Quote:
Originally Posted by spinner
....withe a few execptions eg yourself, billcat garinda ....
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In my case, it may have something to do with the fact that I am American and live in the NY metropolitan area. I get to see and meet a lot of folks from a lot of different places and live with folks who enjoy exploring our multicultural melange. Personally, I feel it enriches all our lives!
We here in the USA have seen a lot a changes, too. First of all, the USA is a nation of immigrants. We have seen huge waves of foreigners immigrate - English, Scotch-Irish, Germans, Irish Catholics, Italians, Jews, Chinese, Latinos, Indians, etc.! We are used to it and we pretty much expect to deal with it, especially if we live near the major immigration points. We also know that assimilation is far from an overnight process, taking a number of decades to happen.
Not that the immigrants have always been treated well, but at least our culture has become accustomed to the arrival of different groups and the fact that the assimilation process takes a couple of generations. The original immigrants themselves often stay among their own folk, for reasons of language and custom, while their children may or may not assimilate. The grandkids, however, are usually pretty thoroughly American.
In the big picture, those immigrants who are most likely to make a go of it are those who embrace the society in which they live - which does not, I would add, mean losing track of their own cultural heritage. These folks may live in their own neighborhoods (at least for a generation or two), but certainly make serious efforts to get everyone to come and patronize their businesses. Immigrant neighborhoods, such as Little Italy, Chinatown, or the old Jewish Lower East Side in New York City, or Little Havana in Miami, often become serious tourist attractions.
When I was in the UK, I seemed to observe much the same thing. Many of the young folks, whose parents or grandparents probably came from Asia, seemed very English in their outlook.