Is modern technology the reason why many of today's immigrants see no reason to integrate into the society

Question

of their new "home?" With faxes, computers, cell phones, international next day shipping, etc., etc. all allowing simple communication with friends and family back in their original country is there now any reason to "assimilate" into American culture like immigrants traditionally did? Does all this technology make it very simple and comfortable for modern immigrants to isolate themselves from American society and maintain connections with their traditional heritage, whereas immigrants from previous generations were totally disconnected from their homelands and had little choice but to join mainstream American society to survive and prosper? Just throwing out a theory and wondering what people think.

Answer 1

In part. Cheap communications. Newly recognized human rights including the right to family reunification (to marry a spouse from the old country), bilingual education, self-loathing and guilt on the part of the general public, encouragement of diversity.

But the fact is, certain ethnic groups do integrate and assimilate in 2 or 3 generations. Of all recent migrant groups, Muslims are least likely to do that. Christians from the same country (such as Egypt (Copts) or Palestinians and Lebanese (Protestants; Maronites) seem to integrate immediately. As do Christians and Jews from Iran.

"Chain migration" is a reasonable political issue: for every migrant from the Philippines, one study in the 1960s showed that 48 others followed. But the USA, unlike many other countries, favors immigration by close relatives of its own naturalized citizens.

Answer 2

It's part of it, technology that was once meant to connect us has instead given us MORE distance, MORE isolation, and why integrate anyway when you can do it all in YOUR language etc?

Of course, the whole world is turning that way, to some degree or another, but also at the end of the day, we're seeing MORE integration from the facility of technology to translate for us...
where once language was a barrier, today no more.

My view, though, is that one reason for the failure of today's immigrants to fully emigrate and integrate is due to the fact that their lives are still back home...where once you got on a boat and said 'goodbye' to all you held near and dear, today they're only a phone call away. It's a mixed bag of blessings, to be sure, but there's another issue out there, namely illegal immigration, people moving to another country mainly because they just feel like it, without observing any of the normal steps that people would take to move someplace else. F'rinstance, if you're an american, you need to have a visa to go lots of places. So, what's the deal with people from other countries coming to ours without one? What's up with that? Another thing that technology has done is help people that are hell-bent on circumnavigating the law have an easier time of it than in years before. It's also brought us global ID theft, although my suspicion is that the problem for our country is centered in Mexico...but that's just a suspicion, have no way 2 prove it. All in all though, it's a brave new world out there, where having lots of cash means you're exempt from rules that apply to 'everybody else'...it's good to be king...and cash is king...

Answer 3

Muslims have a hidden agenda. They want Islam to dominate the West and have found a good platform to enable this within the UK. They have made the role of victim into an art form, so consequently, in the minds of many, they are automatically victims of Islamaphobia simply because they are Muslims. Any imagined slight is automatically accompanied by cries of Racism and Islamophobia. The majority is pandering to the minority, who have not made any genuine effort to integrate wholly into the society of their host country, a country whose moral values and Christian beliefs they detest, hence the term 'Infidels' which is a racist slur against anyone who is not a Muslim, particularly Christians. Muslims wish to replicate their own country within the UK, whilst at the same time benefitting financially from what the UK has to offer. The customs and beliefs of this country are not respected by them as they are constantly demanding autonomy within the UK, hence the demands for an Islamic state within the UK. The whole process has been made easy for them by the politically correct liberals who grossly under-estimate the threat that this poses not only to the UK, but to the Western World in general.

Answer 4

Its an interesting theory....I had never considered....I think those who do not want to assimilate is because they either refuse to learn the language, or have no means....

Remember, some immigrants are poor and come here seeking a better life....They have no means to buy gadgets, equipment, etc. Many just come with the clothes on their backs. Also, there seems to be a negative sentiment in this country of immigrants....

Many are discriminated against, and therefore many do not want to assimilate because of the discrimination they encounter....

Answer 5

They didn't come here to assimilate. They came to work and make a living without the corrupt mexican government keeping them poor. The U.S. government just leaves the door open.

Answer 6

I find most legals want to and do learn to speak and write English, the exception is mexicans, I don't know why but they just don't want to learn English and seem to think I should be required to learn to speak mexican! Now that's a load of crap!

Answer 7

Dude! People find a market for their profit with no regard to the long term affects. That is why they cater to these invaders

Answer 8

I deeply believe that, but by and by people always would find ways to communicate..

Technology... the knack of so arranging the world that we don't have to experience it. ~Max Frisch

Answer 9

your an idiot.