Comment Directions:
For this current event post I've decided to list links from around the web on the theme of independence day and the significance of the fourth of july. Since there will be several articles posted here I will not give you any questions to discuss, instead for your comment you should briefly summarize the main point or thesis of the article you read and thoughtfully reflect on it. I want to hear your opinions on these articles and on each other's posts! Do you agree with the author's thesis? Why/why not? What about your classmates? Engage each other in some thoughtful, provocative political discussion! Make Thomas Jefferson proud!
The Link List:
The article which I am choosing to discuss is "One Nation, Divisible?" by Reihan Salam. Before I read this article, I was pretty sure I would probably disagree with what was written about immigration and national division. However, now I realize that I couldn't agree more with what was said! In the article, Salam begins with humorously noting the US loss to Belgium in the World Cup, bashing how Belgium will most likely soon divide in effect of bitter resentment between French speaking and Flemish speaking citizens. Salam later uses this example to prove how he believes that the US is in no danger of national divide into, for example, separate secular and religious divisions. But, this is not to say that we aren't in danger of decline in our unity as a nation (if not already experiencing it). He continues to touch base on a topic that he believes is a threat to national unity. Salam describes it as "a product of the economic and social isolation of huge chunks of our population." Which brings me to the controversial topic of immigration reform. Salam sees our current predicament as a "thoughtless immigration policy" which makes it difficult for existing immigrants to gain a role in American livelihood. He argues that in order to make stronger unity between naturalized-immigrants (ones who have become US citizens), unauthorized immigrants ("illegal" migrants) and native-born Americans is to decrease the poverty gap. Poverty levels are worst for unauthorized immigrants, then naturalized immigrants, followed by American born natives. As Americans, however, we need to own up to the fact that we need to be responsible for the unauthorized immigrants that we have allowed into our country, which are currently living, working, and taking refuge in. Like Salam, I believe that the last thing the government needs to do is allow future unauthorized immigration. Every immigrant in our nation should be a citizen to both better their chances of not living in poverty (which still remains a huge issue) and to add a sense of unity with the rest of the authorized citizens in America (both immigrant and native). Also, increasing immigration in the future will augment labor competition for already working American- born natives and for naturalized-immigrants. This is a not-needed burden for the US! So now, when we let migrants come here to take refuge, live and work, we must consider the fact that lots of these people are unauthorized and need to become citizens. But, when I reconsider, with Obama's seemingly endless funding towards illegal immigrants, I'm sure in the long run everything will work out fine for the immigrants coming into the US. Now I'm just left to wonder how all this spending on unauthorized immigrants is going to effect us legal, native-born Americans and legal immigrants in the long run (who will probably be effected by all this spending and augmentation of debt). But, I suppose time will tell.
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ReplyDeleteI read the article "Younger Americans Are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways." This article talks about the differences in patriotism between four generations. It compares the millennial generation to older age groups to argue that younger people in America are less attached to national symbols (such as the flag) but are very passionate about for-the-people ideas such as equality. The final consensus was that this generation simply expresses their patriotism in a different way - there is less connection to symbols of America, but basic ideals of this country are in strong support. I agree with what the author is saying. In some ways, yes, our generation is less patriotic - statistics support this notion. However, more support and connection is made with democratic ideas, such as equality for all, than older generations, demonstrating that each generation shows their patriotism in different ways. Yes, there is less of the "traditional" patriotism exhibited by older generations in millennials, but there is still patriotism within the youngest group. Though patriotism is mostly associated with the love of the symbols of America, values are also a large part of patriotism. I believe that values need to be given more consideration when determining how "patriotic" someone is. For the youngest generation, what matters most to many is not a tangible symbol, but rather ideas and beliefs that are fundamental to our government, and many millenials have an undeniable passion for these truly American values. And that is, in the end, still patriotism-just a different way of showing it.