American hedonism closes its eyes to death, and has been
incapable of exorcising the destructive power of the moment
with a wisdom like that of the Epicureans of antiquity.

- Octavio Paz
Death is un-American, and an affront to every citizen's inalienable
right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

- Arnold Toynbee
the_band_huge
the_band_huge
"As long as such self-serving hypocrisy
motivates America's response, Ukraine will
only sink further into needless bloodshed,
and that blood will be on America's head."
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
the_band_huge
In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors,
since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors,
for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal
applies only upwards, not downwards.

― Bertrand Russell
Global Coke
Global Coke
"What those 'racists' are reflexively and rightly reacting
to is the soulless chill as the fire goes out beneath the
melting pot. Those who think America can thrive as a
'cultural mosaic' are worse than fools; they're Canadians."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Global Coke
Two centuries ago, a former European colony decided to catch up with Europe.
It succeeded so well that the United States of America became a monster,
in which the taints, the sickness and the inhumanity of Europe
have grown to appalling dimensions.

― Frantz Fanon
What the United States does best is understand itself.
What it does worst is understand others.

- Carlos Fuentes
Poor Mexico, so far from God
and so close to the United States.

- Porfirio Diaz
the_band_huge
the_band_huge
"Indeed, everything about the American southland was magical
and exotic to the young Canadian musicians, from the sights
and smells to the drawling manner of speech to, especially, the
central role that music played in people’s everyday lives."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
the_band_huge
America is a mistake, a giant mistake.
- Sigmund Freud
America is an adorable woman chewing tobacco.
- Auguste Bartholdi
chimerica
chimerica
"This is the tone of the China Century, a subtle
mix of Nazi/Soviet bravado and 'oriental'
cunning -- easily misunderstood, and
never
heard before, in a real enemy, by the West."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
chimerica
Coke and 'America the Beautiful'
Coke and 'America the Beautiful'
"And for the others who argued for English-only
patriotism, I note that there are more than
57 million Americans (about 20% of the nation)
whose first-language is not English...."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
Coke and 'America the Beautiful'
predator-firing-missile4
predator-firing-missile4
"This is the behavior, and the fate, of paranoid
old-world tyrants like Hitler or Saddam, not liberal new-world democracies like America pretends to be."

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
predator-firing-missile4
America is the only nation in history which
miraculously has gone directly from barbarism to
degeneration without the usual interval of civilization.

- Georges Clemenceau
I found there a country with thirty-two religions and only one sauce.
- Charles–Maurice Talleyrand
A people who are still, as it were, but in the gristle,
and not yet hardened into the bone of manhood.

- Edmund Burke
America is the only country ever founded on the printed word.
- Marshall McLuhan
"The removal of racist sports nicknames (and mascots) seems outrageously belated
-- why, exactly, has this civil rights cause
taken so long to gain momentum?"

JOIN THE DISCUSSION
The atom bomb is a paper tiger which the
United States reactionaries use to scare people.
It looks terrible, but in fact it isn't.

- Mao Tse-tung
They made us many promises, more than I can remember, but
they kept only one; they promised to take our land, and they did.

- Red Cloud
In America sex is an obsession,
in other parts of the world it is a fact.

- Marlene Dietrich
I would rather have a nod from an American,
than a snuff-box from an emperor.

- Lord Byron
One day the United States discovered it was an empire.
But it didn’t know what an empire was.
It thought that an empire was merely the biggest of all corporations.

- Roberto Calasso
Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather
be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.

- Alexis de Tocqueville
newtown
newtown
"No one, I thought, could watch those scenes, of young children slaughtered en masse, and so many parents grieving, without thinking that this, finally, would tip some kind of balance in the country."
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
newtown
If you are prepared to accept the consequences of your dreams
then you must still regard America today with the same naive
enthusiasm as the generations that discovered the New World.

- Jean Baudrillard
I am willing to love all mankind, except an American.
- Samuel Johnson
America, thou half brother of the world;
With something good and bad of every land.

- Philip Bailey
"What can be more powerful than disinformation in the Information Age?"
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
England and America are two countries separated by the same language.
- Sir Walter Besant
Christopher Columbus, as everyone knows, is honored by
posterity because he was the last to discover America.

