[quote]Quasi-Tech wrote:
I don’t identify to trendy terms like melting pot. Most cities/towns cater to the nationalities there, Italians, Polish, Ukrainian, Irish whatever. You’ll see their heritage in their town.
At the same time, you won’t see Polish people calling Italian’s Daygo’s or vice versa Dumb Polok’s. Yea, its said all the time in jest at work, and yea some families still speak their native tongue at home, but when they are out in public, guess what the common language is… ENGLISH!!
Why is this? Because English is the native language of this country. Yet how many languages are represented in Western Europe alone?
I know Indian folks here in Japan who speak over 4 languages: English, Japanese, their native region Indian, and the “national Indian language” which I think is based upon whichever region is the largest, I forget which.
Most Europeans speak at least two languages, especially if they do any kind of business, because English is needed. Same for most Japanese understanding and many management/business level speaking it well.
Mexican folks, who live in this country, can’t even speak the language. That was true for first generational immigrants from Europe, but they made sure their kids learned English to fit in and get a job. Its par for the course, some folks just seem to feel they are above it - and it isn’t just Mexican folks.
And I’ve worked with Mexican folk before. I visited a Motor Supplier in Texas whose entire manufacturing force was Mexican decent. They were all very nice guys, very friendly, and very hard working. Didn’t complain about jack. I commented to this to both them and their management in front of them as a Customer which is a big pat on the back. I acknowledge the work ethic of Mexicans, but these guys did their due process and were all LEGALLY immigrated to the country.
There is something that cheapens entering a country when you can do it illegally and something very demotivating about being a contributor to said country when you don’t speak the language and aren’t traceable.[/quote]
There are many Mexicans who speak perfectly good English who aren’t U.S. Citizens. It’s that non whites are going to stand out a little more due to disfluency (here’s something pretty nice on that subject DISFLUENCY | Edge.org ). Since you are used to seeing white people all the time, you aren’t going to notice passing by that one is from Poland, or Russia unless they are in full denim, or you see weird, overly friendly blonde dudes wearing capris (Swedes). concepts of, illegal alien aren’t going to even cross your mind. But, I assure you the Russian mob is alive and well in California, especially when it comes to car dealerships.
As for the rest, I’m going to ask you if you have ever put yourselves in the shoes of someone desperate to live in a place where you are relatively safe and have opportunity. It’s a very human thing to desire those two things, especially if you have a family. I’m arguing it’s almost inhuman for such a person to not seek out means to improve themselves/ provide for their families.
The disfluency thing. Imagine living in a city where there are nothing but whites, and then a black person shows up, they are going to stick out right? Also, imagine yourself in a situation where you lived in a city where you were the only white person, and the rest were brown… What would happen when another white person showed up? They would stick out right?
Well what ends up happening is we naturally pay more attention to the thing that is different. If you or me got a purple potato with your red potatoes, you would probably pick the purple one out and be like, WTF, spend more time examining and scrutinizing it than other potatoes especially if you have never seen one before. If you cut it open you might have your mind blown.
That’s what happens a lot… The bad part isn’t just that we are looking for little differences, we make broad assumptions as well… I ask you to think about this…
I’m the one who’s too childish and immature, yet you are the one running away.