> >I think what Ken is descibing is Nativism, not >xenophobia. The idea that America is an "endangered >Eden." It isn't, of course. It never has been. But we >live in a time of powerlessness of the masses. <snip> >-Brendan >
It may simply be summed up by saying many people prefer either 1) the status quo, or 2) the way it used to be (good old days), as opposed to change. A change often means, that to be comfortable with it, we must adapt and change somewhat also. I guess I'll make amends for my earlier succintness. :-) Now, personally I prefer the days when virtually everyone in the American workplace spoke English as their first language and I could understand what they were saying without straining or having to ask them to repeat it multiple times. I prefer the days when I could have a telephone interview and could understand the questions I was being asked. I prefer the days when I didn't have to worry about someone from a foreign country with 1/25 the experience I have, lying on the resume and interview, and beating me out of a job because they're willing to work for 1/3 of my rate. I realize the above is a result of greedy business and politicians collaborating to bring in cheap labor under the guise of competition, just as they send work off shore and get it done for 20% of the U.S. rate. Of course done and done right are two different things and often American businesses are either too dumb or too short-sighted to know the difference. OTOH, if they were twice as efficient a huge percentage of the population would be unemployed. That being said, I acknowledge what must be a universal desire, for anyone living anywhere to make a living wage and support themselves and family. The difference between a good worker and a bad one are the individual, not the culture at large. I'm a little bothered by having to choose English or Spanish every time I use an ATM. It's a small pain (I do wish they would default to English and just have a Spanish button on every screen to toggle to a 2nd language and continue with it through the transaction). But that's rather petty of me. I do like the abundance of ethnic restaurants of all kinds that are around now. I expect foreigners to retain quite a bit of their cultural identity when living in a foreign country, but I don't think they should *expect* the majority to adapt their ways to accomodate them. We live in a changing world. Tom C. -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
