i was told i was not welcome

catefrances

NoK wrote:

i was shocked.. what happened to judging immigration applications based on merit? i guess skin colour is the new black!!! (pun intended!)

i dont wanna hijack this thread but whats the deal with Rudd getting slaughtered about telling McClelland it was insensitive to talk about the death penalty.. im in paris right now and i dont know the major reaction from the public but i feel people are buying it..

the guy says "we oppose the death penalty, but tells McClelland to express these beliefs at a less sensitive time" and he is being slaughtered by the media.. why is it hypocritical? :-|

what are ur thoughts on the election?

well see now kevin is just playing politics, which may be a weird thing to say seeings how he is our next prime minister. i guess kev's worried about the indonesians throwing their bullshit around.

i'm trying not to think about the election. there is nothing either rudd or howard could possibly say that would win my vote. tis all horsehit if you ask me. like watching two kids in a playground with their little gangs of shitkickers.

Heineken Helen

onelongsong wrote:

the difference is: those who dream of coming to america; come to take. those who dream of becoming an american; come to give.

Huh? Isn't it the same thing? Or rather I would say is those who dream of going to America do so for many reasons other than to take. They do so to experience living elsewhere and America offers such vast differences. Those who dream of becoming an American are more likely to want to do so because they imagine the average American as being rich and having lots. So would it not be more likely to suggest that those who dream of becoming an American are those who want to take? And take infinitely.

Heineken Helen

onelongsong wrote:

yes; i speak some polish. and arizona law says english is the official language of the state. i threatened a lawsuit and within a year it was on the ballot. when i was in school in the early 60's; it was not just about white history. the west was settled mostly due to the black buffalo soldiers. the railroad was built by the chinese immigrants in the west. but how do we honor those killed at the alamo when 2000 mexican soldiers slaughtered 200 american men? what day do we honor the colonists that gave their life during the american revolution so that you can enjoy the freedoms you now have?
if it's always been about white history and white heritage; when it that celebrated?

I love that you use the word colonists... and yet you still think there should be caps on immigration... since when do the sons and daughters of colonists have the right to say who can and cannot do what their ancestors did? Why do the current 'colonists' have different intentions to the ones in the past? What makes you think they do? They're all just looking for a new world aren't they?

Heineken Helen

onelongsong wrote:

although i have ties to the crown; i dispise the way the british have conquered different lands/countries to make them her own. now that we are a civilized society; the crown should make amends. britian made india part of itself and should recognise the culture it took into its arms. i can understand british pride; but the british culture includes the indian culture and should be recognised on a daily basis. i recognise the indian culture for the contributions they have made to civilization and i greatly respect the hindu religion. i think you especially should be honored on a daily basis.
hare krishna

Thankfully India never really lost its culture, did it? It's at least one thing that STILL belongs to the Indians and not to the British.

And show me evidence to suggest that we're more civilised now than back then?

Pegasus

onelongsong wrote:

yes; i speak some polish. and arizona law says english is the official language of the state. i threatened a lawsuit and within a year it was on the ballot. when i was in school in the early 60's; it was not just about white history. the west was settled mostly due to the black buffalo soldiers. the railroad was built by the chinese immigrants in the west. but how do we honor those killed at the alamo when 2000 mexican soldiers slaughtered 200 american men? what day do we honor the colonists that gave their life during the american revolution so that you can enjoy the freedoms you now have?
if it's always been about white history and white heritage; when it that celebrated?

4th of July? :rolleyes:

Heineken Helen wrote:

I love that you use the word colonists... and yet you still think there should be caps on immigration... since when do the sons and daughters of colonists have the right to say who can and cannot do what their ancestors did? Why do the current 'colonists' have different intentions to the ones in the past? What makes you think they do? They're all just looking for a new world aren't they?

once again, you take words out of my mouth


that's what I like about Britain rather than America:
you're allowed (there's always the odd idiot of course, but society in general) to be BOTH British and whatever your family/yourself are from.
you're not expected to fit in the mould and forget everything about your origins.
I believe it makes the country, and the people in it, richer, even if it can creates some problems too, but it mostly happen when don't try to be British at all.

