Has diversity benefited the USA?

[iguanaman]

The USA is more ethnically, racially, culturally and religiously diverse than it has ever been in our history. If diversity is a good thing, then the USA should be a better country in its better condition economically and socially with people the happiest they have ever been.

Has diversity benefited the USA?

It's the greed of our native born that have screwed things up for the middle class. We keep cutting their taxes and making their greed more enticing and lucrative. They sock away more of the profits every year leaving the rest of us floundering. It has got to stop. No CEO should be pulling in $20 mill a year while their workers haven't had a raise since the 1970's. It is obscene and unsustainable.

 

[Ouroboros]

Which is true enough, although the numbers are nowhere what we're seeing today, and frankly, I don't think they were just sitting there with their hands out for government checks. But to be consistent, anyone, throughout history, who is not here legally, should be bounced. Just because it happened to a limited degree in the past doesn't mean it should continue to happen today.

Right, and as far as I know, all the sojourners were legal, though I have heard, in old movies and such, about operations in which Chinese laborers were being illegally smuggled into the country, possibly for the same reasons coyotes smuggle illegals in these days.

 

[Ouroboros]

It's the greed of our native born that have screwed things up for the middle class. We keep cutting their taxes and making their greed more enticing. They sock away more of the profits every year leaving the rest of us floundering. It has got to stop.

By "native born" do you mean the one percent?

 

[iguanaman]

By "native born" do you mean the one percent?

I meant that immigrants are not the ones that are choking our middle class.

 

[ALiberalModerate]

What would be the objection to saying that a particular white person was disadvantaged or vilified under particular circumstances?

The dismissal seems to be based on an untenable comparison, as if all whites were claiming that they were being put down by "the Man." Richard Spenser might be putting forth some such rhetoric, but I don't think he's representative of whites everywhere.

Anyone can be disadvantaged. Anyone can grow up in an impoverished household, have less than ideal parents and so on.

 

[Ouroboros]

I meant that immigrants are not the ones that are choking our middle class.

OK, but who then?

 

[iguanaman]

OK, but who then?

Who is responsible for the stagnant wages that have crippled the middle class? Hint: It started in the 1980's. The more we cut taxes on the wealthy the less likely they were to share the increased profits. So who was responsible for slashing taxes on the top brackets?

 

[Peter King]

Without diversity there would not be a United States. The United States is diversity become a country/nation/people.

 

[concernedpuma]

I don't feel the slightest bit guilty. My only contention is that for a white guy to claim he is being disadvantaged or vilified in American society is pathetic.

Pathetic? No, it isn't. Why you point out WHITE GUYS is clear. You have a bigotry. And isn't bigoty your alleged bane?
How about some love for those who fought a war to free the enslaved? By the way, why don't our Afro-American brothers/sisters demand a day to honor the sacrifice made by white citizens to garner their freedom? I understand the rejection of the confederate symbols, certainly. But where is the swing back?
Regard,
CP

 

[concernedpuma]

There are many factors behind your comparison. One is that most travel before WWII was by boat. People couldn't just hop on planes and come here. Also there wasn't lucrative industry or service jobs awaiting them. It was mostly hard labor as that's all that we offered them. Many of them lived in dire poverty unless they had wealthy relatives already here. In some respects that hasn't changed.

The other huge factor is that we now live in a globalized world. People are blaming immigrants for being lazy while middle class Americans are suffering from an utterly stagnant economy that has little upward mobility. The reason is globalization. Rather than expecting immigrants to come here and work for next to nothing like WWII, the companies here simply outsourced to places like China or Bangladesh, taking all our domestic jobs with them. The whole "buy American" mentality of the 50's and 60's went out the window as soon as trade deals opened up with the poorest nations to extract cheap labor. These companies have zero loyalty to America.

And lastly... the reasons for immigration have shifted. Globalization and the IMF have created such huge economic disparities and wastelands of civilization (like Syria) that people have to immigrate because there's literally nothing left of their country or opportunity is nothing. We have globalized the extraction of resources and capital but people complain when humans themselves get globalized too. I mean what do you expect? We can't ravage a country to build our own and then expect them to not come to our door.

