American culture?
So all immigrants should start stuffing feathers in their hair and dancing around totem poles? ~
So all immigrants should start stuffing feathers in their hair and dancing around totem poles? ~
Notices |
Refugee =/= immigrant applying for citizenship. If you're applying for citizenship, then evidently you want what America has to offer. A part of that is, in fact, our culture. If you come from the Third World (to use an extreme example) and keep doing the same Third World garbage, you can't be surprised when you get the same results. It's patently absurd to apply for citizenship in a country, and then refuse to adopt anything of that country in favor for what you've left behind. If what you've left behind is what you really wanted, then why leave? |
Yah, wake up and smell the roses ... that was 1915 before the first World War -- things have changed mate And anywhere you go in the world, ex-pats will tend to congregate. In pretty much every major city in the world there is a "China Town", a "Little Italy", "Little Poland" etc Not everyone wants to be a big fat hot dog eating, beer swilling idiot ... some want to retain their identity of where they are from. You don't think there isn't already sectarian divisions in the US?? So is everyone a Catholic ?? A jew ?? A prodestant ?? Sectarian issues are very rarely Nationalistic and most of the times Idealogic. I'll give you an example: Say you lived in Chicago for twenty years, then you move to Miami -- do you stop supporting the Cubbies, the Bulls, the Blackhawks ?? Of course you don't ... you take them with you in your heart and head -- and then have banter with your new Miami workmates when you play them in something. And that's just national ... So peeps that come from another country won't stop supporting their own country in sport, politics, etc I've been living in the UK for 12 years, I'm an Aussie -- I would never back any UK team over Australia ... NEVER !!!! But I do support British teams when they're playing another country. It's not about loyalty, it's about respect ... Noobie |
Also educational opportunities and so on. Lots of reasons why someone may move to the US. But even when they do, they are still shaped by their past. Should Jews and Muslims start eating pork hotdogs because they are now in the US and that's what people do? Or will they continue following the ways of their past that are compatible with US culture, learn about the US and the cultural elements that are different from the ways they knew from before, and make informed choices? |
So you've changed your place of residence almost sixty times in your life? That's impressive. How do you afford to move more than twice a year? |
I'm ok with that, if that's what people want to refer to as American culture. Unfortunately, there seems to be a perception that "American" culture is that of WASPs (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants), when, in fact, it is already quite varied and diverse, and has room for people to maintain cultural expression in ways other than what is touted as mainstream. |
And what makes you think I have that perception? I lived in a neighborhood where the majority of people were off-the-boat Chinese and Latins. That made them no less American than myself, because being American is not about blood nearly so much as it is about belief. I'm not talking about food, music, or even language when I speak of American culture. That's just certain aspects of some American subcultures. I talk about certain beliefs regarding the intrinsic rights of human beings, of self-determination, personal responsibility, and freedom. If you come to this country looking for anything else, if you're applying for American citizenship for any other reason, why? |
Originally Posted by wikipedia
the intangibles such as language, customs, etc. [...] are the main referent of the term "culture".
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