The Two Faces of Maj. Hasan

[Danno 1,228]

Danno, you don't even know the history of your own country. The USA is the sum of its parts, it is not nor has it ever been this mono cultural fairy tale that you are mourning.

somehow there's a bunch of people who believe that fairy tale called Americana.. and I don't know where they get that from.. Americana has never existed, that homogeneity of yesteryear is just a mirage for people who maybe don't wanna see other 'tribes' into their country, because they are 'too different'...

if his story were true, then there wouldn't be chinatowns, little italies, deli restaurants in NY, or even staple american things, as bourbon, or the 'american' apple pie..

diversity is too much of a threat for some people I suppose.. and not being homogenized fast enough, just fuels the xenophobic mentalities (short sighted mentalities I should add) established by a paranoid former administration

I knew you'd take the bait on that one.

China town and Little Italy.... those were Novelties in a few cities, Immigration had so dried up after the turn of the century that there were not enough "Chinamen" living who had ever Been in China.

You really need to look at Immigration numbers .. up until the 60's I guess.

Anyway, China Town is not a Novelty one visits on a trip to New York any more.

These Mini clusters of ethnic grouping are everywhere now, even in the Dumpiest back-water town.

Nice try at pretending "Same ole-Same Ole".

[Danno 1,228]

Danno, you don't even know the history of your own country. The USA is the sum of its parts, it is not nor has it ever been this mono cultural fairy tale that you are mourning.

MC get real, your limited exposure in life leaves you qualified to talk about just the basic back home.... Don't get in where the waters too deep for you, it becomes painfully obvious to all.

[nowhereman 1]

Hasan was definitely conflicted & obviously he ultimately chose the wrong path by killing 13 innocent people & wounding many more. However we have to strike the balance between being vigilant concerning radical Islam & protecting the rights of peaceful, law-abiding Muslims. Not an easy thing to do but it should be the goal IMO.

I'm sure most might agree with that but this piece was more about a country (ours) which seems to be cultivating groups which naturally hold higher loyalty to other principles or home lands.

And from the looks of things they are coming so fast... there is very little assimilation going on for many.

Well the danger there is a situation like we had in the 50's with McCarthyism & communists... fear & ignorance of the unknown can very easily & quickly turn into a witch hunt. Again we need to strike a balance between being proactive to prevent similar incidents in the future & protecting the rights of law abiding Muslims. Its a tight rope act for sure & there is little margin for error.

[pedroh 21]

Danno, you don't even know the history of your own country. The USA is the sum of its parts, it is not nor has it ever been this mono cultural fairy tale that you are mourning.

somehow there's a bunch of people who believe that fairy tale called Americana.. and I don't know where they get that from.. Americana has never existed, that homogeneity of yesteryear is just a mirage for people who maybe don't wanna see other 'tribes' into their country, because they are 'too different'...

if his story were true, then there wouldn't be chinatowns, little italies, deli restaurants in NY, or even staple american things, as bourbon, or the 'american' apple pie..

diversity is too much of a threat for some people I suppose.. and not being homogenized fast enough, just fuels the xenophobic mentalities (short sighted mentalities I should add) established by a paranoid former administration

I knew you'd take the bait on that one.

China town and Little Italy.... those were Novelties in a few cities, Immigration had so dried up after the turn of the century that there were not enough "Chinamen" living who had ever Been in China.

You really need to look at Immigration numbers .. up until the 60's I guess.

Anyway, China Town is not a Novelty one visits on a trip to New York any more.

These Mini clusters of ethnic grouping are everywhere now, even in the Dumpiest back-water town.

Nice try at pretending "Same ole-Same Ole".

exactly.. those mini clusters have always been everywhere, since long time ago.. homogeneity and that 'integration' has really never existed..

[alienlovechild 75]

somehow there's a bunch of people who believe that fairy tale called Americana.. and I don't know where they get that from.. Americana has never existed, that homogeneity of yesteryear is just a mirage for people who maybe don't wanna see other 'tribes' into their country, because they are 'too different'...

I thought you talking about Mexico there for moment. You came from a nation that historically was more homogenous and more restrictive in immigration policy but thanks for the lecture anyway. You may not believe this but I do take some pride in living in country where anyone coming here can freely make a case that they know more about this country than the natives. I don't think there are too many countries where I wouldn't have local people laughing their butts off if I did the same thing.

[AlHayatZween 2]

My wife relays all the negative stuff that gets talked about at every ESL class, no one including (or especially) the Teacher from Africa, cares anything about this country except what they can get from it.

The teacher talks all this ####### about the USA, most often giving false information to the students.

If this is really the case, that makes me angry and sad. You would think that people would appreciate the rights they are afforded in this country, especially if they didn't have them before coming here.

Of course there are plenty of people born right here in the US who don't appreciate the rights they have.

This might be the case in D's wife's class, but it is not the case in all ESL classes. For example, my husband came back from ESL class on Thursday talking about Patrick Henry and the Declaration of Independence... He knew more about it than most American high school students.

It is troubling when all immigrants and all immigrant services are painted with the same brush... There are A LOT of good people out there and A LOT of people doing the right thing.

D, this is off topic, but if her class is really that bad, why not enroll her in a different one?

[Danno 1,228]

My wife relays all the negative stuff that gets talked about at every ESL class, no one including (or especially) the Teacher from Africa, cares anything about this country except what they can get from it.

The teacher talks all this ####### about the USA, most often giving false information to the students.

If this is really the case, that makes me angry and sad. You would think that people would appreciate the rights they are afforded in this country, especially if they didn't have them before coming here.

Of course there are plenty of people born right here in the US who don't appreciate the rights they have.

This might be the case in D's wife's class, but it is not the case in all ESL classes. For example, my husband came back from ESL class on Thursday talking about Patrick Henry and the Declaration of Independence... He knew more about it than most American high school students.

It is troubling when all immigrants and all immigrant services are painted with the same brush... There are A LOT of good people out there and A LOT of people doing the right thing.

D, this is off topic, but if her class is really that bad, why not enroll her in a different one?

Let me clarify a few points.

-I only spoke of my wifes ESL class and never suggested it was typical, I would have assumed most of these classes were lead by Americans in the first place but in my wifes case this it is lead by and African.

-In this article or conversation, the point is not that foreigners are good nor bad but that they simply have loyalty to other countries and often other ideals, it doesn't mean they are bad ... it just doesn;t make for good citizenship in many regards.

-My wife is actually doing two ESl classes, one in the actual classroom the other, an online Rosetta Stone Course, the later is the one she feels she gets the most progress from and the anti-american classroom course is not really a problem for her, she is just amazed at the conversation that goes on, trust me if the content of the class was "really" troubling, the action taken would not be to change class... but to confront the school.

As is more in keeping with my style, I would rather confront the teacher,.... in class as he is making loony claims..... and see how well he responds to someone who actually knows something about this country.

Again, it's not about foreign people being bad, it is about the USA becoming a country in which it's people will no longer share a common purpose, a common language or common national interest.

Our country was founded on the experiment of "self government" we are now branching out into experimenting with "a nations divided" i'm not so sure we can pull that off in the long run.