TWAA: Immigrants to the West Must Assimilate Where It Counts—Freedom
The “melting pot” concept can produce a beautiful mosaic of the best parts of humanity—or it can serve as cover for the erasure of equality and human rights for all.
The illustrious (at least it used to be) Pulitzer Prizes came out this past week. Though unaware of this media tradition until adulthood, I have noticed a pattern: Pulitzer Prizes in the modern age tend to go to journalists with whom leftists (and only leftists) agree ideologically. Would a reporter be able to win after writing a cutting exposé on home healthcare fraud or illegal immigrant violence, for example, and the politicians who cover for them? Even so, I still have hope for the return and amplification of truth-telling journalism. On that note, do you have a journalist or outlet whom you trust? Please let me know!
What I’m Thinking About
Immigrant-related issues are of great interest to me, for obvious reasons. I’m intrigued not only by mere basic principles like following the laws in one’s new country and having proper legal documentation, but everyday issues like how much to assimilate and what traditions to bring or leave behind. I am Somali and always will be—but how much Somali? How much Dutch, thanks to my crucial years in the Netherlands as a brand-new immigrant and rookie politician? And given that I have been an American citizen for a while now, how much of the U.S. do I claim as part of my identity? It is a question that I and other immigrants must deliberately tackle.
Certainly, there should be some crossover amongst those who have left one (often troubled) land for a Western nation. And this must be the dominant thought amongst those coming to the U.S., England., and others like them for a better life: “I left my homeland for a reason, and I came here because that reason is nonexistent (or far lessened). Therefore, because I don’t want my new home to take on the negative quality of my old, I will behave differently than those who made my place of birth what it unfortunately is today.” My Somali heritage, for example, has positive aspects (fashion, food, holidays, music, etc.). The heritage of mixing up spices, as Somalis do, offers a boost of flavor in both the literal and metaphorical sense. But its major philosophies and realities—subjugation of women and girls, Islamism, violence, tribalism—are far inferior to America’s freedoms. And though I am used to warmer climates and struggle with colder winters, I far prefer liberty.
When immigrants fail to parse out the good from the bad in their home cultures, they are missing prime opportunities to both preserve what’s good in their new nation and bring what was good from their old.
What I’m Reading
Christian man’s hands chopped off by Muslim relatives: ‘That’s what Sharia instructs us to do’
Do not fall for the soothing kumbaya fiction that Islam is a religion of peace and good vibes. It is, as demonstrated by what happened to this poor Ugandan man in April, an advancing ideology hell-bent on conversion by force—and if that proves impossible, then vengeful destruction to those who refuse. Religion should be a matter of heart change, not groupthink, and those who commit violence in its name certainly should not be welcomed on Western shores.
Judging someone by their labels instead of their character is fundamentally anti-Western. Yet that is exactly what is happening in modern American medicine, as revealed by this article’s author, a white male who is a fourth-year medical student. If even a portion of what he writes is true, American healthcare is not just facing a plunge in future quality; it is disastrously reshaping the foundation of American ideals.
New Zealand police hunt down woman over ‘welcome to New India’ post
When a Kiwi captioned an online photo with a criticism of unchecked Indian immigration into New Zealand, police actually chastised her for being unkind, racist and unwelcoming. The phones of the Indian men gloating over their economic takeover in reply, meanwhile, remained chillingly silent. Still, we must keep speaking, consequences be damned; otherwise, free speech will continue its maddening disappearing act.