Really, the wealthy elites are sequestering all the money and leaving scraps for the rest of us to fight over, which includes the fight between American citizens and immigrants. There really is enough to go around but the elites have done the usual bait and switch of distracting the populace by blaming externalities like immigrants. And no I'm not some liberal commie who hates wealthy people. I'm not talking about run of the mill millionaires who run businesses, I'm talking about the top 10-20 richest families in the world who continue to sequester everything and play chess with humanity. I'm talking about the ones who created the Federal Reserve and gave trillion dollar bailouts to industry while expecting the public to accept austerity.

What we really need to do to regain control of our economy is bring the Federal Reserve under public control while fully auditing it simultaneously. We also need to go after the offshore accounts (like the Panama Papers showed us exist) to reclaim the trillions of dollars being hidden. And we need to decouple our government from big business influence because it's been a total disaster. Although immigrants can be a drain on the system, their impact is marginal compared to the largest forces at work. It's basically akin to trying to put out a trash fire while a whole building is ablaze next door. Priorities.

If we plugged the biggest leaks and then went after immigrants, it might make more sense to me; but by then we probably wouldn't care because our economy would be above board again. Instead we let ourselves be baited with an immigration problem that has frankly always been there, even in prosperous times, because some super wealthy aristocrat types are getting nervous that people might be on to them as the reason the economy is not doing so well. Immigrants have always received the blame for the domestic policy failures of governments.

Just to let you know. I did re-read your post looking for anything and still have no question's. You wrote a stand alone, good post! No argument here I can offer to your thoughts. Please post more, there must be something!
Regards,
CP

 

[Virgil Jones]

Balkanization is not a good thing, though the end of prejudice is a good thing. I am not sure more "diversity" helps the society infected with it, as it aims to destroy the host.

 

[concernedpuma]

Balkanization is not a good thing, though the end of prejudice is a good thing. I am not sure more "diversity" helps the society infected with it, as it aims to destroy the host.

Could you please explain a bit further? I can't seem to see the clear reason why we can't all respect others reasoning and heart felt sentiment, but ,then are somehow diminished as a people. For example, I see no real conflict between the Jewish and Christmas celebration by Christian's, nor Christian's and the Hanukkah celebration.
I am certain there are Muslim Holy days I am not familiar with, but allow some time for evolution. This is America, we'll get there together.
Regards,
CP

 

[Virgil Jones]

Could you please explain a bit further? I can't seem to see the clear reason why we can't all respect others reasoning and heart felt sentiment, but ,then are somehow diminished as a people. For example, I see no real conflict between the Jewish and Christmas celebration by Christian's, nor Christian's and the Hanukkah celebration.
I am certain there are Muslim Holy days I am not familiar with, but allow some time for evolution. This is America, we'll get there together.
Regards,
CP

If Janos Hunyadi at the gates of Belgrade had embraced diversity over blood, the Turks and muslims would have destroyed Christianity forever.

 

[Virgil Jones]

Could you please explain a bit further? I can't seem to see the clear reason why we can't all respect others reasoning and heart felt sentiment, but ,then are somehow diminished as a people. For example, I see no real conflict between the Jewish and Christmas celebration by Christian's, nor Christian's and the Hanukkah celebration.
I am certain there are Muslim Holy days I am not familiar with, but allow some time for evolution. This is America, we'll get there together.
Regards,
CP

Best day ever when I run across another kindred spirit. Well done sir. I look forward to conversing with you in the future.

 

[Cephus]

Could you please explain a bit further? I can't seem to see the clear reason why we can't all respect others reasoning and heart felt sentiment, but ,then are somehow diminished as a people. For example, I see no real conflict between the Jewish and Christmas celebration by Christian's, nor Christian's and the Hanukkah celebration.
I am certain there are Muslim Holy days I am not familiar with, but allow some time for evolution. This is America, we'll get there together.

Because not all "reasoning" or sentiments are equally valid or worthwhile. I couldn't care less what any individual wants to celebrate, I do care if that celebration is pushed on me. I don't care what anyone wants to believe, so long as that belief is not harmful to anyone else or to society as a whole, but that's something that can stay in your head and doesn't have to be spread like a virus. There is a difference between being diverse and enforcing that diversity on others. Whatever floats someone's boat is fine, so long as we're all moving toward a better day tomorrow and you're not trying to make anyone else agree with you.

 

[concernedpuma]

If Janos Hunyadi at the gates of Belgrade had embraced diversity over blood, the Turks and muslims would have destroyed Christianity forever.

