Re: Fair point Gus; but the burden of adaptation lies upon the immigrant not the host nation.
Wrong --and a rather dangerous (self-)delusion for the "host nation" to expect that it's only up to newcomers to fit in.... It's a delusion because it basically posits host societies/nations as immutable, timeless polities made up of permanent, unchanging constituencies. If it were true then the current European building process would make no sense and Germans, Frenchmen, Britons, Italians,... would still be at war with each other like their parents, grandparents and forefathers had been in the past... as far back as the Middle Ages. Granted, cultural differences between Europe's member countries are not as huge as with other, (North-)African or Turkish cultures, yet they were deemed big enough for narrow-minded, jingoistic Europeans to fight and kill each other up until 1945.... 1930s Britons used to be as Germanophobic as today's Brits are Islamophobic. After all, that's why the UK ruling dynasty changed its name (soon after WWI) from Sax-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor --a much more English-sounding cognomen, isn't it?
And what of the Jews? It's precisely because most Europeans --and, to an extent, Americans as well-- shared your rationale that, as perceived outsiders, the Jews were persecuted because of their stubbornness to keep to themselves, especially to their faith....
Gus |
