Tuesday, December 05, 2006

An Immigrant’s Observations

The following letter came from one our donors. This anonymous Eastern European-American has lived in the U.S. long enough to have some salient observations about our system, including the way she was let into the country — i.e., she was “in-sourced” to work cheaply as a researcher at an American university, at a rate of pay much lower than the university in question would have had to pay an American researcher.

Higher education in this country often critiques Big Business — and is most unkind about it, unless their work is being funded by BB. The mandarins who populate the tenured faculties of these mega corporations large universities complain about the plight of Mexican immigrants in our country… while at the same time they have no compunction about exploiting their own graduate students for research and teaching. And the difference in the pay scale between the president of one of these places and the lowliest of employees is a good example of the gap between academia’s rhetoric and its reality.

(Sorry for the digression — my friend’s plight angered me. I knew they cheated grad students and medical residents here, but I had no idea that they imported slavies, too)

NOTE Normally, I don’t ask for comments on posts. I figure people will leave their impressions or not, as the mood — or spirit — moves them. But here, for Paula, I would ask that you give her some feedback. She is a citizen now, but will always be a “foreigner” — not something she or we can help. This is an advantage for us and a drawback for her: she sees us with fresh eyes, but she remains, always, a bit of an outsider and, at heart, a little homesick, I think.

I say this as the daughter of a foreigner; even though my mother was from the Anglosphere, she had her own problems with our American language and our rather brash ways. But she loved the USA and never took for granted her good fortune in being here. However, she was looking at us with a stranger’s eyes and that is simply how it is when you emigrate.

Up to now, strangers have made us strong. That may be changing as our sovereignty dissolves in the face of the imperial government which fails, daily, to protect us.

Please join with me in celebrating the presence of this naturalized citizen in our midst
.

[I have edited this letter to protect Paula’s identity. Not that she has anything to hide; it is simply a sense of precaution that arises out of the times we live in, and the very blue state in which she resides]

Hi Dymphna,

CitizensI still like the U.S. despite a lot of disappointments since I came here. Yes, I am the same as your mother; I, too, like to be free of “old” societal habits and traditions. On the other hand I have realized that those traditions are there to hold specific societies together. That is what makes a society with loyal people who trust each other. I miss it [the cohesion] here.

I came to the U.S. some years ago on an Exchange Visiting Scientist visa. What I didn’t realize till later, was that I was really a “cheap” replacement so they wouldn’t have to hire a more expensive American employee. All that time, I thought I was a “guest” on a scholarship.

I planned to work in the U.S for a year or two, look around, see the National Parks and go back home. But then in my second year here I met the man who was to become my husband and so I have stayed for good.

I didn’t like anything about the first town I live in, the one whose university hired me on the cheap. But I love it here in the Northwest. I have a lot of friends and a nice life. Because I emigrated from very cultured place I sometimes miss that rich cultural life. However, I got used to living in the woods and I am satisfied with my life here. My husband and I own a small, technical business. This requires further education for me, so I study through a long distance program.

Coming from a homogeneous society I really don’t like multiculturalism. I remember the beautiful, clean and orderly cities and countries of Europe. You could go everywhere. In Paris, I used to browse suburbs without fear. I worked in a Scandanavian country for a year in the mid-eighties and I walked alone in the evening, even when it was very late.

During that period I was liberal. I loved different people, different cultures — I hadn’t had any bad experiences with them. Later on I came to understand that all the cultures are stable within their own borders.

After the fall of Communism in 1989, I began traveling a lot in Europe; I could see the degradation of the cities, mainly Berlin, Amsterdam and Paris. Citizens of all the countries I visited complained about losing their pensions, about the healthcare system, and also about the mess and skyrocketing criminality, mainly in their cities. They were told that they are lazy. German officials blamed the mess on the fusion with East Germany.

Nobody told the truth, which was their social systems were being sucked dry by third world, uneducated , lazy, and hostile masses of people. These sullen immigrants scammed the system, wherever possible. These were not behaviors that native Europeans would ever think about doing. Remember my comment about mutual trust? It was like that.
- - - - - - - - - -
Immigrants in Europe get expensive surgeries for their extended family members. These relative come from their countries of origin just for medical care.

