BET channel seeking favors based on race

[forrestkc]

I don't want to hijack this thread. So, I'll stop with this post. We'll never see eye-to-eye on this issue, besides I am having too much fun on the Lying thread. You will poo poo these articles I am sure, but for the sake of lurkers, I put them up.

Diversity and Multiculturalism: The New Racism

Multiculturalism's War on Education

How Multiculturalism Took Over America

Multicultural policies in Europe have largely failed...

The Failures of Multiculturalism

Marnie, I don't some bigoted OP-Ed columnist to do my thinking for me on this. I know it. I live it. I know it works. Can things be taken to the extreme, sure. Sure, we can go overboard promoting diversity in schools and be overly sensitive. That is not what is being argued here though. Basically, the argument has been by some that you should assimilate and conform to be an American. Thats absurd and offensive.

[forrestkc]

It is no more offensive than your claims that we should act in a particular manner. If I am saying everyone should act white, then what you are saying is that everyone from African descent should act black. Everyone from Chinese descent should act Chinese, and you even give a real life example of how you are raising your adopted child. Everyone who is of Indian descent should act Indian. Everyone of Mexican descent should act Mexican. Even if you want to come up with some self-righteous attitude and claim I am biggoted, or that my friend Marnie is biggoted, you are every bit as much a biggot when you claim there is a way to "act black, Asian, Mexican," etc. I don't believe that each person has to act a particular way, you do. I am saying if they want to be Mexican, they should stay in Mexico, not change. If they want to be African, let them stay in Africa, not change.

That is not what I am saying. I am saying that if you move here from India, you don't have to throw your entire culture and history away to be an American. They don't have to conform to what you think is an American, basically someone that acts white, to be every bit as much of an American as you or I are. Its up to them, not you.

Let me make this personal for a moment. I am an American, and part of the American culture. Let's say that for some reason I desire to immigrate to Russia. If I love the American way of life, and my English language, and have no desire to change to be a Russian, why would I move there? I wouldn't. If I needed to for economic reasons, then the Russian government should require me to learn to speak their language, and be part of their culture. I should never be allowed to become a Russian citizen unless I am 100 percent committed to being a Russian, not an American Russian. The same thing would be the case with any other country. If I wanted to move to Italy, I should be expected to become part of their culture, not half American and half Italian.

If you moved to another country, you should learn the local language and develop relationships with the native residents of that country. Thats for your benefit more than anything else as being able to communicate and making connections helps you succeed there. You should also respect their local culture and customs. However, if you move to Russia you don't have to renounce everything that is American either. You don't have to just up and join the Russian Orthodox Church, never speak a word of English, and spend the rest of your days eating beets. In fact, if you tried to be a native Russian like you had grown up there, they would probably think there was something wrong with this American trying to fake a Russian Accent and going about acting as though he was born and raised there.

[mathqueen]

So in your opinion, if you come here from China, you need to "act Chinese?" I don't agree with a single thing in your post. If I was ever so inclined to adopt a child from another nation like China for the sake of argument, I would raise them 100 percent American, with zero ties to China. He or she would have an American name. If it was a boy, probably John, as it was my Father's name and my Grandfather's name as well. If I thought it was in the best interest of a child to remain part of the culture they were born into, I wouldn't adopt them in the first place. And no, I wouldn't have to change their hair color or make them look like a white European. By simply bringing them up in a household that is 100 percent American, and teaching them nothing about their former country, they would automatically be American. I am not saying keep information back from them, but I am saying they would be brought up with this nation's culture, not a Chinese one, or the culture of any other nation for that matter.

If I live to be 100, I will never understand the mindset of liberals!

Those are some of the most horrible statements I have ever seen. I am actually in shock, I don't even know what to say or how to respond to what you said here.

[mathqueen]

I am bothered by those who desire to remain of the culture where they came from, and the very idea that if we adopt a child from another nation, we should keep them part of the culture they left is idiotic in my book.

Do you actually hear yourself?

[Marnie]

I am bothered by those who desire to remain of the culture where they came from, and the very idea that if we adopt a child from another nation, we should keep them part of the culture they left is idiotic in my book.

Do you actually hear yourself?

I heard him and I agree, although I wouldn't necessarily use the word "idiotic." I am reminded of a family in the last church I was in; like forrest, they adopted a baby from another country, but not China, he was from Russia. Now, their last name is O'Donnell, a good Irish name, right? The Russian baby's name was almost unpronounceable, and I can't begin to spell it. So what they did was give him typical name, Charles, but kept his given name as well. So it was Charles _________ O'Donnell. Their reasoning? They didn't want him to grow up to be the butt of racial and ethnic jokes. For all the PC indoctrination kids get in public school, kids are still kids and they can be cruel. Why give them the additional burden of being the target of insensitive comments?

I can tell you from first hand experience that while I don't look like I have Hebraic roots, when the kids found out, I was teased mercilessly by some. But, given my temperament, I gave it right back to them. Not all kids have my temperament, though, and that kind of bullying can really scar a child. In Utopia, we'll all be treated the same regardless of color or name or creed. But for now, it's not like that and all the social engineering in the world won't change human nature, as Jeremiah so pointedly wrote.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. Jer. 13:23

[forrestkc]

I heard him and I agree, although I wouldn't necessarily use the word "idiotic." I am reminded of a family in the last church I was in; like forrest, they adopted a baby from another country, but not China, he was from Russia. Now, their last name is O'Donnell, a good Irish name, right? The Russian baby's name was almost unpronounceable, and I can't begin to spell it. So what they did was give him typical name, Charles, but kept his given name as well. So it was Charles _________ O'Donnell. Their reasoning? They didn't want him to grow up to be the butt of racial and ethnic jokes. For all the PC indoctrination kids get in public school, kids are still kids and they can be cruel. Why give them the additional burden of being the target of insensitive comments?

Whether or not you give a foreign adopted Child an American name or not is one thing. Some names, especially those in Asian nations, do not sound good at all in English and thus its perfectly appropriate to give them a western name. For example, if you adopted a Chinese girl whose name was Yu Fu King, you probably would not want to keep their name. Of course a lot of that also has to do with how old they are when you adopt them. Changing the name of infant is one thing. Changing the name of a 10 year old is another.

Just the same, that is not what was being discussed in the thread. What was being discussed was not teaching them anything about the culture and history of the nation and people they came from in an effort to make sure they were "automatically American". For one, if perspective parents told the social worker that was their intentions during the home study interviews, they would never be approved for the adoption. The reason for that is not because there is some big liberal agenda in the foreign adoption approval process, but rather back in the 60s and 70s when Americans adopted Korean children and raised them without teaching them anything about their culture and their country of origins history many of those kids grew up with a lot of psychological problems because of it. Conservatives tend to always talk about the nature of man as though its a constant and cannot be improved, well it would seem that it is the nature of man to want to have ties to their culture and history and to try to stifle that is unhealthy.

More to the point though, what does America mean to you guys? What is American food, music, and culture if it is not a melting pot of immigrant cultures. Multiculturalism is a defining quality of American Culture. Its who we are. Also, what is an American name?

[mathqueen]

I just feel so sad that you see nothing wrong with NOT bringing them up in a household inclusive of their culture. Apparently we will not see eye to eye on this at all.

[peaches]

[mathqueen]

peaches