What did Democrats do wrong?

[Ziggurat]

No. "Zenophobia" is an irrational fear of arrows and other missiles.

No. Zenophobia is an irrational fear of infinite converging sequences.

 

[Hercules56]

Because of course Europe is known to be a place where no land was ever wrongfully appropriated.

Things seem to be pretty well balanced in that regard right now. Especially after the fall of the USSR.

 

[W.D.Clinger]

Progressives insist that the culture and values of the native peoples were pretty good, too, but it's really hard to find a hand-sewn pair of moccasins even here in Oklahoma. Presumably the "patriots" of which you speak are afraid that an influx of new peoples would do to their culture what their own culture did to earlier ones.

Bastien moccasins are great. Founded circa 1830, the Canadian company is still run by native Americans (Huron-Wendat Nation).

@Helen, do you live near any heavily immigrant neighborhoods?

I'm not @Helen, but your question led me to look up the racial and ethnic composition of several places I have lived. (Partly because, let's face it, a lot of what passes for discussion of immigrants is driven by race and ethnicity. Indeed, the person I quoted immediately above went on to talk about English proficiency as though it were a proxy for immigration.)

I was surprised to find that the city in which I was born is considered to be one of the most diverse cities in the United States. Its racial/ethnic demographics are the first in the following list. Most percentages are rounded to the nearest 5%.

• 35% non-Hispanic white, 35% Hispanic of any race, 20% African-American, 5% Asian-American
• 55% non-Hispanic white, 10% Hispanic of any race, 10% African-American, 20% Asian-American
• 75% non-Hispanic white, 5% Hispanic of any race, 5% African-American, 15% Asian-American
• 80% non-Hispanic white, 5% Hispanic of any race, 10% African-American, 5% Asian-American
• 90% non-Hispanic white, 10% Hispanic of any race, < 1% African-American, < 1% Asian-American, < 2% native American

Using presidential votes as proxy for "liberal", two of those cities tend to vote for Democrats. In the other three, the vote tends to be close. The last city listed is the county seat of a county that votes strongly Republican.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

No. Zenophobia is an irrational fear of infinite converging sequences.

Again, not irrational, my coffee will never quite be here!!!!

 

[ahhell]

I lived in Southall for a while, that's about as immigrant heavy as it gets. It was pretty cool actually, and loads of amazing food.

Good for you and clear demonstration of what I'm trying to get. Lots of people like the food they've been eating for generations. If that wasn't true that diverse cuisine you find amazing wouldn't be available.

Great thing when the immigrants resist change, xenophobia when the natives do.

 

[dirtywick]

i think it's xenophobia when you resist positive change

 

[Hercules56]

i think it's xenophobia when you resist positive change

So you believe Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, are all Xenophobes for having such a tight immigration policy? Same with most of Africa and Latin America?

 

[dirtywick]

are they resisting positive change?

 

[Hercules56]

are they resisting positive change?

Increased ethnic diversity is not positive or negative. Its just change.

However, if you are Japan or South Korea or Taiwan or Israel, increased diversity apparently is a threat to their nation-state security.

 

[arthwollipot]

No. "Zenophobia" is an irrational fear of arrows and other missiles.

Zenophobia is the fear that you will never get to your destination because you first have to get halfway there, and to get to half way you first have to get halfway to there, and so on.

 

[dirtywick]

Increased ethnic diversity is not positive or negative. Its just change.

However, if you are Japan or South Korea or Taiwan or Israel, increased diversity apparently is a threat to their nation-state security.

no, it's about the culture. ethnicity without culture is essentially meaningless. it's nonsensical to be against that.

 

[P.J. Denyer]

Good for you and clear demonstration of what I'm trying to get. Lots of people like the food they've been eating for generations. If that wasn't true that diverse cuisine you find amazing wouldn't be available.

Great thing when the immigrants resist change, xenophobia when the natives do.

I'm sure you'll be relieved to hear that traditional British food was also avaliable and absolutely no-one is forced to eat curries against their will. But we've been eating it since the nineteenth century here so we're kind of fond of it. Cuisines change and imported foods and recipes become part of the wider culture, I hear you American's are quite fond of a recipy called 'apple pie' that a bunch of immigrants brought with them for example.

 

[arthwollipot]

Heck, check out Australian cuisine some time. All sorts of stuff from different parts of the planet all gathered together into one glorious melting pot.

 

[Helen]

The food they have been eating for generations - in Sweden that'd be pickled herring and potatoes.And I'm not sure about the potatoes; they are a fairly new addition. Swedish meatballs? We stole them from Turkey (see? Emre is right)! There are very few countries that have not imported the bits they like from other countries, and our very own racist bigots would not know what to do without all the pizza places run by people from the Balkans or the Middle East (not Italians, that'd mean Real Pizzas. The vox pop wouldn't like that). Their most important food group is kebab pizza. Yes, kebab on a pizza, the most Swedish food there is. Well, it might have a fight on its hands (pizza has hands?!?) with spaghetti bolognese, and sushi. Being a bigoted racist really doesn't have anything to do with protecting some kind of national culture; the Sweden they pretend to care about has never existed, culture, as well as those who exist in it at any given time, is ever-changing.

And all of the above is irrelevant, anyway; the kind of racism we see a lot of in the Western world now is bordering on the kind of vilification of "the other" that we saw in nazi Germany. Name calling is at times called for.

 

[dirtywick]

i don't think i've ever had a native american dish

 

[P.J. Denyer]

i don't think i've ever had a native american dish

What, you don't regularly feast on smoked buffalo jerky? Why won't you integrate?

 

[TragicMonkey]

Heck, check out Australian cuisine some time. All sorts of stuff from different parts of the planet all gathered together into one glorious melting pot.

Fondue?!

 

[Beelzebuddy]

i don't think i've ever had a native american dish

You know those bags of frozen vegetables with lima beans, corn, etc all mixed together? That's succotash. They just don't label it that to spare us from awful Sylvester impressions.

 

[dirtywick]

You know those bags of frozen vegetables with lima beans, corn, etc all mixed together? That's succotash. They just don't label it that to spare us from awful Sylvester impressions.

they were right to do so

 

[ahhell]

i think it's xenophobia when you resist positive change

So, the change you like then.