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to the article "Younger Americans Are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways,” the main point of this article is to show the variety of nationalism within the different American generations. This article states that young adults don't value American symbols, such as the American flag, as much as older generations do. Although "today’s youngest generation begins adulthood with much lower levels of fondness for the symbols of America," they still show high support for American principles like equality and opportunity. In a recent study, 81 percent of the Silent Generation loves America, but this could be due to living and participating in the wars in Korea and Vietnam. However, millennials have not served in the military in the same numbers as the Silent Generation, resulting in only 58 percent of millennials that love America at the same level as the Silent Generation. Overall, each generation shows differences in patriotism because of the constant changes in their American settings. When there is a war, patriotism goes up and American symbols are highly valued, but when there is not a war people focus on other things they value such as equality. Based on the facts above, I agree with the author’s position. The A.N.E.S. has many examples where the millennial generation is less patriotic than the older generations, and doesn't love America as much as the Silent Generation does. But statistics indicate that the millennials live in a totally different life than the Silent Generation. The millennials use of social media has caused them to care more about equality in their life and around the world. Therefore, I agree with Lauren that there is a decrease in traditional patriotism with our generation. I also agree that we show patriotism in a different way through American values and our government. Overall, our generation still shows nationalism and patriotism, but we show it in a new way through our personal and global views.
ReplyDeleteIn the article Our Nation Divisible. Reihan Salam mainly discusses immigration in the US & national division. Some key points addressed in this article are:
ReplyDelete1. If we grant legal status to unauthorized immigrants, and if we accept that we have a responsibility to protect the interests of the immigrants who currently live and work in the United States, the last thing we should do is increase future immigration, which will intensify labor market competition for these workers.
2. One challenge is a thoughtless immigration policy, which makes it hard for immigrants currently living and working in the United States to find a foothold in American life.
3. In it, a new religiously infused country, the Regional States of North America, secedes from the United States in the wake of a short and relatively bloodless conflict with their secularist oppressors.
4. Could America break apart along religious lines, with devout Christians going one way and the rest of us going another?
5. Bush in the 2004 presidential election, and the United States of Canada consisting of the states that backed John Kerry and Canada that delighted liberals enraged by Bush re-election.
6.What we forget is that 13 percent of the people living in the United States were born abroad, and immigrants make up 16.3 percent of the U.S. workforce.
I highly agree with Reihan Salam, I don't believe the U.S. should be proceeding to allow unauthorized immigrants into our country. Every immigrant in our country should become a citizen to feel and be a part of our country. In order for them to outgrow themselves out of poverty they need to step up. Obama's funding towards unauthorized immigrants can either be a good thing or a bad thing. It may either led us into debt, or have our country be more diverse and active. The promise of the American life has yet to be fulfilled, like Salam says.
I read the article "Younger Americans Are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways" (Lynn Vavreck). In this article it discusses the nationalism difference in each generation. It is suggested that nationalism is on a decline and the younger generation of our society today is evolving around a less patriotic America. It is believed the younger generation has a higher support in equality and opportunities, while the older generation is fonder of the classic American symbols such as our flag. The shifts, however, are not changes through the life cycle rather than they are generational, causing each generation to have its own way of being patriotic. The A.N.E.S. has done recent studies in the homes of 2,000 randomly selected American homes. For example it was found, "…94 percent of the Silent Generation say that seeing the U.S. flag flying makes them feel extremely or very good, only 67 percent of millennials muster the same affection." I agree that there is a highly noticeable decline in the way the younger version views nationalism compared to the way the silent generation does. I think the silent generation views being an American citizen with a higher respect and honors the American symbols greater than the younger version does. I also believe the younger generation has been greatly effected by social media. Social media has taken a big role in the shift of American societies in general. In addition to social media, different races and cultures have grown apart of the country. As America has gone through these changes, different pride has grown from it, leaving the old American symbols to diminish in value tot the younger generation. The silent generation also has a deeper personal connection to American independence due to 31 percent of them having an active part in the American Armed Forces and wars that held a major part in America's history to this day. The younger generation is missing this connection and as they grown into adult hood can more easily cling to the idea of the promises America holds such as equality and endless opportunities. Ultimately, I agree with the author that there is a huge change in nationalism through out America's generations. However, American citizens will always have a sense of patriotic pride to always carry around and will remember the classic history of how America came to be.