Britain has a long history, hell, it's WHOLE history, of integrating immigrants cultures into it's own. Fish and Chips is a mix of Jewish and French, Tikka Massala is now the national dish. it's only in last couple of years a non-white journalist has presented a prime-time newscast in France; in England, Trevor MacDonald has been doing it for decades!
it's trivial things, but they reflect a more accepting attitude in my opinion.

NoK

catefrances wrote:

well see now kevin is just playing politics, which may be a weird thing to say seeings how he is our next prime minister. i guess kev's worried about the indonesians throwing their bullshit around.

i'm trying not to think about the election. there is nothing either rudd or howard could possibly say that would win my vote. tis all horsehit if you ask me. like watching two kids in a playground with their little gangs of shitkickers.

yah but "choosing the lesser of two evils" is always the case in politics.. considering most independent campaigners that dont have party politics shoved down their throat would have a good election campaign if they got 5% of the votes

ah well good thing ill be in paris at the time!

Collin

onelongsong wrote:

yes; i speak some polish. and arizona law says english is the official language of the state. i threatened a lawsuit and within a year it was on the ballot. when i was in school in the early 60's; it was not just about white history. the west was settled mostly due to the black buffalo soldiers. the railroad was built by the chinese immigrants in the west. but how do we honor those killed at the alamo when 2000 mexican soldiers slaughtered 200 american men? what day do we honor the colonists that gave their life during the american revolution so that you can enjoy the freedoms you now have?
if it's always been about white history and white heritage; when it that celebrated?

I'm not an American. And if important white people are not being honoured then I think you are right, they should be honoured.

But I don't get why you get so upset about Spanish being an option and Polish not. But if Arizona has English as the official language then I think foreigners should at least undertake some effort to learn the language. But on the other hand, you want your native tongue as an option that means that somewhere you are still connected to Poland, which is logical, so why is it so odd that these people are still connected to their home countries and want to speak Spanish? I mean, you obviously want to speak Polish?

I guess my point is, I think people should adjust to the country to come to live in, but that's a long process... and it takes time... and there are more Spanish speaking people than Polish speaking people, so that just seems more logical than discrimination.

Restless Soul

Collin wrote:

I guess my point is, I think people should adjust to the country to come to live in, but that's a long process... and it takes time... and there are more Spanish speaking people than Polish speaking people, so that just seems more logical than discrimination.

I think that's a good point. Sometimes people don't realise that it can take years for new people to integrate into a country, generations even. Regardless of why you're immigrating, it's very hard for people to forget everything about their past lives even if they are able embrace the new. I agree with the need to know the host language, but other things can be difficult to shift such as cultural attitudes and behaviour, choice of food, religion, traditions etc. Obviously that happened when the asians came to britain but now I'm seeing it with the polish. We have polish food shops in our street now replacing the long-term turkish because they obviously miss their food from back home.

I think maybe earlier established immigrants who have already settled down and have brought up families and maybe have grandkids now forget how hard it was for them to come to a new country and try to adapt. Things are supposed to get easier as you get older and the memory goes I suppose!

Anyway I'm second gen and I remember it was difficult for my parents to adjust to things here and that made them more Indian in a way, in order to stop us from losing our culture. They were stricter with us than they would have been at home I think. But when I have kids (or if probably) I expect it would be a lot easier for them because they'll have me as a buffer. I probably won't be steeping them in the "old ways" as my parents did to me, so they will feel more part of the country than I do.

Heineken Helen

onelongsong, how do you feel about your own people over here, in Ireland, being pretty much the bottom of the pile right now? Do you think I should have the same attitude towards the Poles as you have towards immigrants in your own country?

However smug and high up we think we are, there are always certain countries where we're the lowest form of life or were in the past. So perhaps we should all consider that when we're being so judgmental about others wanting to join the same country that your parents/grandparents/whatever wanted to join so much.

Jeanie

I wish......... oh what's it matter what I wish?

redrock

Collin wrote:

I and there are more Spanish speaking people than Polish speaking people, so that just seems more logical than discrimination.

At the last census, there were 28 million spanish speakers in the US compared to 670.000 polish speakers. The US have the fifth largest number of spanish speaking people in the world.....