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The "Beverly Hillbillies" was a 'spoof' on this. These were people from a rural area who moved to the Big City, but insisted on keeping their original way of life. Don't know if you're familiar with the story. To put it in simple terms, it just didn't work. The innocent, clueless "Hillbillies" and their new neighbors just weren't on the same page, at all. Should they have probably made more effort to 'adapt' to their new surroundings? Yes. It was funny as a TV show....not so much, though, in real life. If the Hillbillies hadn't been Caucasians, in fact, the story would have been borderline racist. To put it bluntly, these folks just didn't 'fit in'....at ALL.
Yes, in some ways, I do find the concept of ethnicity offensive, when it's used to bring division into a society that has plenty of 'division' already.
You yourself, for example, have stated many times, in many ways, that Mexicans shouldn't be expected to 'act' like others, because their culture is somehow different...or 'closer' than others. So close, if fact, that you've said that you feel more connection with illegal immigrants than you do with some who oppose their continued arrival. You've apparently arrived at this decision for reasons of ethnicity. If so, your ethnicity is influencing your realtionship with your 'country of record' (America). That's not good, and if ALL ethnic groups in America felt that way, it would be disastrous. Thank God, most Americans DON'T value ethnicity over the duties of citizenship. It wouldn't work. You may 'get away' with such thinking for a while....but if you do, it will ONLY be possible because most others DON'T......and the fact that most of us DON'T, makes possible this multiethnic society...the one in which YOU are free to feel the ethnic pride which 'sets you apart'.
If you detect any irony in all this, it's probably because there IS a lot.
If shared ethnicity skews my views on immigration, then why don't I defend Latino gangbangers? Or Latino criminals?
Immigration for me comes down to how its affecting me, and how much respect I have over life. And my belief that the vast majority of them are good people.
I have a lot of respect for people trying to get a good life. As I've said many times, I have more respect for illegal immigrants who are here working than the many many Americans who are living off welfare when they have opportunity to do more.
My Mexican background doesn't so much blind me from the problems illegal immigration causes, as it allows me to relate to them, and look at it from a more rational point of view.
To many people losing sleep over illegal immigration, Mexicans are an alien breed. To look at them as an outsider, it must be scary to see a bunch of people coming speaking a SLIGHTLY different language with a SLIGHTLY different culture.
If people were less scared and could relate more, we would have people acting more level-headed in regards to immigration reform.
"Shooting them at the border" or punching holes in water tanks isnt the type of thing you do to people you can relate to.
"Multiculturalism" isn't the problem. America has been multicultural for a very long time. The problem is ignorance, and people being too narrowminded to be able to relate to people in the other groups.
You'd have to be a fool to think race, ethnicity, culture has nothing to do with the immigration debate. For many, the problems of jobs and tax money are just side notes used to strenghten the argument.
"The Beverly Hillbillies" was a fictional show that used stereotypes to make it more entertaining. Something in common with certain aspects of the immigration debate. Its not a great analogy for reality.
"Multiculturalism" isn't the problem. America has been multicultural for a very long time.
America has been diverse and works at having diversity but it has not been multicultural for a long time like you say. The two words do not mean the same thing. Learn the difference before posting again because it makes you look ignorant. I am not saying you are but you like to act and post like multiculturism and diversity are the same thing. They are not. It is the same as people who use the word immigrants or migrants, or any number of other BS PC words instead of using the term illegal immigrants or illegal aliens. The words do not mean the same thing.
America has been diverse and works at having diversity but it has not been multicultural for a long time like you say. The two words do not mean the same thing. Learn the difference before posting again because it makes you look ignorant. I am not saying you are but you like to act and post like multiculturism and diversity are the same thing. They are not. It is the same as people who use the word immigrants or migrants, or any number of other BS PC words instead of using the term illegal immigrants or illegal aliens. The words do not mean the same thing.
The view that the various cultures in a society merit equal respect and scholarly interest. It became a significant force in American society in the 1970s and 1980s as African-Americans, Latinos, and other ethnic groups explored their own history.
Quote:
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This mul·ti·cul·tur·al·ismAudio Help/ˌmʌltiˈkʌltʃərəˌlɪzəm, ˌmʌltaɪ-/Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[muhl-tee-kuhl-cher-uh-liz-uhm, muhl-tahy-]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun 1.the state or condition of being multicultural. 2.the preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation
I do not dispute the fact that "a piece of paper" does not dictate one's loyalty. You, as a dual citizen, can most definitely attest to that. I am also not questioning your loyalty to this country. I simply find it difficult to believe that a person can “equally†hold allegiance to two countries. If, God forbid, we should engage in a military conflict with Mexico, how would you feel? Would it create a conflict for you, or would you automatically align yourself with the US?
