Assimilation and Accommodation
In many parts of Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East, immigrants learn to accommodate themselves to their new country, but they don't assimilate. What does that mean? Well, in many cases they don't learn the language, the culture, the history, or the mores of the country in which they live. They exist much the same as they did in the country and culture they left. They do only what they must, by law, to remain in their adopted country.
This behavior puts up a wall around them, marking them as different. This can lead to all sorts of difficulties. They never, really, think of themselves as French, German, or English. They are forever Iranian or Algerian, or Syrian.
The United States, on the other hand, has a history of assimilating immigrants. Just generations after they first arrived, the Irish and Italians, the Greeks and Germans, assimilated into the culture of America. American English borrowed from their language, we borrowed from their culture, and they joined ours. Both sides changed, but most of the change came from the immigrants, and that was as it should be.
The United States is beginning to fail at what we once did so easily. Uncontrolled immigration and illegal immigration have broken the back of assimilation. When masses come in, and bypass the regular immigration process, the system breaks down. Mass immigration from Viet Nam created little "Saigons" all over the country, where many did not speak the language or understand the culture. Illegal immigration from Mexico and the Mexican/US border is doing the same.
Without assimilation there is a war of cultures, rather than a celebration of cultures. We need a national character. The one we had, the one we wish to keep, has created the greatest nation of the modern world. Its language is English, its laws were, for the most part, based on English common law, and its mores were European. Over the decades newer cultures have added to and modified this slowly. Change is necessary and good, but we must all subscribe to one standard, the American standard. If you wish to live here, then join us,... but join us.
If we don't maintain a national identity we will lose the fruits of that identity, and that includes our freedom. Immigrants must learn our history, understand our political system, and speak our language. In time they shall leave an imprint on us, and that is good. They shall become us, and that is good too.
This behavior puts up a wall around them, marking them as different. This can lead to all sorts of difficulties. They never, really, think of themselves as French, German, or English. They are forever Iranian or Algerian, or Syrian.
The United States, on the other hand, has a history of assimilating immigrants. Just generations after they first arrived, the Irish and Italians, the Greeks and Germans, assimilated into the culture of America. American English borrowed from their language, we borrowed from their culture, and they joined ours. Both sides changed, but most of the change came from the immigrants, and that was as it should be.
The United States is beginning to fail at what we once did so easily. Uncontrolled immigration and illegal immigration have broken the back of assimilation. When masses come in, and bypass the regular immigration process, the system breaks down. Mass immigration from Viet Nam created little "Saigons" all over the country, where many did not speak the language or understand the culture. Illegal immigration from Mexico and the Mexican/US border is doing the same.
Without assimilation there is a war of cultures, rather than a celebration of cultures. We need a national character. The one we had, the one we wish to keep, has created the greatest nation of the modern world. Its language is English, its laws were, for the most part, based on English common law, and its mores were European. Over the decades newer cultures have added to and modified this slowly. Change is necessary and good, but we must all subscribe to one standard, the American standard. If you wish to live here, then join us,... but join us.
If we don't maintain a national identity we will lose the fruits of that identity, and that includes our freedom. Immigrants must learn our history, understand our political system, and speak our language. In time they shall leave an imprint on us, and that is good. They shall become us, and that is good too.
posted by Rex Allen Brewer at 12:06 PM
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