The U.S.=the tower of Babel?

[Damien]

This thread is inspired by "America's palestinian problem".
It is often said by americans that the U.S. is the mix of all the cultures n peoples in the world united under common values under a nation.This is kinda tower of Babel so?
I disagree with it of course.80% of the Americans stem from Europeans.Let's not forget that there are problems with Blacks n Hispanics moreover.There were problems with Irish too b4 but they were assimilated and there's no prob anymore.
English is the most used n official language n many people speak another one at home.Americans say that there's NO official language...yet what language is taught in classes?Can u choose your class depending on your language?
Don't take it as bash,that's not the purpose.
All i wanted to say is that to me America isn't a world melting-pot,it's an european one.
It could be said that the U.S. is the modern Roman Empire(better than the latter though).The Roman Empire was a melting-pot too and what united it was the awe for the roman culture.
It may be believed that some states are "ethnic states" or trash states:N.Hampshire got 98% WASP n Washington D.C. 66% BLACKS,Southern States got high% of Blacks or Hispanics n it's said that Blacks are going to S.STATES.Do u believe there's a danger of ghettoization of some states?
To u,what is the problem of Hispanics n Blacks n do u believe that they're gonna create their own countries(i don't)?There are problems with Arabs n Blacks in France too(10% of the french pop is muslim,6 million/60)
Cops,bus,doctors,etc don't wanna go in some french suburbs anymore(the best known ones are the ones of the parisian region).Sometimes,cops are trapped,lights were broken n a crowd of 100s with 10cmX10cm cobblestones(used on building sites) n metallic bars wait for em.What about american suburbs?
Feel free to comment on what i said in that post,i know u will

 

[Globber]

could someone tell me what the tower of babel is?? sounds like a bible reference but i'm just confused...

EDIT: American suburbs are probably some of the safest places on earth.... the urban areas are the worst in terms of crime, poverty, etc. The worst you have to face in Amer. suburbs is mild vandalism, road rage, and some other minor discomforts.

 

[ainwood]

Originally posted by Damien
English is the most used n official language n many people speak another one at home.Americans say that there's NO official language...yet what language is taught in classes?

Good question. You certainly didn't post in english, although the dialect you posted in is certainly very flexible. "n" can be used in place of either and or in, as far as I can make out.

 

[Damien]

Originally posted by Globber
could someone tell me what the tower of babel is?? sounds like a bible reference but i'm just confused...

EDIT: American suburbs are probably some of the safest places on earth.... the urban areas are the worst in terms of crime, poverty, etc. The worst you have to face in Amer. suburbs is mild vandalism, road rage, and some other minor discomforts.

The Tower of Babel is a tower that men built to reach God.To punish humans,God is said to have divided humans by making em speak different languages n they were therefore never able to complete the tower's construction.
In the US. it's the opposite it's true:Towns are violent n suburbs are quiet.In europe towns are quiet n suburbs violent.
N i use n as and.

 

[MuddyOne]

Census 2000 data:
69.1% White
12.1% Black
12.5% Hispanic
3.7% Asian
.7% Amerind
.2% Other
1.6% Two or more

I think most Americans would say that English is the offical language in America. Its the Brits that disagree

In areas where there is a lot of immigrants they do publish most governmental publication, edicts, voting, etc. in a variety of languages in an attempt to not exlude people. Road signs, directions, etc are all in English only though.

I do think the Roman Empire isn't a very good comparision. It's various cultures were due to area's conquered for the most part. Not a migration of people wanting to become part of the Empire.

I would like to think that the migration of Blacks to the south has to do with lessening racial tensions, but think it has mostly to do with increased economic growth and lesser population densities.

 

[Dralix]

Originally posted by MuddyOne
I think most Americans would say that English is the offical language in America. Its the Brits that disagree

Most Americans might assume that English is the official language of the US, but really there is none. I'm not entirely sure what it means to be the official language, but I think it has to do with government communications.

For instance, Canada has two official languages, French and English. Any government communication, whether we are talking aboot a brochure or a federal employee on the phone, must be available in both languages.

In the US, since there is no official language, the government has to make any publication available in any language requested.

Or so I have heard. I hope someone who knows more aboot this will post.

 

[King of Camelot]

The U.S. has no official language but English is the most commonly spoken language. Therefore it is taught in schools making it pretty much the offical language becuase it is required education. Even though the government states there is no offical language by having English required learning pretty much enforces it as the most common language. Most things in the U.S. are geared towards English. On norma cable you can find 4-5 Spanish channels but the rest are English except for some news occasionly in another language.

 

[Damien]

Every country is actually settled by many people but they took the culture of the country they settled in n that's y they are nationals.

 

[MuddyOne]

True there is no offical language in the US. English is the defacto standard though.

1) You have to be able to speak, read, and write English to become a naturalized citizen.

2) 22 States do have English as their offical language.

3) Only a very small portion of offical documents are available in any language other than English. 0.06% of them to be more precise. Taxes, voting, and some job related documents are the majority of the miniscule percentage.

