Canada, you need to get firmer.

hahahahaha

i don't think a mouth breathing troglodyte would know the term "mouth breathing troglodyte" so you are off the hook



*provided you know English, which seems likely

 

i'm okay, i lit a candle.

 

I wanna live in Canada, one day. In Montreal. With my sister and her bf. Well I don't mean for one day. I mean, one day, I'll move out there. Especially if the U.S keeps being so right-winged. Oh I may go back to my home country too some day.. when Sarkozy dies and is replaced by someone of the left, too.

 

I want to spend a year in France, brushing up on my french and taking it all in

 

it's actually a myth that the usa is getting more right wing. there a huge swathes of land where repbulicans do not thrive.

 

We need to use the same exterminators as those areas. Of course the alternative is anything but. Repugnicans, Democraps, it's all the same.

 

All I can really add to this is if I moved to Mexico, I'd learn Spanish. If I moved to France, I'd learn French. Germany, German. So why the hell can't people learn English if they move here? I'd learn their language if I moved to their country, because I'd expect I'd need to in order to get around. But oh no, America and Canada have to be all accepting of everyone and everything. I'm all for immigration, but for CHRIST SAKES, communication is VITAL and we shouldn't have to force the people who were born and raised here to learn new languages to accomodate those who move in. You wanna fit in? YOU learn the language.

 

Yeah. Seems to me Clinton-Democrats (or "neo-liberals") are more conservative than Republicans in the 70s and even the New Deal era in many ways (mayor La Guardia for instance).

It's really not a party thing. Post-Reagan we have seen from both parties:

1) deregulation of the economy (in the U.S. and the world);

2) a dwindling of social security and welfare;

3) higher emphasis on punitive law enforcement and unilateralist geopolitical agenda;

The 3 above directions are the very definition of right-wing and Clinton was an integral part of the escalation of right-wing policy since Reagan, not its detractor.

Now, lately politics and cultural issues (abortion, the environment, and minorities basically) are being portrayed as one and the same. But that is not the traditional definiton of right or left-wing.

So...how is it that the U.S. is not becoming more right-wing? How would you define right-wing if my definition doesn't satisfy you?

 

Why do you think immigrants have difficulty learning a new language?

Is it pure laziness or stubborness?

You described a hypothetical situation in which you move to another country. Have you tried it? Can you think of the challenges you faced or may have faced moving abroad?

 

I will answer this. It is hard to learn a new language. It is hard to cope in an environment where the language is different.

But anyone can learn a new language if they want it bad enough!

 

I agree. But what is it that immigrants typically want really bad by coming over here?

Is it learning a language that is their priority?

 

No the priority is coping and getting stable.

I am not bashing them.

When I first went to Central America it took me 2 months of Language immersion school to feel comfortable with Spanish.

I know how hard it is to be in a new place and learn a language.

Coping is a big issue.

 

Well, I'm not bitching about the new ones or the people who are trying, but it's the ones that have lived in America for years as citizens and still get pissed at me because I don't speak Spanish back to them when they order in Spanish (yeah, I understand enough of the language to get by) that piss me off.

 

I get irritated by that too. I say, I do not speak spanish.

If someone is absolutely off the boat and clueless about english I'll try to speak the little spanish that I know.

But when they simply assume, I make it clear I will not communicate with them unless it's in a language that I actually speak: english or portuguese.

P.S. But really, I think immigration problems lie within the sphere of political-economy, not individual "shoulds" and "ought tos." Complaining doesn't change anything.

I have a habit of thinking systemically rather than about moral individual responsibility. Individuals never fit some normative mold.

 

I agree with you.

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=tnLyHi2TdhM


No, I do not work in his campaign.

 

Hmmm, I did not expect you to be so racist and nationalistic.

 

Cate has been held responsible for her ideas in other posts.

I just wanted to say that I revived this thread as a constructive effort.

 

This thread is way too long to read all of it, so I just replied to the original post.

 

That's cool.

I must say the videolink brought me tears. I'm not easily swayed by speeches. Maybe it's because of the hangover.

But it was the first time I really really felt welcomed in this country.