where do i begin?
the world is a mess and way over populated. the strong democracies, like the u.s. and many in europe are being over run by refugees from all over.
so you drive to a section of town where people speak a different language, what is the problem? are they bothering you? don't they have the freedom to speak or write what they want, as long as they don't hurt others and follow the law? why should their freedom be restricted, but not yours? anything to do with their color or size or language?
i lived in houston for many years, and well, say, since 1971 or so, houston has been overrun by immigrants, from the depressed northern states, from central america, from mexico. that is houston, miami, nyc, l.a., and many other coastal cities, a haven for immigrants.
since they are not easily admitted into the work force, except for domestic or field work in most instances, one of the best options they have is to set up businesses that cater to their own people, and you see in many cases entire families, including children, working a small business for 100 or so hours a week, and barely bringing in 1 or 1 1/2 normal salaries.
i went back to houston for a visit about 3 years ago and could not believe my eyes: i was in the area of hillcroft and bellaire and could have easily been in managua or tegucigalpa, if i did not know any better.
from my personal perspective, i would not want to live amongst them and their way of life, so i would move once more, like i have done so many times. but why would i be so upset at these people who are looking to improve their life and raise their children in peace, just like 99% of our ancestors did in the past? their children, once they get their first 3-4 years of primary education, will end up speaking english only, in most cases, to their parents, who can barely understand them.
and to mention one point about houston specifically: only 2 or 3 years after their mass arrival, the vietnamese children who won spelling bees, became valedictorians, etc. was disproportionally high to their population numbers. how is that for a good foreign influence, with parents that spoke no english?
something similar happened in miami. there are very many stories of cubans who arrived in the early sixties, worked, retired and died, without ever knowing more than 20 or 30 english words. now, their children are well educated, carry some nostalgia of their roots and carry on just any other american, except that their last name may be perez or rodriguez or something like that, and usually can communicate in 2 or more languages.
what is different today than in the 20's and 30's when they arrived in hoards from italy, ireland or escaping jewish persecution? ah, now most of them don't speak english and mostly are not snow-white, to say the least. that is apparently what bothers many people. well, they are different, allright.
the sad fact is that the world is way, way, over-populated, and our nations must allow an increasing number of immigrants in order to postpone the inevitable, which is a massive over run of the strong democracies. of course, we could "nuke" the whole "third world", but then, who are we going to live off of? who is going to supply all those cheap tools and toys coming out of china and the likes? or the finished clothes from central america? or where will we get the gardeners, maids, farm hands, etc. to service us? and who will we sell our overpriced weapons, software and heavy machinery to?
i do agree that the immigrant population is increasing at numbers that are way over our governments' desires, and there is no easy solution, as our standard of living is directly opposite to the standard of living of the have-nots. that, coupled with the alarming rate of birth in some of these countries and the ensuing breakdown of civil order is what accelerates immigration into our strong democracies.
now we have "globalization", where we insist on local markets opening up their economies to mega corporations who eventually destroy their local industry, including agriculture.
we insist (by witholding loans) on "full democracy" when these countries don't have the resources to apply them. you see, we, the powers of the world, have the rest of the world at our feet, and apparently some of us don't think that is enough, so we must now stomp on them if they get too close. and the beat goes on.....
pep
the world is a mess and way over populated. the strong democracies, like the u.s. and many in europe are being over run by refugees from all over.
so you drive to a section of town where people speak a different language, what is the problem? are they bothering you? don't they have the freedom to speak or write what they want, as long as they don't hurt others and follow the law? why should their freedom be restricted, but not yours? anything to do with their color or size or language?
i lived in houston for many years, and well, say, since 1971 or so, houston has been overrun by immigrants, from the depressed northern states, from central america, from mexico. that is houston, miami, nyc, l.a., and many other coastal cities, a haven for immigrants.
since they are not easily admitted into the work force, except for domestic or field work in most instances, one of the best options they have is to set up businesses that cater to their own people, and you see in many cases entire families, including children, working a small business for 100 or so hours a week, and barely bringing in 1 or 1 1/2 normal salaries.
i went back to houston for a visit about 3 years ago and could not believe my eyes: i was in the area of hillcroft and bellaire and could have easily been in managua or tegucigalpa, if i did not know any better.
from my personal perspective, i would not want to live amongst them and their way of life, so i would move once more, like i have done so many times. but why would i be so upset at these people who are looking to improve their life and raise their children in peace, just like 99% of our ancestors did in the past? their children, once they get their first 3-4 years of primary education, will end up speaking english only, in most cases, to their parents, who can barely understand them.
and to mention one point about houston specifically: only 2 or 3 years after their mass arrival, the vietnamese children who won spelling bees, became valedictorians, etc. was disproportionally high to their population numbers. how is that for a good foreign influence, with parents that spoke no english?
something similar happened in miami. there are very many stories of cubans who arrived in the early sixties, worked, retired and died, without ever knowing more than 20 or 30 english words. now, their children are well educated, carry some nostalgia of their roots and carry on just any other american, except that their last name may be perez or rodriguez or something like that, and usually can communicate in 2 or more languages.
what is different today than in the 20's and 30's when they arrived in hoards from italy, ireland or escaping jewish persecution? ah, now most of them don't speak english and mostly are not snow-white, to say the least. that is apparently what bothers many people. well, they are different, allright.
the sad fact is that the world is way, way, over-populated, and our nations must allow an increasing number of immigrants in order to postpone the inevitable, which is a massive over run of the strong democracies. of course, we could "nuke" the whole "third world", but then, who are we going to live off of? who is going to supply all those cheap tools and toys coming out of china and the likes? or the finished clothes from central america? or where will we get the gardeners, maids, farm hands, etc. to service us? and who will we sell our overpriced weapons, software and heavy machinery to?
i do agree that the immigrant population is increasing at numbers that are way over our governments' desires, and there is no easy solution, as our standard of living is directly opposite to the standard of living of the have-nots. that, coupled with the alarming rate of birth in some of these countries and the ensuing breakdown of civil order is what accelerates immigration into our strong democracies.
now we have "globalization", where we insist on local markets opening up their economies to mega corporations who eventually destroy their local industry, including agriculture.
we insist (by witholding loans) on "full democracy" when these countries don't have the resources to apply them. you see, we, the powers of the world, have the rest of the world at our feet, and apparently some of us don't think that is enough, so we must now stomp on them if they get too close. and the beat goes on.....
pep