In Canada, it is the same. I visit there frequently. The immigrants — mostly Pakistanis and Indians, get things like hip replacements for several of their relatives, using one (usually stolen) health insurance card. A Canadian nurse told me that her healthcare card was charged three times for hysterectomies — a medical procedure she has never had. Is it any wonder that ordinary people have to wait so long for items like hip replacements? These are not prosthetics which can be manufactured in large numbers.

Talking about healthcare: the same is happening here. Mexicans are abusing the healthcare system wherever they can. People “borrow” others’ children in order to get into the healthcare system. A friend told me that he watched one child changing his clothes repeatedly and going back into the doctor’s office over and over again with different Mexican adults.

You can only imagine how much of this is going on. We are being lied to, just like the Europeans. We are being told that we are paying more for healthcare because of lawsuits. Those lawsuits may be some small part of it but the main problem is simple math: somebody has to pay for the twenty million illegal immigrants who are flooding in, not to mention the other several millions here legally — uneducated immigrants who don’t pay taxes because of their low income. They are all on tax-supported Medicaid.

I have been in the medical field the whole my life. When I hear the American press talk about failing socialized Canadian and European healthcare systems, I know this is not the truth. Our medical system is being overwhelmed, too, and for the same reasons. Obviously they do not tell the whole truth.

The media also point to how bad Europe has it with the immigrants. They obviously don’t go to California. If they did, they’d see the same thing.

We go to California/Mexifornia several times a year. The bathrooms everywhere have become trashy and unclean. Towns are deserted. Take Watsonville: it is a ghost town now. Before mass immigration it was a normal agricultural town with the usual businesses. They are all gone now and only empty buildings are left. The streets are filled with trash. The only people you ever see are Mexican. This is the real picture you see if you pay attention.

The same thing has happened to a small town to the south of us. Again, all the businesses are gone except for two or three Mexican restaurants. Meanwhile, our city is experiencing huge increases in robberies — mainly cars and property theft in burglaries, all due to the influx of immigrants. Here’s an interesting change: Sears and other department stores have placed only Spanish tags on their merchandise. It is increasingly hard for those who speak only English to get hired in such places.

America is being overrun by the third world folk the same way Europe is, but it seems to me that generally people still don’t see it. Are they in denial? In some ways it is worse here because not only are they changing the culture, driving people away, but they are also changing the language. That is not happening in Europe.

I am a member of a sports club here in my town and nearly every person in the group is from California. Once you get to know them they will tell you why they moved away: because the wave of illegals drove them out, because the increase in crime and mess made it unlivable. The mother of a friend of mine was killed by an illegal Mexican immigrant in southern California.

Something that is not mentioned either is the increase in infections, bedbugs, and dirt in nursing homes, hospitals, and hotels. A few years ago, when we traveled to California, we could find a modestly priced motel room that was clean. Now we have to pay double just to be able to have a room free of filth and bedbugs [Paula’s experience re bedbugs is being reflected across the country. The future Baron’s first year at college was nearly ruined by the infestation in his room and his subsequent severe allergic reaction to the bites. The college wouldn’t listen until it got so serious that the boys had to be moved to a hotel in order to de-infest their room. Unfortunately, he became so ill that his studies suffered and his grade point average never recovered. His roommate’s parents think the infestation came from a motel stay during summer vacation since their house became infested, too. For more information on bedbug problems in this country, just google ’em.]

I am proud of my European heritage and I think that Europeans have worked hard to get where we are now, whether they live in the U.S. or in the EU. Without our cultures there would be a much lower standard of living. Why is this something to be ashamed of?

Nobody has the right to live in a country they didn’t enter legally. Mexicans don’t have any right to be here if they are not going to learn the language and get an education. The same is true for the Muslims overrunning Europe.

Countries with a long history of their own European culture should be able to retain their customs. Of course I am not talking about several thousand immigrants per year who would become citizens and become a part of the culture. But as we know, that is not the case, and in these masses there is power. The more of them the more problems we will have and the more they will try to change our cultures rather than adapt to a new one.

We can cancel California as an English speaking state. And we will see what happens with other states like Oregon, Arizona, New Mexico, etc. As for Western Europe, there is nothing more to talk about. The only hope in Europe is the post-Communists countries, mostly in Eastern Europe. They will try to preserve their identity, but they may yet succumb to European Union pressure.