4) Of the things that do require publication in multiple languages, part of the test is whether the citizens in question are limited-english proficient.

The "Official Language" legislation that has been argued in the Congress lately has provisions such as requiring government officials to communicate in English while performing duties and repealing the Voting act bilingual election requirements.

The bilingual requirements require that the voting materials be published in any language that 5%(or 10,000) of the voting aged citizens of a political subdivision are of a single language minority and are limited-english proficient. This expires on August 7th, 2007.


I do think it would be silly to require a legislator to talk to Latino's in English if he is proficient in Spanish.

 

[amadeus]

The U.S. should make English the official language. You know, you can get a driver's license in Hungarian, but if you don't speak English, how in God's name are you going to read the street signs?

(Hungarian Guy): "Hmm...red means...ah! I remember my Eastern Bloc history class! Red means revolution! Viva la revolution!"

*screech*

*crash*

 

[Switch625]

We can always count on your sensitive grasp of the issues, Mr. Sharpe.

 

[Kilroy]

Originally posted by MuddyOne
I do think the Roman Empire isn't a very good comparision. It's various cultures were due to area's conquered for the most part. Not a migration of people wanting to become part of the Empire.

Let's see. We annexed Florida, bought Louisiana, robbed from Mexico: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, et al. We bought Alaska, annexed (?) Hawaii, and many of our overseas possessions were acquired by force during the Spanish-American war.

On the other hand Native-Americans haven't really become "American" the way that many of the conquered peoples of ancient Rome became "Roman" so in that respect you have a good point.

 

[Lt.Col. Kilgore]

The U.S. isn't any melting pot. When I was in high school there were the cafeteria tables where the great majority of the people there were white. Then no too far away would be a table of mostly blacks, and one with mostly Hispanics. Its obviously not conciously segregated this way, but sub-conciously we are still unsure of other races, because there are so many different ways of thinking amongst Americans. That differences is greatly increased when race is factored in because of past family experiences and unintentional segregation. This country will never be a melting pot because whites have a major problem with race. It seems to me that most whites have some kind of issue with racism. Either they are against it like most are or they are racists themselves. I believe there is something that most American whites retain in their psyche about race. Whether it's genetic or cultural or a combination is to me unknown. But there is truth when people say whites have a propensity toward racism. I believe it to be the case. How many other nations or peoples are as savagely belligerent towards other perceived races? I'm not talking about religious or ethnic differences either. The Japanese might come close, but they are more xenophobic than pure racist. And no xenophobia is not a euphemism for racism.

 

[Lt.Col. Kilgore]

Originally posted by Dralix




For instance, Canada has two official languages, French and English. Any government communication, whether we are talking aboot a brochure or a federal employee on the phone, must be available in both languages.

I'm sorry if this might be considered spam, but I just had to point out the aboot in this paragraph about Canada.

Dralix, that was great. I appreciate anything like this.

 

[Damien]

Lt.Col.Kilmore,i experienced what u're talking about when i lived in the carribean.Whites were with whites n blacks with blacks.I didn't really understand it because i stayed there only 5 months but i can guess y from what i've seen.This was not openly racism.Whites talked to blacks n blacks talked to whites but there were prejudices about each other.Blacks were seen as lazy n racist n whites as rich,racist n stealin the natives'jobs.Many whites stemmed from former settlers in Africa who moved to the carribean n were rich n many blacks were livin on the doles.
I think exactly the opposite of what u think about whites.I think Whites are the most tolerant(it's not a question of race)because their countries are the richest n they have wages that are high enough to be able to live n even have leisure time,so there's less tension.The rest of the world is more racist.

 

[amadeus]

Originally posted by Switch625
We can always count on your sensitive grasp of the issues, Mr. Sharpe.

I guess my lighthearted response was taken too seriously

 

[Greadius]

I had the same kind of segregation situation when I was in High School. I think that isn't necessarily because of race, because if you looked at the tables of whites they were 'segregated' by jocks, nerds, band geeks, often girls & boys. High School is the worst place to look for a melting pot.

Those barriers are pretty much non-existant in College, and in the real world. Other factors that differentiate people, such as income, career, religion, ambition, become more important in the people's voluntary seperation than race.

 

[Damien]

TRUE,but Blacks n Hispanics n other non-WASP minorities aren't mixed with others and aren't a part of the melting-pot that is the WASP majority.

 

[Greadius]

Originally posted by Damien
TRUE,but Blacks n Hispanics n other non-WASP minorities aren't mixed with others and aren't a part of the melting-pot that is the WASP majority.

You've never been to my apartment, or been around my friends, or groups, or orginizations.

Representation in all areas of life may not be proportionate to population, but it exists. Melting isn't an instant event, true integration will take many more generations. However, almost everyone I know is a combination of two distinctly seperate identities (including Europeans who aren't WASPs).

They only kind of people I don't hang around on the French

 

[Pongui]

Whether official or not, english is the language of America. Spanish is making gains, and local governments will need to accomodate that.

I agree with Greadius about social class, gender, etc. dividing people more than race. Americans have had to think about racism, and most have an admirable attitude about racial differences.