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spiritwoman45
22314 posts
10/6/2015 11:58 pm
It's Not Just Us


As we have seen here in blogs people seem to be more polarized and less accepting as time goes by. Unfortunately it's not just us her at SFF

I spent the past week traveling, part of the time solo. It has been some time since I traveled alone and had had time to people watch and just observe how things are out there.

What I noticed is that there appears to be far more diversity. People from various cultures and speaking various languages dressed in a variety of ordinary as well as exotic native clothing. It seems there are for more people out and about around the US (at least in major urban areas) that do not understand any English at all . More like Europe than the US. A man was blocking the isle on the plane. I sad excuse me and he responded with a confused look. I had to use gestures to indicate that I needed to get by him to get back to my seat.

Sadly the greater diversity appears to be accompanied less interaction. People mostly seem on edge and look at those who differ with paranoia or at least suspicion.

Granted my travels were mostly in major urban areas and through major international airports am sure that there are many areas where there is less "foot traffic" where this is not the case. None the less I do not see the changes in the past 5 years as encouraging.


Spiritwoman ^i^


Hawkslayer 88M
13298 posts
10/7/2015 5:13 am

I too have noticed this, it makes me wonder if they will soon be publishing signs in multiple languages, instead of just in English and Spanish.

Alfie...


It only takes a drop of ink to make a million people think. There are many stories.


Hawkslayer 88M
13298 posts
10/7/2015 7:21 am

    Quoting  :

Hi Jack - Nice to see you back again. I've unblocked you, please try it out when you can and see if you can read the blogs. I don't even recall why I blocked you, sorry about that. Welcome back!!

Alfie...


It only takes a drop of ink to make a million people think. There are many stories.


spiritwoman45

10/7/2015 8:57 am

    Quoting Hawkslayer:
    I too have noticed this, it makes me wonder if they will soon be publishing signs in multiple languages, instead of just in English and Spanish.

    Alfie...
Most major airports around the world already do this plus use international graphic signs. Then there are is western Europe where they don't but it is not a huge issue becasue most people are multi lingual.

Spiritwoman ^i^


spiritwoman45

10/7/2015 9:01 am

    Quoting  :

Interesting thought about assimilation not being demanded. World wide we are so much more mobile physically many do not stay in one place long enough to assimilate. Then add the internet......................

Makes me wish I were young enough to see an eventual world culture but that might take an invasion of space aliens to accomplish.


Spiritwoman ^i^


spiritwoman45

10/7/2015 9:05 am

    Quoting LeafLover:
    That's very interesting. It is diverse out there. I was watching a baseball game the other night and the camera zoomed in on 2 rows of girls, perhaps 8 to 10 of them sitting together. Every one of them...ALL of them...were looking at their smart phone.
If they were like my nieces they were likely all in the same video group chat with their other friends who were not at the game. Contrary to what it appears to be the youngsters have large social groups and use electronics to stay connected.

It would be way to confusing to have to deal with all of the technical stuff for me but it works great for them.


Spiritwoman ^i^


spiritwoman45

10/7/2015 9:09 am

    Quoting  :

Agree - we have lost a lot of ground in education. perhaps we lost sight of the need for it becasue we went through a period of time when it was easy to become an entrepreneur and succeed anyway. While one's native language might not be as significant the need for technical and scientific knowledge has become more important.

Spiritwoman ^i^


spiritwoman45

10/7/2015 9:13 am

    Quoting Adolpho:
    I look to my own family history when it comes to assimilation of immigrants.

    My great grand parents immigrated from Germany via Russia. They spoke only their native language for most of the rest of their lives. My grandparents began to use of English but most of the time conversations were in German. My parents attended public schools and learned English. But church services were still conducted in German.

    I spoke only .German until I entered school. So , in our family integration and assimilation took four generations. Perhaps we are expecting too much too soon from present day immigrants.
Same here. My grandparents taught them selves English, including how to read and write it, mother was completely bilingual but Italian was still spoken at home until started school after which it was English only. Unfortunately this meant I would loose my Italian skills. My children are 100% American in both culture and language. The oldest granddaughter is learning French.

Spiritwoman ^i^