Hey old friend, you aren't dragging up ole Vlad the Impaler, are you? Wasn't he Count Dracula's distant kin? :2razz:
That devil still scares me!
Regards,
CP

 

[Cephus]

Hey old friend, you aren't dragging up ole Vlad the Impaler, are you? Wasn't he Count Dracula's distant kin? :2razz:
That devil still scares me!

He was what Bram Stoker loosely based the character of Dracula on.

 

[Virgil Jones]

Hey old friend, you aren't dragging up ole Vlad the Impaler, are you? Wasn't he Count Dracula's distant kin? :2razz:
That devil still scares me!
Regards,
CP

He was not related to the Impaler as far as I know. Janos Hunyadi won the battle, Tepish terrified and tortured the Turkish troops on their way back to Turkey. It was Hunyadi that won the battle, not Vlad.

 

[Virgil Jones]

He was what Bram Stoker loosely based the character of Dracula on.

It is quite funny that the monster is probably far less terrifying than the actual person.

 

[Virgil Jones]

Church bells ring at noon in the Christian world to honor Janos Hunyadi

 

[Virgil Jones]

I doubt Dracula gets a second thought in all of that.

 

[concernedpuma]

Because not all "reasoning" or sentiments are equally valid or worthwhile. I couldn't care less what any individual wants to celebrate, I do care if that celebration is pushed on me. I don't care what anyone wants to believe, so long as that belief is not harmful to anyone else or to society as a whole, but that's something that can stay in your head and doesn't have to be spread like a virus. There is a difference between being diverse and enforcing that diversity on others. Whatever floats someone's boat is fine, so long as we're all moving toward a better day tomorrow and you're not trying to make anyone else agree with you.

I get you. I guess the cut is what one considers as having something pushed on them. Personally, If I see a religious totem or celebration, I try to be as respectful as I can know how to be, and go on. If on the other hand I see a truly meaningful expression of faith and feel the folks are just doing it just to get to me, I might then also feel mind raped.
Fortunately, I never feel so important as to be worthy of the focus of abuse, by groups of others I don't even know.
Regards,
CP

 

[concernedpuma]

I doubt Dracula gets a second thought in all of that.

I'm certain you are right! Just teasin'.:2razz:
Regards,
CP

 

[ALiberalModerate]

Pathetic? No, it isn't. Why you point out WHITE GUYS is clear. You have a bigotry. And isn't bigoty your alleged bane?
How about some love for those who fought a war to free the enslaved? By the way, why don't our Afro-American brothers/sisters demand a day to honor the sacrifice made by white citizens to garner their freedom? I understand the rejection of the confederate symbols, certainly. But where is the swing back?
Regard,
CP

That sounds like something you would read in The Onion.

 

[ChezC3]

As compared to any other demographic, no. I am a white man. I have never been accused to bringing crime to neighborhoods. I run over a thousand miles a year, no on has ever moved to the other side of the street when they saw me running, no matter what the hour was. No one has ever thought I would reduce their property values when I moved into their neighborhood. No one has ever thought I had an evil religion, or said that I should be profiled at airports, or anywhere else. No one has ever said that the marriage between my wife and I should not be recognized by the state. No one has ever said that I should not be able to adopt or am an unfit parent because I am a white heterosexual male. Should I go on?

No you're just accused of raping cultures, demeaning, oppressing and enslaving people of color and women. You're accused of being a self entitled SOB who thinks that you own the world.


As to your post

I have never been accused to bringing crime to neighborhoods. -- No, you've been accused of creating ghettos and denying those people opportunity, or you've been accused of moving in and driving up costs that are unsustainable for people of color.

I run over a thousand miles a year, no on has ever moved to the other side of the street when they saw me running, no matter what the hour was. Dude, we've seen a pic of you, you're like 130 soaking wet. :lol:

No one has ever thought I would reduce their property values when I moved into their neighborhood. Correct, people say, damn, here comes the neighborhood. gentrifying SOBs

No one has ever thought I had an evil religion, or said that I should be profiled at airports, or anywhere else Are you religious? If so which one, I guarantee someone is itching to burn a heretic.

No one has ever said that the marriage between my wife and I should not be recognized by the state. Well, except libertarians who don't think the State should be in the marrying business, but that's because neither here nor there. Playing house does not a marriage make.

No one has ever said that I should not be able to adopt or am an unfit parent because I am a white heterosexual male Unless you've used drugs, shown a pattern of abuse, or are a bat**** crazy liberal...