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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (53072)	7/16/2002 5:10:12 PM
From: Original Mad Dog	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

Obviously we should apply some basic moral standards on the traditions which are assimilated. I am not advocating that newcomers be allowed to burn crosses or engage in ritual sacrifice of cats and lawyers (well, maybe lawyers). Your comment about Australia only serves to prove my point. Australia was largely settled by the British (as a penal colony for a long time). It has a distinct culture which is not defined in large part as a place where immigrants from various ethnicities and backgrounds went to forge a better life. The vast majority of Australians trace their roots to the UK, though in more recent times there have been some Asian and other immigrants. Americans came here (except for the slaves) from all over the globe in search of a better life. The proportion from one part of the globe versus another has varied over time, but I think that history and tradition requires that more flexibility be accorded newcomers. It doesn't mean that we have to embrace or tolerate skinheads or cat torturers, but maybe it does mean that it is a good idea to permit other religious and cultural roots to be expressed without imposing the "dominant" or "majority" religious or cultural practices. I am not insisting that "we" adapt to "their" practices, but rather that "we" are better off and a better place IMO by being tolerant of "their" practices rather than reflexively imposing "ours" on "them." I prefer that America become a place where the "we" and "they" are really "us", followers of a belief in the American economic and political system. Religion ought to have nothing to do with that. I live on a street with two Korean families, one Pakistani Muslim family, a Chinese family, about half a dozen Jewish families, and maybe 15 families who are Caucasian (ancestors from seven or eight different European countries) and some version of Christian (many non-practicing). Every kid on the block goes to the same public schools. In December different lights and decorations denoting different holidays are put up as the snow begins to fall. A few families choose to put up no decorations, and that's fine with everybody too. Every kid on the block and most of the parents are American citizens. I like living in a country like that, and I think we lose that when our schools and government institutions start telling me and my neighbors that the "proper" way to behave is to celebrate traditions that derive from only a portion of the rich heritages of the people who chose to come here to live.