Posted on 07/31/2004 6:13:39 AM PDT by jalisco555
Politicians can at least exploit the economic aspects of immigration (i.e. bigger labor supply = lower wages in a free market economy). That ought to work.
As one who has always loved France and the French people, this is all deeply troubling to me. I feel like a member of a Greek chorus, shouting warnings as France careens toward the precipice--absolutely determined not to hear the warnings or see the precipice. Denial is the most dangerous thing in the world.
I'd have to disagree --- it depends on the immigrant. Some immigrate pretty much as entire villages or towns and see no reason to get to know Americans or be like them --- but there are immigrants I know --- some from Hong Kong, India, Mexico, Poland, Colombia, Panama, Viet Nam, Germany --- who jump right in the melting pot. They learned English --- with an accent but they're trying, they seem about as American as apple pie and fit in with Americans --- many married Americans and have assimilated because of family ties.
It's not *the* problem as a whole, but it's a big part of it. First off, the head scarf is a *symbol* for adherence to radical jihadi Islam. When girls start wearing it in school, those girls who *don't* wear it get persecuted, bullied, beaten up, etc. The headscarf also symbolizes a way of treating women that is very backward. For instance, young girls of 13-15 are often sent to Morocco or Algeria to be married, with no choice of their own. Wearing the headscarf shows that the wearer, and more importantly her family, believe in this retrograde view of women.
I dunno. Read the April 2004 Vanity Fair article about women in the Muslim ghettos. France sounds full of well-educated, smart Muslim girls. They go to French public schools, even colleges, get jobs, go to work, and are still essentially slaves.
One girl described her life: she gets on the train to go to work (some kind of administrative work), does her job, and *must* come home immediately after work, like she was 10 years old. She has to lie to her mother (claiming overtime) to go out to a coffee shop with *female* friends.
Girls who get boyfriends are putting themselves and the young man at serious risk. One girl in the article mentioned that her family was pressuring her constantly to submit to an arranged marriage to an Algerian. The pressure to marry is great, but Muslim families in France are now finding out that "farming" the daughters out to work while keeping them virtual prisoners has the advantage of keeping them still under control, but bringing in money as well.
Immigration is an issue, but most of the Muslims in France are now citizens. Those with Algerian / Moroccan parents have children that become automatically French citizens (EU rules), and the parents too have been naturalized en masse. Couple that with a birth rate that's six times the "native" French, and you are well on the way to seeing the People's Republic of Frankistan, and it's not even really due solely to immigration anymore.
Fascinating point - in America, even our criminals are self-made men...
Good point. Another thought is that Americans (both business and private individuals) really like cheap labor, and from all reports many of the Mexican illegals work very hard for far less money.
Huh? Source please?
Yes ---- I don't disagree with that --- there are some who assimilate and some who almost never will. Some seem to assimilate almost the minute they step foot here if not before. One guy from India I know said that as a boy he dreamed of becoming an American --- and he didn't mean just coming here to make money, he wanted to be an American. Some come in groups and have no desire to be Americans, they're here for the money or handouts but some individuals do fit in very well from the start.
You might as well ask me for a source saying Cubans are overwhelmingly anti-communist. The Mexicans are here to leech off the social programs. I think it's just common sense to assume that this very Democrat voting bloc isn't too keen on free market capitalism.
Be careful. I know it wasn't your intent, but you are starting to sound like a bigot.
I seriously doubt the main reason that Mexicans illegally cross the US border is to leach off social programs. They are the hardest working people I have ever known. Surprisingly, they are ultra conservatives and yet generally vote Democratic(Never understood that!). However, the real fault of the badly written social programs lies with politicians(both right and left). They hide behind their desks because a lot of their constituents are Hispanics.
>>By the way, how's Texas doing with all the immigration from Mexico? Would it be fair that its days as the bastion of American freedom are quickly fading?
No.
First, Mexican's are mostly Catholic Christians, and are nothing like the Islamics that France is dealing with.
Second, Texas has a long history of association with Mexico (we started out as part of Spain, then Mexico), so this isn't new stuff. France has not been heavily associated with Islam since the battle of Toures is 732 AD.
Third, we Texans all have guns, and lots of them.
Very true. France's Muslim problem is not your usual immigration issue.
But I've heard horror stories myself about the criminality and leftist politics of the Mexican immigrants in California. Are things different in Texas?
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