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Maybe some multiracial researcher will come up with a full-body transplant, and you and I can go on doing triathlons well into our hundred-and-teens!
Reminds me of the National Geographic story I read years ago, about a group of Nepalese porters on a Himalayan expedition. During a break, one of the European climbers asked a 97-year old porter (with full pack) about his peoples' amazing longevity. The guy said most of his 'valley' all lived long, but he didn't know much more...and suggested the climber "ask my Dad...he's sitting over there with those others. He only carries a HALF pack, because he's 114".....must be the lack of fast food....or perhaps a very meager retirement plan?...
Reminds me of the National Geographic story I read years ago, about a group of Nepalese porters on a Himalayan expedition. During a break, one of the European climbers asked a 97-year old porter (with full pack) about his peoples' amazing longevity. The guy said most of his 'valley' all lived long, but he didn't know much more...and suggested the climber "ask my Dad...he's sitting over there with those others. He only carries a HALF pack, because he's 114".....must be the lack of fast food....or perhaps a very meager retirement plan?...
Thank you for the response, I always value your perspective.
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Originally Posted by macmeal;
Good point, Tex. It's always been my belief that the America of 2042 will be the America that the people of THAT TIME are used to. It will not resemble the America of 2008, but then again the America of 2008 doesn't resemble the America of 1935, either....and would we really WANT it to?
Good point.
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Would I be happy in the America of (for example) 2090?....probably not....but I won't be there. And the people who ARE 'there' will never know what they're missing.
I believe that my generation was very selfish and viewed America as something that it could profit from in the here and now; whatever the long-term consequences that were to follow from our decisions we believed that we'd never live to see them and that our retirement would be assured. We profited in the short-term from the hollowing out of our manufacturing sectors to various countries overseas and filled our own country with untold millions of immigrants in order to have cheap labor for our businesses. But as a consequence we are inheriting to future generations an America that we can't be proud of, thoroughly stripped of its characteristic Anglo-European culture.
I think that's a real black mark against my generation.
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BTW, I'm married interracially, and have interracial kids and grandkids...so for me, this is mostly academic. I admit I see a 'downward spiral' in the future. I do think things will probably become rougher, tougher, harsher, and far less free. But I attribute most of that to our INSANE love affair with multiculturalism, our inability to work together, and a VERY serious decline in "American" culture, ethics, standards, and morals.
My view has always been that people should be allowed to marry whomever they love, but I don't think that it was possible for us (as an American nation) to give up on our Anglo-European ancestry while also preserving our Anglo-European culture. My years of experience here in diverse Texas have taught me that you can't have one without the other. Previous generations understood this, that's why immigration to America from 1790 to 1965 was almost entirely restricted to Europeans.
My view has always been that people should be allowed to marry whomever they love, but I don't think that it was possible for us (as an American nation) to give up on our Anglo-European ancestry while also preserving our Anglo-European culture. My years of experience here in diverse Texas have taught me that you can't have one without the other. Previous generations understood this, that's why immigration to America from 1790 to 1965 was almost entirely restricted to Europeans.
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There's very little doubt in my mind that the original concept of America...that of a free, inclusive, and benevolent society, that was theoretically open to all who desired to be included, ans was STARTED by a very unusual little group of largely English 'free-thinkers'...would NOT have 'happened', had America been founded by any OTHER group..that much is difficult to argue with.
The 'founders', IMHO, were very generous with the 'rights', and simply assumed the 'duties' would be taken care of by the common consent of the new arrivals, as they came and assimilated. For many years, this more-or-less happened. We didn't 'celebrate our differences'...they didn't NEED celebrating. We celebrated our similarities, and left our 'differences' to family and private life.
But you may be right, that with increasing diversity, coupled with an apparent lack of interest today in any 'assimilating'. (part-and-parcel, IMHO, of 'multiculturalism'), it's pretty apparent that 'the Grand Experiment' will probably go down as a failure. An exotic, novel society such as ours, running ONLY on the 'consent of the governed' (almost unheard of at the time it was conceived) is pretty obviously not going to work without a WHOLE LOT of 'team spirit', and 'working together'....and multiculturalism, broken down to its simplest terms, is essentially a way of saying we don't "need" any team spirit, nor do we NEED to work together...we can all work 'any way that suits us'...and it's 'all GOOD'. Under those terms, I'll agree with you that we probably won't survive the 'long haul'.
You can't be 'diverse', and at the same time be 'focused'.....and without focus, it 'ain't gonna fly'. Which, again, I'll never see, because I won't be here.
Pity, though, because at one time we idealized assimilation. It's now gone out of style, to our peril.
There's very little doubt in my mind that the original concept of America...that of a free, inclusive, and benevolent society, that was theoretically open to all who desired to be included, ans was STARTED by a very unusual little group of largely English 'free-thinkers'...would NOT have 'happened', had America been founded by any OTHER group..that much is difficult to argue with.
