On Apr 17, 2006, at 11:54 AM, ravi wrote:
>
> Marta,
>
> your reasoning, and your choice of words, are disturbing. For
> instance,
> why the gratuitous addition of "non-English speaking"? And your
> reference even to legal immigrants? Are you of the opinion that
> they too
> should be dealt with in some way? And as for your reasoning, it seems
> immediately obvious to me that it can be recursively applied to
> disabled
> people and further on to other groups.
>
> The issue should not be the consequences of an overburdened system but
> the causes of it. If, as Doug has pointed out, immigrants have a
> net +ve
> contribution to national wealth, then they are helping solve the
> problem, not worsen it (note also that the negation does not
> necessarily
> hold). We have to look farther than the scapegoat to find the real
> causes.
>
> Perhaps I am reading your opinion improperly, having entered the
> conversation midway?
>
> --ravi
>
>
> P.S: I see no differentiation between legal or illegal immigrants,
> myself. I mention it above since those to the right of me, in this
> case,
> it seems Marta, often do.
> ___________________________________
There is a distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. One group has gone through the process to become a citizen. If you don't recognize that distinction, then how can you recognize citizenship? How do you organize a government?
Citizenship implies just that, a person is recognized by the state to certain obligations and benefits of being a citizen. There is such a thing as a system becoming overburdened just like there is such a thing as the world population becoming too large. A friend of mine who attends Monthly Review meetings has worked extensively on the overpopulation issue and has concluded that life is sustainable at 10 adults per child. We do not live on an infinite planet where human beings can occupy every parcel of land. Nature cannot bear it. It is self-annihilating.
As for my use of the phrase "non English speaking" that is perhaps my personal reaction to the fact that I have watched my neighborhood become dominated by Persians speaking Farsi and perhaps other dialects in preference to English and by Russians who also speak Russian rather than integrate themselves into the English language. My neighbor who speaks some English is raising her son in a Russian nursery school where no English is spoken. She works in a doctor's office where there is a Russian clientele and they do not use English. While many of you may disagree with my discomfort at this change, I have watched my neighborhood become absorbed by a different culture which I find uninviting and alienating. I simply cannot communicate with people who only speak Farsi or Russian. It has totally changed the character of things here. I don't like it. That is my personal feeling and I am entitled to it. I like the feeling of being in a neighborhood where people can know each other because they share a means of communication. It is not xenophobia it is my preference that people who come here learn to speak the English language.
Yes, and of course there are immigrants who are also disabled.
Marta