Way to completely twist my post into something it wasn’t. You’re not the only one who’s family came over to the Western Hemisphere from Europe not speaking English either. Mine came over here from Germany to escape persecution from a bunch of ignorant fucks who wanted to kill them and perform science experiments on their corpses. Maybe you’ve heard of them. They were called Nazis. When they got here they didn’t speak a word of English but they worked their asses off and were at least able to communicate with the community around them. Not that it did much good seeing as how the area they moved to in Indiana was almost as racist as the place they had come from*. I have nothing against foreigners. America is a nation built on the backs of immigrants. My problem is with foreigners who make no attempt whatsoever to try and be part of the country they’ve moved to. There’s a guy that works at the diner across the street from the store I work at and he comes in every day. He’s Mexican and speaks poor English at best but he TRIES. I respect him for that and when he comes in he’ll bring me new stuff now and again or point at something and ask “Como se dice en Ingles?“ I don’t expect everyone in the world the speak perfect English but I don’t think it’s an unfair expectation that if they move to a country who’s predominate language is English for them to learn the language. Maybe not all of it, but at least enough where they can go into the gas station and say fifteen bucks on pump five instead of just handing over the money and pointing and repeating it over and over in their own language. I never said it was easy to assimilate. Once again though, it’s not an unfair expectation to want them to try. I don’t hate Mexicans or foreigners. My roommate, the one in the bedroom right next to mine, is Mexican. If I hated Mexicans that wouldn’t happen. My problem is with people who would move into a country and not even TRY to learn the language. Granted English probably isn’t the easiest second language to pick up but I think they should at least try. You probably don’t see much of this in your part of the country but here, where Mexicans are the majority, there are a large number of them who absolutely refuse to even try to learn English. They just expect everyone else to learn Spanish and I don’t think that’s fair. I’m not the only one either. A lot of the people of Mexican descent who were born here refer to the Mexicans who come here and don’t learn English as wetbacks and beaners. Are they xenophobic against their own people? Or is it more likely that they think it’s a fair expectation for foreigners to at least attempt to learn the language? I’m not against immigration (I am against illegal immigration though. I don’t care what country it is.) or people getting visas to live and work here. Hell, I think America should welcome more people from out of the country into our colleges. It’s important to the diversity of our nation that our students be exposed to persons of from other nations. I am against people from any country coming here and not even trying to be part of it. I’m sure you’re grand parents wanted to be part of their new country more than anything and had they been given a chance would have made every possible effort to assimilate and become proud citizens. You said they spoke poor English. Bully for them. That’s a lot more than what the people I’m talking about are doing. I’m not talking about them though. I’m talking about the reconquistadors and the people who don’t care to try to become Americans. Nobody is keeping these people from assimilating. They’re choosing not to. We’re not in the 1930’s anymore. Most American’s, including myself, aren’t against immigrants or immigration. We just don’t think we should have to completely abandon our own culture and customs to accommodate these new people. I want you to move to Italy to live and work. Don’t speak any Italian. Don’t learn any of their customs. Treat the people who have lived there their entire lives like idiots and get frustrated with them because they won’t learn English to accommodate you. Then see what they think of you. They’ll probably think you’re an asshole. As they should, because if you aren’t willing to at least try then you probably are. I never said all Mexicans are bad or anything of that nature. All I said was that there are a large number of them who refuse to assimilate either because they don’t want to or because they want to make America an extension of Mexico. If you think that’s just a paranoid delusion then you should do a little research. In Chicago on July 27, 1997, then Mexican President Ernesto Zedilla told LaRaza, "I have proudly affirmed that the Mexican nation extends beyond the territory enclosed by its borders." He announced a Mexican constitutional amendment that purports to allow Mexicans to retain their Mexican nationality even though they become U.S. citizens (which is contrary to the U.S. naturalization oath).
In summation, I’m not against immigration. I’m against people coming to this country and not even attempting to assimilate. I know a lot of immigrants from many nations. For some reason this part of Colorado is popular with them. We have several nations of Africans. There’s a FUCK TON of people from the several nations that used to make up the USSR. We have French and Portuguese and Mexican and Argentines and more. This little section of Colorado I live in is the perfect example of a melting pot and I’m happy about that. It is, and always has been, what has made this a great country. However, there are a lot of people that refuse to even try to assimilate and I don’t think that’s right. I think that it’s only fair that if you move to any country, not just America, ANY COUNTRY, that you should at least attempt to learn the language that is predominate. That’s not xenophobia. It’s common sense.
Also, the first post, the one about going to Canada. That was hyperbole. Apparently nobody was familiar with that kind of concept so it was entirely missed. Anyhow, I’m done with this thread. You can hate me and think I’m a moron if you want. The day I give a shit what anyone else thinks is the day I find a playground full of school children, scream at them “IT’S ALL YOUR FAULT!” and proceed to blow my brains out in the goriest manner possible. You’ve all missed the point of every post I’ve made in this thread so I’m not going to bother after this. Linear was right about context. It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it. Apparently none of you, including Linear was able to read the context of my posts. All you saw was “OMG DATS RAYSISTS! WTFOMGBBQ!?!?!” instead of actually reading the text that was there and seeing the point I was making. If you can’t read a post and comprehend it’s content and see it’s meaning that doesn’t make me the moron.
*When I was in fifth grade one of my aunts came to live with us for a while. She was the daughter of my mother’s father and his second wife who is Thai. She was with us for all of two weeks before she found a zebra on her locker. For those not in the know, a zebra is a racist term for someone who’s races are mixed. That same night, in the corn field across the street from the duplex we were renting at the time, a cross was burned. There were signs of overt racism everywhere. I got to see it a little more firsthand in high school. I never really told anyone I was Jewish then because it was common to hear “Mrs. So and So is a total Jew.” or “I kiked him down on the price.” in the hallways. The word Jewish was used like the word gay is used today to describe anyone or anything bad.
