you make my point for me. We over threw it because it was bad. The kind of thinking in this email is bad. Now only if we can come together as a country and overthrow the type of bigotry that email spouts. it is really sickening. look, if you dont like it when people dont speak english, either dont speak to them or move. if you think france is better, move to france. that's the beauty of this country. you can leave if you want to.
One question: Define American culture... Isn't it predominantly an amalgamation of inherited former 'immigrant' cultures, with some adaptation due to technological advances and a little time? Isn't it a tad selective, not to mention ego-centric, to assume that American 'culture' is established once your immigrant group has had it's effect, but goldurnit, these new fangled furners better get with the program! At what point did American culture become 'sovereign'? Did our forefathers come here and adopt Native culture, because it was the prevailing one at the time, or did they contribute to it?
If you are a citizen of the US than you are an american. Why should you label yourself mexican before american. I we are supposed to be one people, the human race, why even mention that you are mexican or whatever. If I went to Mexico and became a citizen, I would then be a mexican and not american, it has nothing to do with skin color. Why is it that every black person is African American. How many people are African. Very few. Just because you are black doesnt make you African, just like I am not Irish because I have an Irish name. I am not telling people to not want to know about their roots or heritage or where they came from. Until people stop segregating themselves nothing will change.
That was the authors point, if you dont want to learn our language or if you think it is so much better somewhere else, move. Why should the people that speak english and love America have to bend over backwards for people that generally too lazy to learn English. They b**** and complain about not getting a fair shake in society but they dont want to speak our language and want to parade around about how great it was back where they came from. English is our language and that isnt going to change. America is a great country and if you think that Mexico is so damn great, go celebrate Cinco de Mayo there. My independence day is July 4th, not May 5th.
If you moved to China would you instantly become Chinese? No likely. You would probably still be quite American in you attitudes and speech. Would the Chinese see you as Chinese? They would probably see you as American, which would make feel more American, I suspect. So you might think of yourself as American-Chinese, and what would be wrong with that? It's who you would be. So what's wrong with people in America calling themselves African-American or Mexican-American?
I didn't think I was "freaking out" about it. I said it was a "problem", I guess that's an exaggeration. I guess it's just annoying.
You are either American or you are not. If we are supposed to look at the person and not the color of their skin, then what is the purpose of calling yourself Mexican American other than to seperate yourself from other Americans.
Americans are not identical to each other. Some are Democrats, some are Republicans, some are Texans, some are New Yorkers … and some have Mexican heritage and some have Swedish heritage etc. So what? Why does this affect their Americanness?
If you moved to China (or France or wherever) would you expect them to accomodate your English or would you feel compelled to learn Chinese (or French or whatever)? Why should we expect less of others? The issue is different in America because we allow so many immigrants. Does anyone have any stats on immigration rates for nations? We want multiculturalism as an add-on to our American culture not as a dilution. So many immigrants with so few expectatons is a dismal formula for the U.S. Remember that Ben Franklin warned us that it would be harder to keep our republican form of government than it was to establish it... and we had to fight a war to establish it! Back to the Indians. How many Indian nations were there? That's why we didn't just assimilate ourselves into their (which?) culture. We have a strong society here.
But it has nothing to do with heritage, it becomes a race issue. We talk about being the human race and then the races divide themselves. My head hurts and obviously you believe one thing and I believe another. We should just agree to disagree.
Are African-Americans more African in attitude and speech? I hardly think so. In fact from my experience Africans are dramatically different from American blacks in their attitude, speech, and a lot of times in their facial features as well. I think a lot of the problem with this issue comes from the seemingly intentional American confusion between nationality and ethnicity/race. If I moved to China and became a citizen then I would most certainly be Chinese, I simply wouldn't be Asian or Oriental in ethnicity. Just because populations of certain countries may be more homogeneous than ours, that doesn't make it accurate to call an Asian a Chinese person or a Hispanic a Mexican.
TheFreak, I wasn't really referring to you. I was just referring to the onslaught of e-mails I've received since 9/11 about stuff like that.
If you moved to China (or France or wherever) would you expect them to accomodate your English or would you feel compelled to learn Chinese (or French or whatever)? Personally, would want to learn the language, but if I lived and worked with English speakers, I wouldn't need to. So maybe someone might choose not to. Isn't that their right? I still think it's best if people do learn the language. Here the issue is often the lack of opportunity. People work long hours in environments that don't require it, (i.e. janitorial etc.) and they just don't get around to it. Nobody here demands that we accommodate non-Enligh (or French here) speakers, (other than provideing ESL classes, which is probably a good ideal.) We want multiculturalism as an add-on to our American culture not as a dilution. So many immigrants with so few expectatons is a dismal formula for the U.S. Why do you see multiculturalism as a bad thing? Every culture has some unique gifts. Why not learn from the positives? That would be adding to your culture, not diluting it, IMO. Back to the Indians. How many Indian nations were there? That's why we didn't just assimilate ourselves into their (which?) culture. We have a strong society here. But we have incorporated parts of their culture. There are lots of native symbols in American culture. There are far more Europeans than natives, so the influence is not large, but it is there. There are lots of movies and stories about Native North Americans, and these have had an impact on our culture. You've been on a reserve. I suspect you learned something about native ways when you were there. Now that's a part of your consciousness.
