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Exactly! This same poster accused me of being "White" because I was criticizing Latin American countries. Like I said, I come from a Brazilian background, in terms of race, I am half Lebanese and half Italian, hardly a "White" person.
American culture is not "White" culture like chicagonut stated, it is simply the culture of the majority of the people in this country. If you live in this country for generations and still need to stick to a "foreign" culture or a hyphenated American culture, then, something is wrong with you, not the system.
I have met 3rd generation Mexican Americans who still identify themselves as "Mexican", they only associate with people of the same ethnicity, only live amongst people who look like them, everything has to be Mexican, Mexican grocery store, Mexican TV, Mexican music, Mexican magazine, they speak English with an accent and hate White people.
Still living that same loser Mexican "barrio" lifestyle their grandparents ran from more than 50 years ago
The La Raza lovers gag on everything you just said cause it cuts them to the bone. IF the La Raza people really hated the white man; they'd give up Hispanic culture in a NY minute. They're just jealous IMHO.
Just so we're clear what exactly IS the American culture becuse from what I know there isnt one set in stone what you may think is an American culture is not what I may think. It all comes down to sectional differences for example someone living in Arkansas isn't going to have the same culture as someone living in manhattan. Based on that one. And really say whether or not Hispanics assimilate.
Just so we're clear what exactly IS the American culture becuse from what I know there isnt one set in stone what you may think is an American culture is not what I may think. It all comes down to sectional differences for example someone living in Arkansas isn't going to have the same culture as someone living in manhattan. Based on that one. And really say whether or not Hispanics assimilate.
If you have to ask what American culture is then you must not be one. We are still bound together by the English language whether you speak it with an accent in Arkansas or in Boston. The basic "culture" still remains the same. Nice try but no cigar.
Speaking this nation's language is the most important sign of assimilation to me.
And you believe in freedom of speech, but it bothers you when someone speaks Spanish (which is never to you). Interesting.
No said that they are -- but apparently it's "hispanics" who want some big pan-hispanic label, culture, identity. And that culture is obviously Mexican because that's where the overwhelming number of so-called "hispanics" come from. Puerto Ricans don't lay around eating tacos and enchiladas and jalapenos but everyone sees tacos and enchiladas as hispanic cultural food. Just like Cinco de Mayo is the big hispanic holiday but was only meaningful in Mexico.
As for USA culture, from the very start, the USA has been the most racially and ethnically diverse nation ever anywhere on this planet. We still have a culture as much as Mexico has a culture, Argentina has a culture.
It's culture that makes for drastic changes when you reach the southern border. It's not the land that immediately changed, not the air. It the culture, the way people live and think that changes. If they relocate their pueblito to the USA side and refuse to change in any way, then soon they will find themselves right back where they came from. Sure north of the border has food stamps, WIC, Medicaid galore for them but really all they did was exchange being poor in their own country for being poor in the USA. Of course poor in the USA is much more lavish and enjoyable.
If you have to ask what American culture is then you must not be one. We are still bound together by the English language whether you speak it with an accent in Arkansas or in Boston. The basic "culture" still remains the same. Nice try but no cigar.
Speaking this nation's language is the most important sign of assimilation to me.
Ok first off did i say I wasn't an American? No. In case you didn't know it culture consists of more than just a language. So relax, fine maybe speaking the language is part of a culture but it isn't the only thing, a language in itself is not a culture it's other components. so the "American" culture varies....
Ok first off did i say I wasn't an American? No. In case you didn't know it culture consists of more than just a language. So relax, fine maybe speaking the language is part of a culture but it isn't the only thing, a language in itself is not a culture it's other components. so the "American" culture varies....
Language is the most important factor in assimilation.
Imagine moving permanently to France or Japan and never learning even a word of their national language. You could not claim you assimilated in any way.
Without learning the language, you are not going to travel about and speak to the natives of those countries, you will not be able to read books written by the people of those countries, or understand much about them. Sure you might be told about them, but unless you can communicate with the people directly you will not really know them.
Eating a pizza doesn't mean someone assimilated into Italian culture, eating chow mein doesn't mean you've adapted to Chinese culture. Food is nothing, food is just food.
Just so we're clear what exactly IS the American culture becuse from what I know there isnt one set in stone what you may think is an American culture is not what I may think. It all comes down to sectional differences for example someone living in Arkansas isn't going to have the same culture as someone living in manhattan. Based on that one. And really say whether or not Hispanics assimilate.
If we're gonna play that game: Mexico ain't a single culture either. But like Mexico and its different citizens: most of us Americans have a LOT in common with other Americans like using English, respect, not fear of the cops and judges and so on. Mexicans use Spanish, have their ways of doing things which may work in Mexico but NOT in the US and so on.
In my opinion, American culture can be defined as many things, I live in Iowa and I feel like here in parts of the Midwest, we are still living in the "real America", to me, this is the way America was supposed to be, places like NJ or CA are more like anomalies.
Iowa is 91% White, big woopity do! I know a lot of Hispanics feel really uncomfortable in places where there is no grafitti, gangs, and trash everywhere but I like the quality of life here
Last week, some Hispanic guy did 3 drive by shootings in a neighborhood here in Des Moines, the sense of community here is incredible, basically everybody came together, stood up and the message was clear "We are not going to tolerate this **** here, PERIOD!".
This animal and a few others of the same kind had already started to pollute this safe neighborhood with graffiti, gang activity and intimidation but I am glad they are behind bars now, some of these people are just not civilized enough to live in our neighborhoods!
American culture is not "White" culture like chicagonut stated, it is simply the culture of the majority of the people in this country. If you live in this country for generations and still need to stick to a "foreign" culture or a hyphenated American culture, then, something is wrong with you, not the system.
Which brings us to the question I posed earlier in this thread:
What happens when the majority isn't the majority any more?
Last edited by JazzyTallGuy; 05-06-2012 at 10:02 AM..
Uh, no not really. Depends on what you call assimilation.
Despite a overwhelming evidence to the contrary that has been presented in this thread. You keep insisting that second, third or later generations of Hispanics don't assimilate when actually they do.
The only thing you can really present is your own anecdotal experiences of living in an area with high numbers of Hispanics that are not U.S. born.
The only thing one can assume is that your own fears, prejudices, and hate has overcome your intelligence and rationality.
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