ReplyDeleteFor my current event, I chose the article "Younger Americans Are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways." The author discusses how she believes that pride in our country is declining and will continue to decline. The article also discusses how the nationalistic changes between each different generation and their different attitudes towards the symbols of America. The article expresses that today, many Americans do not feel as much pride in our flag as the older generation does. These changes are because today we express our pride for our country in very different ways. As we change so do our nationalistic ideals. Today we value the ideals of democracy and opportunity more than we value the symbols of these. Although we express our patriotism in different ways, all Americans feel pride when they think of America. Nationalism today is nowhere near decreasing.The only thing that changes is our ways of expressing this patriotism. As the generations pass, more and more people will change their perception of the love they feel for this country and it will only increase, not decrease as the article states. Newer symbols will continue to emerge as the years pass and technology will influence our pride as well. No matter what, Americans will always love America, no matter what they believe represents it.
ReplyDeleteFor my current event I decided to read, "Younger Americans are Less Patriotic. At Least, in Some Ways." In this article Lynn Vavreck discusses the decline of patriotism in the young citizens of America compared to older generations. For instance Lynn talks about older Americans devotion to symbols like the flag whereas the younger generations are more focused on ideals like equality and opportunity. Also, the article compares data from the American National Election Study to show different amounts of patriotism in different generations. "81 percent of the Silent Generation (those who are 69 to 86 years old in 2014) love America while only 58 percent of millennials (18 to 33 years old) feel the same. " Although these numbers are ranged, I feel the reasoning behind that is because of the the fact that during the silent generations time the Korean War and the Vietnam War took place and 31% of Americans in the silent generation report that they personally served in active duty whereas only 4% of millennials have fought in active duty.More patriotism came out of that time because more people were physically involved in fighting for America unlike the younger generations who don't have the same feelings that war could bring out in the country and in each other. That's because most of them didn't have to physically fight for America. In conclusion I do agree with Lynn Vavreck that the younger generation of Americans aren't not patriotic about their country, its just they express there patriotism and nationalism in a another way then other generations and thats through ideals.
ReplyDeleteI read the article, "Younger Americans are Less Patriotic. At Least in Some Ways" and the article is explaining that many Millennials do not have as strong as a sense of patriotism as the older generations. The article shares results from polls of different aged people about patriotism asking questions such as, "How do you feel when you see the American flag waving?" The results show as the age of citizens decreases the amount of patriotism does as well. The reason younger people do not have as much patriotism as older people is they did not live through as much as the older Americans did. The Americans born between the years 1928 and 1945, also known as the silent generation, was alive during the time of the Korean and Vietnamese wars. Many of the people fought in the wars and those who did not had a family member or friend that did or were very much affected by the negative presence of the war. Even the generation after is affected by the wars. Many of their parents fought in the war and have shared stories and have heard about how gruesome and dangerous it was. Hearing how their parents fought in the war and defended that nation gives a sense of pride and makes them feel excited about the country. The Millennials that have not lived through the wars and have not heard the stories, do not know how much the country has been through, so they do not feel the sense of accomplishment and success that the older generations have lived through. They only know some of the stories they have learned about in history classes in school. The stories about family members fighting in combat risking their lives for the country or actually being there risking your own life for the nation causes the feeling of patriotism. So since the Millennials have not lived through all of these American accomplishments, what would cause them to feel so patriotic? Even though the author is saying Millennials are not patriotic enough, they do not have the life experiences that cause the patriotism. As their life goes on, and they witness these experiences and watch how strong and successful the country is they will gain their feeling of pride for the country, but that will take time.
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