What strikes me as odd in all this is talk of foreigners who come here and make no effort to assimilate into our culture.
I would have thought a 'melting pot' of cultures was a culinary reference. If there is any such thing as a Murican culture surely it would carry traces of all the flavors that go into it.
But I get the impression that some here think think the purpose of the melting pot is to strip away all vestiges of an immigrants old culture. So the melting pot is something like an acid bath.
I'm reminded of that movie "Gangs of New York". There it was easy to see that most of the stress was between those born here and the new arrivals. What a sense of entitlement those who were born here felt. Hazing and exploiting the new comers was part of that. Somehow once a person has been born here then it just seems right that every policy should advantage their kind. Make the newcomers prove themselves worthy by humbly emulating everything about us.
If someone wants to live in a homogenous community which reflects their own origins they have that option here. But if gated, English only, white communities are permitted why not Spanish speaking communities? This is a country of new comers and their descendents. I don't accept the privileged place given to descendents of Pilgrims. The Spanish were in the new world before them. Hell, they were in California before them too. I don't speak Spanish well at all but I respect those who do. I don't ask for any laws that make a virtue of my ignorance.
There, now I feel better. Rant over.
I would have thought a 'melting pot' of cultures was a culinary reference. If there is any such thing as a Murican culture surely it would carry traces of all the flavors that go into it.
But I get the impression that some here think think the purpose of the melting pot is to strip away all vestiges of an immigrants old culture. So the melting pot is something like an acid bath.
I'm reminded of that movie "Gangs of New York". There it was easy to see that most of the stress was between those born here and the new arrivals. What a sense of entitlement those who were born here felt. Hazing and exploiting the new comers was part of that. Somehow once a person has been born here then it just seems right that every policy should advantage their kind. Make the newcomers prove themselves worthy by humbly emulating everything about us.
If someone wants to live in a homogenous community which reflects their own origins they have that option here. But if gated, English only, white communities are permitted why not Spanish speaking communities? This is a country of new comers and their descendents. I don't accept the privileged place given to descendents of Pilgrims. The Spanish were in the new world before them. Hell, they were in California before them too. I don't speak Spanish well at all but I respect those who do. I don't ask for any laws that make a virtue of my ignorance.
There, now I feel better. Rant over.
