doclinkin wrote:Jesus, the world you live in. Tell my brown wife and mixed daughter and cambodian foster son and black step son how multiculturalism doesn't work. Or Kev's talented multi ethnic mob. Or etc etc.
Look I was going to disagree with you that we are on different sides of the fence. Because ultimately I think people all want the same things, we just have differing opinions on how best to accomplish those aims. I'll circle back to that point. I guess I just want to speak to the fear in this paragraph. Its not so bad, my friend. Date a brown girl, you'll taste new foods, be happy. try a little multiculti.
I think its ironic that you express views like this in this forum, where the guy who agrees with you the most is a brown skinned latino island immigrant, and you are in regular discourse with red headed russian jews, folks of north african muslim family, pakistani, I can't remember all the different ethnicities we've talked to. And we watch a team in a sport with primarily african american players but in a league where it clearly doesnt matter where a guy is from so long as a guy can play. The San Antonio Spurs regularly fill the roster with guys from every ball-playing continent.
We've BEEN sustained by influxes of talented immigrants over the life of this country. We were founded by purpose-driven immigrants. Migration requires a level of gumption and desire and will and willingness to bet on onesself against unrealistic odds. Immigration restrains itself, to uproot yourself and build a new life elsewhere requires savvy and forethought and optimism and cunning.
Without syrian immigrant parents there's no Apple computers (Steve Jobs' parents). The dream of assimilation and emulating american values is what sinters people of various ethnicities into one american polity. I dont see balkanization, anyone who has worked in the kitchen of a restaurant understands how people who even lack a common tongue suddenly can work together and get along as friends and bullshxt and crack jokes and be a part of a team. The trick it to recognize you as a white guy are not part of Team White but Team America. That is what we best promote, that is what the Statue of Liberty's promise is, that's the preamble to the document that founds our country, that all people are created with the same god given right to live free and work their ass off to achieve happiness.
There's nothing particularly special about being white and american. They weren't even here first. Don't get 'dibs'. I guess the fear may be that since whitefolks rolled in and took people's stuff there may be karmic payback and pale folks ought to worry, but look next to you at Induveca to understand just because a guy is browner doesn't necessarily mean he wants to take YOUR stuff, unless you're his competitor in business and then hell, just work harder than him. and be better than him.
(And isn't that what merit is all about. If white folks are better and smarter than other folks, why handicap the competition in their favor, or whatnot. If they become americans and are better and smarter then team america is stronger by their addition).
Its up to you to buy into identity politics or not. You needn't be forced into it. Just recognize what is best for you is the common good. Everybody wants a good income to provide for their family. Good health. Worthy work that doesn't kill you. And a basic freedom from fear. Knowing that you can have a great conversation with a pakistani Uber driver or an Estonian strongman or whatever a huge thighed dentist who dates Love-A-Bulls.
Our country often finds new sources of revenue that did not exist before even when other resources begin to dwindle. Manufacturing goes elsewhere but Silicon Valley grows. Jazz. Walt Disney. Hollywood. Comic Books. Hiphop. Basketball (pardon me Canadians, yeah we stole it, but so did Bill Gates steal every good idea he ever saw). But we did so BECAUSE of that plurality. Basketball is an example of multibillion dollar business that would not thrive if we still only allowed pale folk to turn pro.
Who knows where the next revolution comes from (drone piloted small goods delivery, revolutionizing the trip to the store. Biotech farming growing replacement human organs in bioengineered sheep). But if we slam the doors on hard working people who see us as a beacon of opportunity , then we lose out on the worlds best and brightest, simply because of an accident of birth origin. Many of whom are not even born yet. And somewhere else will benefit from it. We'll be looking at the ass end of Brazil, or Mexico or who knows where.
The dominant culture isn't ethnic origin. Or even white skin. Its the American Dream: as stated in our founding documents: "If you work really hard you can get newer cooler stuff as soon as it hits the market. Fxck yeah, America !!!!!!".
Amen, Thomas Jefferson, couldnt have said it better myself.
Doc, the error you are making is your use of anecdotes. Of course there are millions of successful immigrants who are nice people, good entrepreneurs and successfully integrate into American culture. Furthermore, I'm assuming you are an upper middle class, educated person yourself, so, in the circles you travel, the immigrants you run into are far more likely to be upper middle class educated individuals. Well, the upper middle class educated immigrants are precisely the ones who are more likely to integrate and be successful. Your sampling is not representative.
I'm making my argument based on statistics, not anecdotes. The fact is, the vast majority of racial minorities, particularly those from the third world, do indeed vote and behave according to their racial identity. Taking Trump out of the equation, we can look at the exit polling data from 2012. Mitt Romney was the nicest, most milquetoast Republican one can ever expect our system to produce, yet blacks voted against him 93-7, Hispanics voted against him 71-29, Asians voted against him 73-27, Muslims voted against him 89-11. If we could break that down economic groups, I would bet that for those earning less than $50,000 per household, the percentage favoring Democrats and opposing Republicans would be above 90 for all groups. That's identity politics.
And patterns of racial identity don't just show up in voting statistics, they show up in housing:
Canada: As immigration booms, ethnic enclaves swell and segregateMexican immigrants experience very low rates of economic and civic assimilation.Research suggests that when most whites or blacks move, they find another neighborhood where most of the people share their race.It shows up in education:
California’s Latino students among the most segregated in the country, says UCLA reportCalifornia State University has announced that it will provide segregated housing for the university’s black studentsAfrican-American and Latino students are less likely to attend racially and ethnically diverse schools today than at any other time in the last four decades.And it shows up in church congregations:
Sunday morning is the most segregated hour of Christian AmericaOnly between 5 to 7.5 percent of churches in the U.S. are considered to be racially diverseChurches are 10 times more segregated than the neighborhoods they inhabitIt shows up in societal trust:
Six-in-ten whites (62%) say they trust all or most of their neighbors, compared with 31% of blacks and 27% of Hispanics.Diversity causes a decline in social cohesionAs schools get more diverse, kids just tend to self-segregate moreThat last link is particularly illuminating:
They found that black kids who self-segregate ─ who only hang out with other blacks ─ are more popular than black kids who have white friends.
This means that an average black student could increase her popularity by hanging out with other black students. Meanwhile, if she chooses to have white friends, she could put her popularity at risk. Many kids don’t have the social capital or confidence to make this tradeoff.
When the scholars ran the analysis a second time,substituting how much kids were liked for how popular they were, a similar troubling pattern emerged. Black kids who self-segregated were liked by more black children. Having white friends decreased a black child’s “likeability” ─ at least in the eyes of other black children.
For white children, in contrast, self-segregating hurt their popularity.
Generally speaking, people of the same race prefer to be among other people of the same race. And these trends are stronger among minorities and the poor. Importing more poor minorities is not a good way to foster interracial relations and societal trust. And there is very little evidence that the situation is improving.
Then the haters use that to retaliate and of we go... sigh.
