Well, I will admit, I have been paying a bit of attention to the World Cup. I think that Germany is doing a bang-up job. Those dirty Huns sure know how to throw a party!
However, I notice I have been started to harbor a creeping resentment these last few weeks as we get closer and closer to the Final Outcome, and I will expound. Whereas the World Cup is a wonderful way to bring all of the nations together in harmony, it seems that it has the opposite effect in North 'Merica. There have been more racist slurs uttered in the last week in my presence than the last three and a half years combined, more resentment, more division, and what I have most feared about our society seems to be accentuated by the recent goings-on. We are not getting along as one huge family as we'd like to think, we are only self-segregating and allowing the rift to expand. The reasons I imagine have to do with sheer numbers, as certain populations have vast enough numbers so that they may fill out entire neighborhoods and never truly have to make any lasting contact with the 'others'.
What happens then is we have an Italian community, Portuguese community, Chinese, etc., that do not identify as Canadian, even if they are second or third generation. They identify more as Tunisian, Iranian, Egyptian rather than American... Now, I am a blend of Irish, Scotch and French, and of that I am guilty of pride and reverence, but I do not regard myself as a son of any of those nations. When Ireland wins an international contest i do not strap an Irish flag to my car, get blotto, block traffic and harass people for not belonging to my bloodline. The Portuguese community have blocked traffic and harassed our town twice in the last week... waving flags, etc. I admit to some hardcore racist thoughts at those moments, borne of frustration and bewilderment... How shitty is it in Canada that there are those that identify more with a country that they did not even originate in, that the flag of a nation with a near third-world economy that their parents fled is considered more of a home than the nation in which they were offered refuge? Are we being too Liberal in our views towards immigration, are we allowing subcultures to exist at the expense of our society... does this mean anything towards a broader picture, say, like that of National Unity?
There is a debate in the U.S. right now about making English the ONLY national language. Because of Mexican influence many neighborhoods are developing where you have third generations that have no requirement of English within America. They live, eat, work, sleep in Spanish only. Should this be tolerated? If this continues, honestly, you will have the same issues that Quebec has in Canada, a growing rift, a lack of understanding and bigotry aimed in either directions... with little or no hope of reconciliation. Take the unfortunate case of some Islamic communities, or the Hasidim, to integrate fully is to allow their identity to be compromised, so cultural contact is verboten, and we all go to our corners, ignorant, dutifully donning our Dunce Caps with weary compliance. Right and wrong in this case depends on which side of the line you are on. Both sides are complicit, we need to take steps to understand each other, and find a common ground we can agree on.
The fact of the matter is this: North America, as it was imagined, will never work. The races refuse to agglomerate, associate, nor cooperate as cultural concessions are difficult to make and, as the populations grow the divide may get even wider. Now, I do not offer a solution, I am merely posing the question here.