- James Joyce
Now, from America, empty indifferent things
are pouring across, sham things, dummy life.

- Rainer Maria Rilke
If the United States is to recover fortitude and lucidity,
it must recover itself, and to recover itself it must
recover the "others"- the outcasts of the Western world.
- Octavio Paz
The youth of America is their oldest tradition.
It has been going on now for three hundred years.

- Oscar Wilde
"America really is, for most Americans, all things considered, a good place to be, and all they really want is for everyone to enjoy the same privilege and pleasure."
JOIN THE DISCUSSION
When good Americans die they go to Paris;
when bad Americans die they go to America.

- Oscar Wilde
jobs drug dealer
jobs drug dealer
They're nothing more than traffickers; and as the smart traffickers'll tell you, you don't use the merchandise. They are just inoculating their kids with a tech-drug serum, to immunize them against the very merchandise that put the **** bowling alley in their basement.
jobs drug dealer
America is therefore the land of the future, where, in the ages that
lie before us, the burden of the World's History shall reveal itself.

- Georg Friedrich Hegel
America is a large, friendly dog in a very small room.
Every time it wags its tail, it knocks over a chair.

- Arnold Toynbee
Americans always try to do the right thing after they've tried everything else.
- Winston Churchill
The thing that impresses me most about Americans
is the way parents obey their children.

- Edward, Duke of Windsor
Americans are apt to be unduly interested in discovering
what average opinion believes average opinion to be.

- John Maynard Keynes
Europe was created by history.
America was created by philosophy.

- Margaret Thatcher
America is God's crucible, the great Melting-Pot where all the races of
Europe are melting and reforming!... The real American has not yet arrived.
He is only in the crucible, I tell you - he will be the fusion of all races.

- Israel Zangwill
American dreams are strongest in the hearts of those
who have seen America only in their dreams.

- Pico Iyer
America: It's like Britain, only with buttons.
- Ringo Starr
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer.
It has never yet melted.

― D.H. Lawrence
I have two conflicting visions of America.
One is a kind of dream landscape and the other is a kind of black comedy.

― Bono
The American mirror, said the voice, the sad American mirror
of wealth and poverty and constant useless metamorphosis,
the mirror that sails and whose sails are pain.

― Roberto Bolaño

April 17, 2024

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Author Topic: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration


Aerlyn
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Posts: 3
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Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: February 6, 2017, 02:11

Globalization includes the worldwide movement of people. Whether temporary or permanent, this global movement of citizens consists of countless stories and complexities which are the topic of a good percentage of global literature. Countries, and people arranged in unforgiving hierarchies, some poised to surge ahead while other groups will be forced behind.

All passports or rights associated with birth nationalities are not created equally.

If one’s birthright allows for extensive, visa-free global travel, it is easy to forget that this is not a right granted to many of the earth’s citizens. Cultural arrogance, as a result of many historical advantages, has often left a path of quiet suffering in its wake. Borders relentlessly rip families apart. This frequent wrenching of family ties is all too often the human story of globalization and is the topic of considerable global discussion. The current turmoil is related to the American executive order on immigration.

One of the countries caught in this ban(or attempted ban) is Iraq. Despite America’s agreement to share diplomatic and security ties, the American reliance on Iraqi forces in current conflicts, and 5000 American troops in Iraq, America has suspended traveling rights for Iraqis. Gordon and Schmitt's recent New York Times article, "Trump’s Immigration Order Jolts Iraqis, U.S.’s Top Allies Against ISIS. " outlines some of the issues with this nationalized othering. This decision ignores the American need for air bases in the Middle East, cultural expertise, and previous agreements. Cultural arrogance has left Iraqis stranded and maligned because of their nation of origin. This version of nationality has been repeated throughout history, damaging relationships and crushing the personal realities that fall on the wrong side of invisible barriers.



