOST of us would probably soon relax, and begin 'just living our lives', as you recommend. [/QUOTE
USA receives immigrants not because they are so thrilled with it but because it has always let cheap labor pour in to destroy its working class as a matter of de facto policy.
The flipside of assimilation is acceptance of the person by the mainstream society of the person trying to assimilate into the larger culture. What's the use of telling immigrants to assimilate on the one hand, while treating them like they will always be "different", perpetual foreigners on the other....
It also doesn't help that, compared to the past immigration cycle, the racial and cultural differences of today's immigrants are far, far greater than the European migration of the last century. And that for certain groups like Mexicans and even Puerto Ricans and Cubans, the geographical differences make it much less necessary to break complete ties to their ancestral homelands...
Indeed. Salad-Bar assimilation has definitely been the case for almost all of America's history. Right now, it's OK for Asians and Indians (regardless if they abide by the laws and are productive to society) to be seen as Americans, yet the hardest working Latino who is a citizen of this country has to be seen as an "Illegal Mexican"? As far as I'm concerned, this is the #1 reason why you have ethnic and race based ghettos, because of exclusion by the dominant group and culture many foreigners originally aspire to assimilate into! So for all of those who whine about having ethnic ghettos, just shut the hell up! For as much as I'm not thrilled over the establishment of ethnic and country-based ghettos, we all know if the "puritan whites" who were the supposed "original Americans" welcomed Native Americans, Blacks, Irish, Italians, Catholics, Eastern Europeans, Jews, Asians, and Latinos who wanted to assimilate as Americans from the start, we wouldn't have the problems of ethnic enclaves and racial strife that we have today!
I know what you mean, and I think that your question can be answered this way: wait until the second, or possibly in some cases the third, generation. They'll have become assimilated. (I say this as a second-generation American. All four of my grandparents came here as immigrants, which is how I came to develop this thesis).
When will Palestinians become equal with Israeli racists?
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