Commie Killer wrote:
Many Americans do not have any need to learn a second language, our countries are not placed so closely together, that said, it is a requirement to take a world language in school, and most colleges require a minimum of 3 years.
There may not be any "need", as in "your life depends on it", but translators make serious bank these days. Here in the Pacific Northwest people who speak any Asian language (Japanese, Chinese dialects, Vietnamese, etc.) and yes people who speak Spanish are in big demand. Both the West and East coasts of the US are constantly host to people of many different nations whether they're working here or just visiting and nothing puts them more at ease (and more comfortable doing business here) like someone who can converse comfortably in their language. Instead we have people who take a few years of a language in high school, promptly forget it once they graduate and then spend the rest of their lives pissing and moaning about having to press 1 for English.
We are seriously cutting our own throats in this country two ways regarding immigrants and visitors to this country. One is of course our adamant insistence on trying to make English our official language, which is amazingly boneheaded in light of how many non-English words we use every day that have been adapted into our speech. The other is the insistence on "assimilation", which is usually put in terms of "Assimilate, you lazy uneducated criminal-minded scum! Subsume your inferior culture beneath our own and deal with our constant denigration of it, or you're not welcome here.". Seriously, who wants to assimilate into a culture that views you as dirt? Why bother trying to become part of a society that thinks you're worthless?
All things considered, I really haven't seen anything new from the anti-immigration crowd except the constant and indignant utterances of "We're only concerned about the
illegal ones!" and "We're not racists, you're the racists!". And when I say I haven't seen anything new, I mean going back all the way to when the immigrant threat du jour was Chinese, Japanese, Irish, Italians, Poles, et fucking cetera. It's always the same recycled scare tactic bullshit, "They spread disease!" or "They're all criminals!" or "They're going to outbreed us and take over!", just slightly updated for whatever time period it happened to be and what group was the focus. The constant referral to the law, that's new, but obviously intended to give plausible deniability and a veneer of legitimacy to people who realize they can't just scream about "fucking wetbacks" all the time without looking like the racist scum they are. But don't take my word for it, please. Read about the anti-immigrant movements of the past. Read about the groups that inspired nativist politics, the ones who still involve themselves although far more quietly these days. Look at the fractures occurring in the various current nativist groups as egos take precedence over their supposed mission and the people in those groups who keep turning out to be associated with groups like Stormfront and the World Church of the Creator.
If, after doing so, you're still comfortable with these groups and their message, at least you can be honest with yourself why, even if you're not honest with anyone else about it.
I'm moving on from this thread. I don't really care if anyone likes me less or more because of what I've said, I just hope I've gotten some of you thinking.