I agree with you because it puts "patriotism" as nothing more than what each country can give you. Someone from Mexico will maintain their loyalty to that country and it's culture, will want nothing to do with Americans or this country except the better wages and benefits.
It's like someone having a spouse and a lover on the side and saying they love them equally when in fact they might remain with the spouse for money reasons but their passion is for the lover.
These people with their divided loyalties end up being neither in reality. They have no real love of either nation, they are just about which gives the better deal at the time.
Well, the topic is, people feeling a connection with another county, when they should be American. No more hyphenated Americans. No Mexican-American, no Asian-America. Just Americans!
The horrors of multiculturalism. No more ethnicities or ethnic pride.
Its been an ongoing topic, and this thread on dual citizenship is just another part of that discussion.
Since you're so big on Mexico, love it so much, what exactly are you doing for Mexico? Where is the evidence of your great patriotism to your other country? Are you working to make it better? And if so are you using the USA in order to do that? Do you pay taxes to both nations or are you just manuevering to see what you can take from both?
Do you live and work in Mexico because you love it so much? Or are American dollars holding you here? Is Mexico your real homeland or just a nice place to go for a 2 week vacation?
The thing is -- all these "dual citizens" seem to want to live or at least work in the USA, you really never see them prove their love of Mexico except in words or the desire to make the USA just like Mexico which obviously shows their lack of love for America.
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
mul·ti·cul·tur·al·ism Audio Help/ˌmʌltiˈkʌltʃərəˌlɪzəm, ˌmʌltaɪ-/Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[muhl-tee-kuhl-cher-uh-liz-uhm, muhl-tahy-]Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation–noun 1.the state or condition of being multicultural. 2.the preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation
I thought this was pretty funny, being as it's IMPOSSIBLE...
I thought this was pretty funny, being as it's IMPOSSIBLE...
Huh?
This has happened for generations. For 1,000's of years countries and empires around the world consisted of different multicultural societies under a unified system. Only until fairly recently (early 1900's) did nationalism truly spread leading to the growth of fascism in the early part of the 20th Century. Learn some history before you spout out such nonsense.
This has happened for generations. For 1,000's of years countries and empires around the world consisted of different multicultural societies under a unified system. Only until fairly recently (early 1900's) did nationalism truly spread leading to the growth of fascism in the early part of the 20th Century. Learn some history before you spout out such nonsense.
Well, the topic is, people feeling a connection with another county, when they should be American. No more hyphenated Americans. No Mexican-American, no Asian-America. Just Americans!
The horrors of multiculturalism. No more ethnicities or ethnic pride.
Its been an ongoing topic, and this thread on dual citizenship is just another part of that discussion.
I think the issue with this kind of thought, amc760, is that people who advocate this mentality of non-hyphenated American-ness is that are probably not the ones who are asked, "so where are you originally from?," "how did you learn English so well?", "where are your parents from?," "how long have you been in the United States?"
The point I'm trying to make is that comments like this indicate that people who don't ever use hyphenation in their self-description often tend to look at people of color as foreign-born. I've met many a US-born Asian and Latino who spoke nothing but English, lived nowhere other than in America, and some even served in the US military only to still encounter that kind of attitude.
So if US-born minorities still face this kind of attitude, what encouragement exactly is there for foreign-born minorities to want to completely shed any connections with their countries of origin?
Even if they desperately want to become American?
Even if they've come here as very young children?
Even if they've spent their formative years in America?
Even if they speak fluent, unaccented American English and sometimes, speak little or none of the ancestral tongue?
Even if some of they actually do become public servants such as district attorneys or military servicepersons?
If these minorities are going to be treated as perennial outsiders by "Americans," then why wouldn't they want to hold on to at least a modicum of their ancestral cultural and tongue?
The other day I was at the gym locker room changing and I overhear a senior citizen talking to some young men in their 20s. By the diction, I knew they were men of Italian ancestry.
The grandfather was telling the young men he respected Asian immigrants in the area because they still maintained their ancestral culture whereas "we Italians forgot how to speak Italian and we don't really keep our Italian culture."
At least where I live, though, Italians are considered "white," "American," and they aren't really thought of when people think of "hyphenated" Americans...
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