Heheh! As a Cherokee I am offended at your suggestion that Sioux is the native language of this country. This article is rather moronic. The U.S. was populated by immigrants whom, after America was "discovered"(notice I put discoverd in quotes...I've never quite realized how a land can be discovered when if fact it was already populated...the truth of America's discovery is that is was a discovered commodity by the European powers) brought their culture and religion with them. As a result of feeling the bite of persecution, our Euro forefathers left this country open to people who have similary felt persecuted, or, were in search of a better way of life. Whether it has been the Chinese immigrating to the gold mines of the west coast, the Polish and Irish immigrating to escape dismal poverty, Jews fleeing persecution by the Nazis, Mexicans looking for a better life or Cubans risking life over limb to escape a communist dictatorship, most immigrants have assimilated to America and have incorporated American culture(whatever that may be) into thier lives. IMO America is better for it. This land IS the land of oppurtuinity and cultural diversity is an important part of why America has been the most successful Republic since the Romans. In fact, one of the reasons the Romans were so successful is that they did not require a conquered area to give up their culture...in fact they assimilated other cultures into Roman culture. I do believe that immigrants should make an effort to conform to the 'rules' of America(i.e. English) but not because "This is America..and we speak english'. Immigrants should assimilate in order to compete for a better way of life. If you speak English in America chances are you will get a better job than if you don't. That is free market Capitalism...and that is protected. Can anyone name an instance where a group of immigrants has come to America and made a decision to not become "American"? I can think of many examples where immigrants have fought to protect thier culture...but not at the expense of becoming an 'American'.(Again..whatever American is) Just as the Irish learned rules of American cultural behavior from Vaudville, today's immigrants will learn the rules as well. Whether it be in English as a second language classes or on the playground, it is unavoidable in order to succeed in this country. IMO the idea of America as a melting pot has done nothing but create caverns in between new and old cultures. Historically Melting Pots don't work... If you disagree, give me one example where a true cultural melting pot has worked...I would be interested to see one. Our strength is our diversity.
<B>If you moved to China (or France or wherever) would you expect them to accomodate your English or would you feel compelled to learn Chinese (or French or whatever)? </B> Depends. If you moved into an area of all English-speakers, you'd probably get by just fine .. in that area. It's basically identical here. <B>Why should we expect less of others? </B> We don't. If a Chinese-only-speaking person moved to Salt Lake City, I bet they wouldn't fare any better than the English-only American who moves into the heart of China. That said, do we really want to use China as a model of what we should be?? <B>We want multiculturalism as an add-on to our American culture not as a dilution. So many immigrants with so few expectatons is a dismal formula for the U.S. </B> I still have never gotten an answer for this. How does some other group of people celebrating their own culture take away from YOUR culture? <B>Remember that Ben Franklin warned us that it would be harder to keep our republican form of government than it was to establish it... and we had to fight a war to establish it! </B> And part of that Republican form of government is allowing people to have their own cultural traditions, no?
You completely ignored my question. I said that my friends did not identify THEMSELVES as Hispanic or African American. I said that OTHERS DID THAT FOR THEM. When you see a black man, do you think of him as a black man? I know black men see themselves as black as much as we see ourselves as white (if that is what you are). It is a reality that we are what we are. Labelling is not something most of us chose. It is a symptom of the reality that we have different skin colors, different ethnic backgrounds, etc. Besides, if a person is Hispanic, it is a birthright, not a definition. They were born with Hispanic parents. Does that make them Mexican or Cuban or Guatemalan? No, they are still American but they are ALSO Hispanic. It is their bloodline in the same way mine is German. I like your utopian ideal that we all should just be Americans, but I would submit that much of the emphasis placed on ethnicity was not originally placed there by those who came to America. Read any book on immigration in the early part of the 20th century and you'll see that many immigrants wanted to shed their own heritage for their adopted homeland yet they were labelled with ethno-centric names by people who were already here. I'm all for dropping race altogether when it comes to defining a person, however, EVERYONE has to ignore it for it to become a reality, not just those who are born into a certain ethnicity.
