Quote:
Originally Posted by Goofle
I think a large part of the problem/backlash in regards to this specific immigration issue is less about "culture" (in a broad sense), and more specifically about the religious ideals that many of the immigrants share.
Islam in it's most literal form doesn't sit well with commonly held western values and culture so I'm guessing a large number of those protesting are essentially fearful of what could happen as a result of it. I'm not stupid enough to think that a few thousand immigrants will turn these countries into Islamist states, just explaining why there may be more to the reaction than fear of another nationality of people.
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well when i say culture i include religion as an aspect of that.
but i do think immigration can lead to problems without the religious concern. the problems arise when you get competing cultures within a single society rather than compatible sub-cultures of a larger shared culture.
this form of multiculturalism is really based on the american social experiment and the idea has always been one of a "melting pot."
like george friedman from the strafor poltiical think tank made the point about the difference between mexican immigration into the southwest united states and say italian immigration to america 100 years ago. the key difference is that the southwest states represent a 'borderland' which is an area which has cultural ties to both mexico and the united states... and have at one time been part of mexico and are now a part of the united states. so this presents a unique dynamic with regard to assimilation vs the assimilation of italian immigrants within a few generations. the italians left their homeland behind so assimilation was vital. they still maintained some aspects of their culture. you can see it to this day in parts of jersey/ny etc. but the american italian culture is an american culture... it is not the same as the culture that exists in italy today.
with mexico... it's a lot more blurry. because a lot of these areas have close cultural ties to mexico and large mexican populations. so continuing to import mexicans on a mass scale to these areas won't lead to them assimilating in a few generations, the way the european immigrants did. it will just make the areas you import them to a lot more mexican.