tejek,
Some of America's bias comes from foreigners not integrating into the American culture mostly in terms of language. We kind of expect signs to be in english and conversations to be in english. We also have this twisted notion that foreigners come here to escape from something to a "better life" - not to setup a little piece of home in our collective backyards. If new arrivals wanted to be home then they should have stayed home, has been a popular notion.
As for being poor, most of the foreigners I meet are either H1B visa engineers or Mexican laborers doing yard work around town or on some friends farms. Here they are poor by comparison, but in Mexico they have families and good homes and never intend to stay. My mother owns a travel agency and sells them tickets all the time so they can visit even during the periods they are working state side. They are not poor, they just choose to live ten to an apartment because they are saving money as diligently as they can, every penny/peso they can take home is for their families.
The engineers by contrast many times envision bringing their families to the states.
I lived in South Korea for eight years, you hear all about the world through another cultures eyes in that time. In addition to what the Koreans report about their neighbors the Chinese and the Japanese. You'd be surprised how closed minded those cultures truely can be and "xenophobic" they really are. You know Korea didn't earn the nick name the hermit kingdom because they had open trade and a love for diversity or open immigration policies.
Try to go Korea and apply for citizenship?
Apply that rule to a few other places, it's a pretty eye opening test.
I did not say America has no xenophobic tendancies, I claim that they have less than most and especially so compared to "clean" asian societies.
Do you have any idea how many generations of mixing are required in Japan before a Korean can be called Japanese?
My wife gave birth to our children in Okinawa, we had to register with Japanese immigration, I had to show my passport. When they learned she was Korean, she had to fill out a pile of paper work which for some odd reason wanted to know the high school she attended. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was blatant racism and harassment.
That said, having and living in a society with a common history, language and culture can be quite comforting to have such deep roots to draw strength from. But it can also act as a set of mental handcuffs. |
