About immigrants.

[JVS]

At the risk of generalizing: They come, they work menial jobs, they get paid little, they are strangers in the country they go to and if they're lucky they know some people from home. It is considered a big success if they are able to own a small shop as this lets them be their own boss, while working for others their opportunities are often limited by their knowledge of the language. These are not people who have prestigious jobs. They are not invited to join country clubs, the local PTA does not turn to them for leadership, the bridge club probably already has enough members. But it's incumbent on them to assimilate? Fuck that. These people do a their share of assimilating to get by. Their kids usually take it a step further because they know where the bread is buttered and know what they need to do to get a better position in the host society than their parents. But demanding that these people can just pull up roots from the home country, move to a new country, and instead of forming a community with their fellow exiles spend the rest of their lives trying to fit in with a bunch of (German, English, French, American) people who don't particularly care to socialize with their (Turkish, Pakistani, Algerian, Mexican) street sweeper is not only stupid, it's cruel.