There was a discussion going on in the End of Europe thread and it was said that the USA was doing a great job in assimilating our immigrants.
I've been thinking on that for awhile now ...
If we are doing such a great job, then why do we have to press 1 for English 10 or more times a day ?
Because assimilation works both ways.
Not to be a killjoy but assimilation (by it's definition) does not work both ways. It works one way. If you want to talk about "cultural sharing" or use another term to indicate how immigration influenced American culture... then that would be more appropriate.
Location: i believe, i believe, it's silly, but I believe Gender:
Posted:
Apr 5, 2016 - 9:27am
Lazy8 wrote:
rotekz wrote:
Nope. Just one way.
As Saint Teddy was saying this there was a huge influx of immigrants fleeing pogroms in eastern Europe and rigid social orders and poverty in western Europe. They formed enclaves where they could speak their native languages and practice familiar culture. Some of them were my ancestors.
They assimilated just fine, thank you, but the rest of the country absorbed some of their culture and language as well. Teddy was right about one thing—those immigrants became fiercely loyal to the culture that welcomed them. He was wrong about how that happened, tho. He was a patrician representative of the old order, who thought that American meant only the kind of American he was.
Saint Teddy couldn't sense the contradiction between treating people equally and expecting them to be identical. He wanted the dominant culture—at the time his culture—to be able to bully all the others. He lost that fight. My ancestors and I are grateful.
As Saint Teddy was saying this there was a huge influx of immigrants fleeing pogroms in eastern Europe and rigid social orders and poverty in western Europe. They formed enclaves where they could speak their native languages and practice familiar culture. Some of them were my ancestors.
They assimilated just fine, thank you, but the rest of the country absorbed some of their culture and language as well. Teddy was right about one thing—those immigrants became fiercely loyal to the culture that welcomed them. He was wrong about how that happened, tho. He was a patrician representative of the old order, who thought that American meant only the kind of American he was.
Saint Teddy couldn't sense the contradiction between treating people equally and expecting them to be identical. He wanted the dominant culture—at the time his culture—to be able to bully all the others. He lost that fight. My ancestors and I are grateful.
There was a discussion going on in the End of Europe thread and it was said that the USA was doing a great job in assimilating our immigrants.
I've been thinking on that for awhile now ...
If we are doing such a great job, then why do we have to press 1 for English 10 or more times a day ?
We should just thank our lucky stars that we are in North America and it is Latinos that are our main source of immigrants, I for one welcome them, their language and their culture. We got it good compared to Europe,sorry that is just a personal preference.
A. I did not pop into the EOE thread and see the ongoing discussion until now and,
B This thread is the closest thing to the End of America thread there is here considering the opinion of most regarding Trump.
C Is is possible to discuss assimilation in Europe vs America in one thread and keep things straight ? Evidently, so never mind, I'll express my thoughts on the matter over there.
Okay , I hadn't gone there (yet).
and C - well enough, I did think this was an odd place for the comment. There is finally some decent content in that thread - let it run!
What's that got to do with Trump? Is he going to tell private businesses how to interact with their customers now?
A. I did not pop into the EOE thread and see the ongoing discussion until now and,
B This thread is the closest thing to the End of America thread there is here considering the opinion of most regarding Trump.
C Is is possible to discuss assimilation in Europe vs America in one thread and keep things straight ? Evidently, so never mind, I'll express my thoughts on the matter over there.
, I hadn't gone there (yet).