Does Immigration Threaten Our Culture?
I have my second column up at Forbes. In it I tackle the question: "Does immigration threaten our culture?" I'm pretty happy with it, so please feel free to share and/or comment as convenient and appropriate.
posted by Amit Ghate at 9:00 AM
4 Comments:
Thoughtful commentary however I think you are missing the central thrust of Mark's thesis. To wit, the west does not believe in it's own ideas and are no longer having babies. We have a totally alien world view that believes in it's ideas fervently and are having lots of babies. Who is your money on? Before you answer, consider this. 4500 years ago the Egyptians built the Pyramids and the Sphinx. Their ideas and demography made that possible. Today, 5000 years later after we have 'evolved' so much, some leaders in Egypt are calling for their destruction on the basis of 'idolatry'.
You are correct that stopping immigration is not the answer but I think you underestimate the true magnitude of the problem.
Thanks for constructive comment. My point isn’t that there isn’t a cultural problem, there certainly is (scroll through the blog to see my thoughts on other issues). But the root of the cultural problem comes from the ideas we hold, not immigration. And these ideas weren’t pushed by immigrants, they come from our home-grown intellectuals who are now enshrined throughout academia and the media.
As one small example of their effect consider that almost no one can say that our culture is better than others (due to multiculturalism, political correctness and their philosophical progenitors). That’s an intellectual issue and won’t be addressed by limiting immigration. Moreover, the youth born here hold this politically correct view in much larger percentage than their parents, so fighting immigration rather than challenging wrong ideas and defending good ones, is as I say in the piece, a rearguard action.
It might seem pessimistic, but I believe that without ideas, the country is lost with or without immigration. But, in my opinion, it will sink much faster without the good that immigration does. Conversely, by championing proper ideas — those underlying capitalism — including reason, individualism and individual rights, the country can be saved no matter what the number of immigrants might be. Indeed immigrants may be the easiest audience to convince and enlist to our cause, since they are self-selected to already appreciate the unique values that America offers.
‘in my opinion, it will sink much faster without the good that immigration does.’
I've noticed that some groups of immigrants, particularly those from Eastern Europe are far more American in their outlook and ideas than most Americans.
Even many of those who don’t hold the proper views (e.g. from Asia) seem to have a very American sense about them – they value hard work and independence and may be very good targets for the right ideas, more so many Americans.
That's my sense too Steve. And btw, thanks for this and previous comments. I don't do a very good job of acknowledging comments here, but they're definitely appreciated.
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