Aerlyn
New Member
Posts: 3
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Re: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: February 8, 2017, 13:34

[url][/url]https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/29/us/politics/donald-trump-immigration-order-iraq.html



DrReginaPh-
alange
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Posts: 4
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Re: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: February 12, 2017, 20:45

I think this is a very important point to be making. I think that it's due time most of the world came to realize that cultural diversity is one of the fastest growing qualities all around the globe, especially in North-America. We've essentially come to a stand-still in this age of international relations and policies in which we have a choice to welcome a sort of mass-migration which will bring with it diverse societies made up of differing cultures and practices. I think the act of putting up these metaphorical (and literal) walls of fear to seclude those living in America is not only detrimental to the idea of human rights but also to the general pursuit of knowledge and higher learning. I'm essentially drawing on points made from a columnist named Peter Marina and you can read his full article here http://lacrossetribune.com/news/opinion/editorial/columnists/peter-marina-diversity-makes-us-better/article_936ccc0f-a293-5b3f-af4f-4d6155393b66.html

It's a simple point he's trying to make and that's that diversity makes the community and country that welcome's it far better off than a nation that sticks to one way of looking at things.

He makes note of doctors who fail to diagnose patients due to lack of knowledge about certain medical explanations based on ethnic background. He also goes on to mention how white police officers might feel like they are perceived as racist if made to patrol a community that is home to a higher percentage of black citizens.

Essentially all of these misconceptions are detrimental to the fate of a country. As a student I think this forward thinking and embracing of cultural diversity is especially important. Taking a class in Indigenous studies should not mean that I should be met with criticism for not being of Native descent, nor does taking a Women's Studies class mean that I necessarily HAVE to be a woman. Instead we should all welcome this diversity in which we can all learn from one another and create for ourselves the knowledge and the tools to better our surroundings.



rodrica
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Re: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: March 3, 2017, 16:03

An important point is made here when talking about cultural arrogance. Often people look to America as a place that is full of arrogance and now it is being seen globally as the white house bans certain countries. This ban puts into question if this act is going to backfire and be seen as an act of war. Globalization can have many benefits and for one of those benefits is creating allies and not enemies. By banning these countries is cutting ties and putting down globalization. No matter what globalization grows within the economy and socially. By going against globalization and banning countries creates an issue that our modern world of today has a difficult time dealing with. Some may be against globalization where a large amount can see the benefits that it can provide. America is being viewed as an arrogant place that believe they can stand on their own without the diversity that already exists within America.



Sarah Tax
Novice Their American
Posts: 8
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Re: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: March 10, 2017, 15:01

I agree with my classmates who believe that, as the article suggests, cultural arrogance is a growing problem within today's society and i also think that this is an theme that is represented in many of the texts that we have studied this semester, most notably Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Achebe's Things Fall Apart.
We as a society in North America are very reliant on our global ties for economical and trade purposes but also as allies in fighting greater global causes, and thus it would make sense for us to endorse rather then to reject globalist attitudes. This idea, like so much of what we have been discussing this semester seems especially relevant because of the Trump situation and the current relationships that the U.S has with other countries around the world. Trump commits cultural arrogance frequently, most notably with his travel ban blocking people primarily of Muslim origin from entering the U.S.
As I mentioned above, cultural arrogance is depicted through Conrad and Achebe's works as they both depict the forced European colonization of Africa, an endeavor that had extensive and prolonged negative effects on non-European countries as they essentially took all they could form these countries (in the form of goods and resources) and then left them with nothing in exchange.
I think that it is clear through the article as well as the novels we have studied and through the examples of my fellow classmates that cultural ignorance has only negative effects, which makes me question where we are headed as it is a problem that seems to be repeated within society over and over again.



megannduff-
ett
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Re: Cultural Arrogance and Immigration
on: March 29, 2017, 19:29

The idea of cultural arrogance is kind of considered an open secret, many of us are aware of the issue but no one really wants to talk about it. I think that now the travel ban has been discussed more often due to Trump's order, which heavily focuses on cultural arrogance. Banning such countries can put globalization on hold, thus also giving the United States the negative connotation that many of us already think. In order to support this argument, Achebe's essay An Image of Africa called out Conrad and his cultural arrogance when it comes to African Culture, as Achebe believes that Conrad had poorly depicted Africans and African culture. All in all, cultural arrogance has no positive benefits. This affects the economy on a global scale for example, but this issue puts everything in regards to globalization on hold. Many of the texts that were discussed in class also deal with this issue, this topic can really be discussed openly without mention of literature. This idea can also make or break relationships between countries, and possibly ruin America. It is evident that there is still a long way to go in regards to diversity, multiculturalism and many other things, but we should be working on moving forward instead of going backwards.

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