I apologize if I have written too much. But I though that you might be interested as you write a very honest Blog. What I have written I cannot obviously prove, even though almost everything is from my own experience. And with the interruption of your Blog, somebody has written that they have tried to block it. I couldn’t get to your new issues for as long as two to three months. It just got stuck on one date in June and wouldn’t go any further. [The Baron thinks this may be a problem with her ISP. Anyone else have suggestions to offer?]

Thank you for you Blog I really enjoy reading it.

Good Luck to you.

— A donor from the Northwest.

10 comments:

Don Miguel said...

"She is a citizen now, but will always be a “foreigner” — not something she or we can help."

I don't believe that's necessarily true in the U.S. I know a number of foreign-born Americans (including my wife) who are more American both in action and spirit than many native-born Americans. Unlike Europeans who tend to qualify people by birthplace and/or race, Americans are defined more by their beliefs. I never met a naturalized citizen in the years I lived in Europe who was accepted as a native (or even thought of himself or herself as one), while I’ve found the opposite to be more true than not in the U.S.

Jimmy Gatt said...

I think America is different from other countries due to our immigrant heritage. Because of this, I feel great pride when I meet foreigners who want to become Americans. Those who come here to become Americans and who love America are the Americans that fill me with pride. Close to where I live, there is a Vietnamese man, a naturalized American citizen, who spent his own money to build replicas of USA landmarks (the Liberty Bell, the Statue of Liberty, etc.) in front of his shopping center where he's made his living. The town has told him he has to remove those replicas because it's "against code". What a disgusting disgrace for the town to do such a thing! An individual who finds liberty and happiness here in America and loves America for it *IS* the very definition of an American, and I'm repulsed by myopic individuals who fail to see that. Being an American is being an individual, and I would venture to say that our writer from Eastern Europe is more of an American than any of the tenured University drones who hired her.

Thank you for your letter. Know that there are many Americans who are proud to consider you an American, for it is your spirit which embodies the very essence of being an American. You make me a better American just by being yourself, and I mean that most sincerely.

And it is a horrible shame what the third world is doing to our culture. There are so many of us in "The West" that are ashamed of our own culture that we feel that it's not worth defending. I don't feel that way about American or European culture, but the way I feel isn't going to change the situation. It's going to get worse before it gets better.

Georgia Kafir said...

My Austrian wife has been here for about 8 years and I am sure she can relate to Dymphna’s mother and Paula. My wife misses her culture, but she as really assimilated well here as most Europeans do. Last summer while visiting family in Vienna a hotel clerk told her that she spoke great German. It was at this point I think she realized she was more American than Austrian.

Paula is right. Traditions and a common culture are what hold a society and nation together. Unfortunately, traditional European and American identities are being whittled away, piece by piece, through open borders and the multiculturist policies of our governments. What’s the saying? “Let’s celebrate diversity!” What a joke.

Like Mommysaurus, I am somewhat frustrated about what to do. How can I make a difference? My co-workers and I sit around the office complaining to each other, but that really doesn’t help anything. Blogs like this are great and they do give us a voice, but unfortunately that voice falls on the deaf ears of our politicians.

Jimmy Gatt - That story about the Vietnamese guy made me sick to my stomach. I read about this a month or so ago. Did he ever fight it?

Anyway, welcome to America Paula. We are glad to have you!

Baron Bodissey said...

Georgia Kafir,

The best way to "do something" is to get involved in the 910 Group. We are a self-selected collection of like-minded people, a "network of networks". We are working together in fighting an information war against the Great Jihad, with members from all over the world.

Send an email to 910-subscribe@yahoogroups.com to receive information, and to be considered for membership and the Forum and the action groups.

For more information, see the 910 Group Blog.

mr_john_doe said...

