On 15 Aug 2003 05:37:43 GMT, ost (Chris Mark) wrote:

If you mean to say ethnic or racial changes in US population, that has
been going on since before the Revolution and the society has long had
effective mechanisms in place to integrate newcomers.

True, but we seem to be taking the stance now that we *don't*
integrate newcomers, but instead do our best to elevate them (if
that's the right verb) to the status of a specially-aggrieved
minority. This is a huge change over my childhood, when the teacher
made fun of me in class because I pronounced "pen" as if it were
spelled "pin". "You sound like you just came over from the Old Sod."
(That's Ireland, in case your knowledge of ethnic jibes has been
weakened in the current wash of racial gentility.) I became a Yankee
as fast as I could, which was pretty fast.

Being an American is like riding a unicycle. You are always on the
cusp of a remarkable journey, the outcome of which you can't possibly
know. Just because you haven't fallen off yet doesn't mean that it
can't happen. But if you get off the unicycle you stop being an
American.

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: www.danford.net/letters.htm#9

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