The 'founders', IMHO, were very generous with the 'rights', and simply assumed the 'duties' would be taken care of by the common consent of the new arrivals, as they came and assimilated. For many years, this more-or-less happened. We didn't 'celebrate our differences'...they didn't NEED celebrating. We celebrated our similarities, and left our 'differences' to family and private life.
But you may be right, that with increasing diversity, coupled with an apparent lack of interest today in any 'assimilating'. (part-and-parcel, IMHO, of 'multiculturalism'), it's pretty apparent that 'the Grand Experiment' will probably go down as a failure. An exotic, novel society such as ours, running ONLY on the 'consent of the governed' (almost unheard of at the time it was conceived) is pretty obviously not going to work without a WHOLE LOT of 'team spirit', and 'working together'....and multiculturalism, broken down to its simplest terms, is essentially a way of saying we don't "need" any team spirit, nor do we NEED to work together...we can all work 'any way that suits us'...and it's 'all GOOD'. Under those terms, I'll agree with you that we probably won't survive the 'long haul'.
You can't be 'diverse', and at the same time be 'focused'.....and without focus, it 'ain't gonna fly'. Which, again, I'll never see, because I won't be here.
Pity, though, because at one time we idealized assimilation. It's now gone out of style, to our peril.
I don't think it's a matter of "either", "or".
It doesn't come down to a choice of whether you embrace diversity, therefore you don't embrace the "American" traditions and values. Or you embrace assimiliation, therefore you don't embrace the infusion of other ethnicities into our American culture. I embrace both diversity and assimiliation. I see no contradiction in valueing both and feeling that they can both be achieved. Our faces can change, but we can all live together and work toward a common goal.
I live in a county where I, as a white person, am a minority. I don't speak Spanish or Creole, I live in a neighborhood with many ethnicities, we are all working class people and we get along fine. Yes, there are some immigrant neighborhoods where people tend to gather, mostly those neighborhoods are inhabited by new arrivals, once people have been here long enough, they prefer to move outside of their comfort zone and enjoy all that this country has to offer. Those who don't adapt and attempt to assimilate usually wind up living in poverty, or they engage in illegal activity which lead them to jail. Either way, this is not the road that most go down, most will learn the language, go to school, enter the workplace and contribute to our society.
Assimilation is not a process of completely shedding your own ethnic identity in exchange for being an American, my family is from Ireland, there was no doubt that my Grandfather was a proud American, but anyone who knew him knew that he was born with 100% Irish blood and damn proud of that too.
In my own family, through marriage between various races and adoption, we have family members whose "roots" are in; Ireland, Africa, Jamaica, China, India, and Germany. And guess what...we are all just family. The love between us is just as strong and just as unshakeable as if we all had our roots on the same block of the same town in the same country. And that is just how it should be with our country. Wherever our fellow American's "roots" began, we are all Americans now and our respect for and loyalty to one another should be just as strong as if we all had our roots on the Mayflower.
How many little Italy's still exist???3 or 4 real ones NYC,Boston,San Fran,Baltimore.
Guess what they became americans like many illegals fail to..
But why should they?Theres spanish radio,tv,billboards.
You need need English to get a job.
The Italian/Polish VS todays Immigration point fails...
Irish/Italian/Polish came in waves and stopped.
Todays Illegal immigration sees no end in sight with our government unwilling to act.
The Polish stopped immigrating to the US? When would that be? I could drive you around a few neighborhoods here in Chicago and you'd stop believing that in two seconds flat. Oh, and I know more than a few Poles who somehow managed to get jobs here in Chicago without knowing hardly any English at all.
If you don't believe me, we can start with a little place a few miles north of me (that strip of Milwaukee is only one of the Polish neighborhoods in the city.
I think you worry too much about Spanish. I grew up knowing loads of kids whose parents spoke Spanish, and the kids barely knew how to speak it. In fact, I remember it being a source of much amusement in the home of a friend of mine growing up, both of his parents were from Mexico but didn't speak speak Spanish all that much around the kids when they started to go to school, but he failed high school Spanish (and he was generally a good student). Another coworker of mine who is also from Mexico, jokes that his own kids hardly know Spanish despite his best attempts to get them to speak it (he would like them to be bilingual like he is, and yes, he is fluent in both English and Spanish, holding an advanced degree from a US University).
WAYYYYYY back when I was a kid, I went to school with a boy whose dad and mom ran a neighborhood grocery store. He had to rush home from school every day and help out at the store because his mom spoke NO English and his dad spoke such limited English that few could understand him. And they had come to this country from Italy 15 years before. Big deal. Give people time. I have done a lot of traveling in countries that were not English speaking and I will always treasure the memories of the kindness shown to me in those countries where I did not speak a word of their language but they helped me any way.
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