I grew up in a rural farm town that has gone through the same changes as the California towns Paula mentions. When I was a kid (1970's/80's) the town was about 80/10/10 white/black/hispanic, and was mostly middle class. Lots of people point to the 1986 amnesty as the big change, but we really saw it after NAFTA. Most of the agricultural work was being done by the immigrants, and they drove off the competition. My best friend worked at a local grain elevator where the Mexican laborers threatened and abused the white and black workers until they all left. I heard the same stuff from other guys at the other ag businesses and even some regular "storefront" businesses. It was like a protection racket. The hospital there opened and closed several times throughout the 90's before closing for good. Lots of other businesses closed up. Now there are a convenience store, a few taquerias, a Mexican-style grocery, and a few mechanic shops. I finally moved to a major city a few years ago. So did lots of others. Census records say the town has shrunk almost 25% since 1990, but the school population is the same. However, a lot of the extracurricular stuff is gone and ESL and Spanish language classes are a big thing. A relative who lives nearby says the current grade school is now about 80%+ Spanish speaking. She has to drive 15 miles to a shop at a store with English speaking clerks.

So now I live in a major city in Texas. In the last 6-7 years entire neighborhoods and parts of suburbs have become Spanish only. The are some parts of town that are indistinguishable from Juarez or Monterey. The signs are Spanish and "gueros" can get in some deep trouble stopping anywhere there. But the immigration flood isn't just from down south. In 2001 I moved to a mostly white middle-class suburb. In 2002 a small Indian grocery store went in across from an apartment building a few blocks away. By this summer the entire area was overwhelmingly Indian/Pakistani. It is a huge demographic change in only 4 years. A friend moved to a similar suburb in 2002. His entire street (except his house) is now Spanish speaking. His neighbors are mostly from Guatemala and Honduras, and a few from Mexico. His family (and mine) are looking to move, but without 6 figure incomes it is hard to find a place where this won't happen again soon.

But the biggest problem is that you can't talk about it. Lot's of people would reflexively call my post (and me) racist because I talk about demographics and mention whites. But you can't discuss the scale of the problem without that! It's a catch 22. The only way to avoid being called a racist is to keep your mouth shut and pretend not to notice. (Not notice that swaths of this city are no longer English speaking? Not notice how many decent jobs require bilingualism now?) I have also seen lots of bloggers over the last few years talk about how lucky we are to have a 1st Amendment because we don't have hate speech laws and we can talk about these problems. They are wrong. We have it worse than the Europeans on this. You see, Texas is a right-to-work state. You can be fired for any reason. And most large employers (including mine) are VERY P.C. and becoming more so. One coworker was asked to go to a very dangerous third-world city for a month. He complained that it was dangerous and was told his concerns were "insensitive". He got the point. People have been fired for You may say "Get another job" but companies in right-to-work states have a way to ruin careers. It's called "eligible for rehire". If you apply for a job and the new employer calls your old company, the will only tell them is you are "eligible for rehire". If you are fired for an HR violation, then you probably aren't. And if you aren't, then you probably won't get another decent job. And then you can kiss the middle-class goodbye. Hope you like trailer park life. So we live under an Orwellian speech code enforced by private employers that is far more strict than what Europeans deal with, while some blogger who doesn't have to live this way brags about how great the first amendment is. Right. I really think that in 30 years we may look back on charges of racism the same way we look on 50's communism scares now.

eatyourbeans said...

Paula,

Am I correct that your native country was on the other side of the former Iron Curtain? I've noticed that many East Europeans don't use the definite article. It doesn't matter, welcome to the USA anyway. As for feeling foreign, you've doubtless noticed how many of us here feel that way too! We feel the America we knew sliding out from under us. I'm afraid, we'll have to either love it more or lose it. Our elites, on both sides of the aisle, have already made their choice.

Now, this is a big country; there's likely a part of it to suit everybody. My own preference is New England, though I don't have the pleasure of living there. In contrast, who knows why?, I dislike upper New York State, always have. Gives me the creeps. But it's America too. There is, or was, an incredibly moving monument there. Something known as the "Scythe Tree". It seems that at the time of the Civil War, some of the local farm boys threw their scythes up in a tree before departing to join the Union Army. They said not to remove the scythes until they returned. Of course, many scythes never came down again, at least not for as long as the tree stood.

This story haunts me. We all feel in our bones the country is being sold down the river by people who don't care anymore. And there are no Lincolns and Grants, so It may be up to us nobodies to try our best. Perhaps there will be The Computer Mouse Tree someday...

