On Jan 21, 2008 9:24 AM, shiv sastry <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > A chap with the name "Ramak Fazel" with an "untraceable accent" (i.eFurriner > of unknown origin) is a "quintessential world citizen". What's that? Who's > deluding whom? > > Tell me another one. > > [snip] > > It is easy to spot an alien from a mile. Hair color, facial structure and > other things stand out from a zillion miles away. > > For those of us who have actually lived in the US, it is important to remember that the USA is a pretty diverse place. There are many parts of the US -- most big cities, and definitely the part of DC in which I live and work, where someone like Ramak wouldn't feel very alien at all. My neighborhood has whites, blacks, asians, desis, tons of Ethiopians, people from Arab countries, etc. No one feels out of place -- except, perhaps, what some people might view as stereotypical "Americans."
This week, however, I'm in Florence, South Carolina, volunteering for the Obama campaign. Out here, there are white people (and they are Republicans) and black people (and they are Democrats). There's barely a desi or Asian person in sight, and someone like Ramak would feel quite out of place indeed. But both DC and Florence are part of the US, and it is hard to say that one is more "typical" than the other. On the subject of this thread, though, there's no question that a significant chunk of the country -- the people from places like Florence who aren't accustomed to diversity -- is paranoid, and their reactions end up influencing policies and happenings since the paranoid are always louder than the non-paranoid. And it also true that too many in this country are apathetic, and don't do enough to fight the paranoia because it doesn't affect people "like them." Dave