You see, Paula? You've chosen an interesting time to become an American.

Jimmy Gatt said...

I'm reminded of another story.

I was watching a television program about new military technology, and a scientist was being interviewed about the need to develop a new bomb. This bomb (now currently being used by the US military) is fired from an airplane into the mouth of a cave and fills up the entire cave, for miles, with hell. The need for this bomb in the war against the mujahedin in Afghanistan was pressing, and the scientist told about how she had to work 80 hour weeks to get it done in time, and told the audience that her motivation for doing so was her love for this country, this land of liberty.

The scientist is a naturalized US citizen from Vietnam. It makes my heart soar with pride to think of her.

Georgia Kafir, I have not heard anything more about that story about that citizen who was so disgracefully made to destroy his acts of love for our country. Yes, it is disgusting, and a sign of the times we live in. :(

Jon said...

It is very sad to hear Americans, and immigrant Americans at that, pine for closed borders.

Lets say my land borders Canada. Who does it harm that I ask some dude Sven to come onto my property, let a room to him, and also pay him to help tend the ranch? If your answer is that it harms no one, how does that argument not extend to the rest of the country.

Arguments against open borders based on national security fall flat, as that is an issue for foreign policy. That is not to say we should simply let anyone into the US. In fact, I think it would be a good idea to cut off ALL immigration from the 25 or so totalitarian dictatorships in the middle east, given the fact that they are hostile to our existence. (allowing 1000's of Saudi students in to "study" is simply insane) To the point, neutralizing a threat to US citizens requires destroying that threat, not some kind of fence around a free people.
Basically the best defense is a good offense, or Bush's forward strategy of freedom in theory. But the forward strategy of freedom was never implemented consistently. We only saw this schizophrenic dropping of bombs and food at the same time, cravenly apologizing for every act of our self defense.

Likewise, appeals to immigrant's abuse of welfare falls just as flat as an argument against open borders. Take your aim at welfare as such. The theory of "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" is bankrupt. The more the US confiscates from its citizens and hands out the worse our problems will be. If the nanny state has 1001 programs giving our money away, there will be someone on line to take it, immigrant or not. Hard working immigrants are more American in spirit than many many Americans I know.

Immigrants add vibrant energy to our economy and the American sense of life. With all the anti-American vitriol coming from almost every other corner of the globe, why on earth would you attempt to keep out of the US men and women who are literally putting their life on the line to be American, or even to just be in America.

bordergal said...

"With all the anti-American vitriol coming from almost every other corner of the globe, why on earth would you attempt to keep out of the US men and women who are literally putting their life on the line to be American, or even to just be in America".

That's the point....many are NOT coming here to be American. I live in California, and I can tell you that many have no interest in the US or in assimilating. I live it every day.

Hanging the Mexican flag OVER the American flag at a government school and refusing to rise for the Star Spangled Banner because "it's not our anthem" are good examples of this attitude.

France is another good example of when the immigrants do not assimilate....there are over 700 no go zones for the French (including police) now.

What about folks like the leaders of CAIR, who are quite open about their intent to change the US from a republic to an Islamic theocracy ruled by Shariah law?

We are heading in the same direction as France by refusing to protect our borders and insist that people assimilate or leave.

Apollo, if you are so contemptuous of European/Anglo civilization, then what the heck are you doing using a computer and the internet??
Go invent your own nonEuropean form of mass global communication.

bordergal said...

Apollo-my point was why use the inventions of a culture you despise.

I don't recall saying that I hated the Indians or the Chinese for that matter, and I'll happily and with thanks continue to use the inventions of other cultures.

And it's also ok for Paula to love her own culture, which HAS given and continues to give quite a bit to the world. If she wants to keep out outsiders who are harmful to her society, why not?
Self defense is a rational response, even the lowest forms of single celled life forms practice it.

I also defy you to find ONE culture on this planet that hasn't something to be ashamed of, some barbarity in their past or present.
Even the "pure and innocent" indigenous peoples. Or maybe you are ok with ripping the beating hearts out of prisoner's chests and serving them up as an entree a la the Aztecs?

Most of us aren't up for cultural suicide. And letting in millions of outsiders who DO NOT WISH to assimilate into the host culture IS suicidal.