The Friend
The Newsletter· af
~INGUIST
the
Lan_gu~ Exchange Ctrek Feb. ,1 , 1986 No. 6
Darwin would bave liked it f three People emigrak for one or more o. to reasons: to improve the~r econombic c~d~~!~• ersecution . to JOin mem ere o !1ready t he; e. But wh~l:;e: t~ec:~1 1 tion forces out distinct qua_ e • self, mi r ant i s an above-average wdividual, tit se~ec t ed for risk-taking and creativity, auto~~~~ with a firm belief in himself . As for the unw ! The problem of immi gration i s among the most migr ant , he will have to develop such st rengths : critical of contemporary global questions . Few he is to meet the a wesome challenge of changing subjects encourage man to vent acrimony and xenoone ' s cult ure and language o . phobia so readily. Few are so t horoughly exploi t ed This survival of the fittest must surely benefit . _ by vote-scavenging politicos. Hotheads have taken t he hos t country. Raising competition at home is a, t he matter in their 011D hands , L~t uitively knowin g prerequisite to performi_n g well abr~d: Japanese the remedy to all ills . They spit at ' gasta rbeiters ' busin essmen will not disagree on this point ~ in West Germany , kick 'nig-nogs' in England , help themselves to a ' bougnoul ' for target practicing in The Asian promise Asians can rightly be called America's superFrance. Those who wis h to s ee t hr ough t he confusion immigrants. They consistent ly surpaas white and humbug reports will do themselves no harm by Americans in schools , business , science and the avoiding numbers . There are alternative approac hes profession s . Despite making up a mere 1.&j of the to the issue . population t hey are dis pro portionately represented The -mythology of i mmigra tion at t op uni vers i ties . Besides enriching Westeni Lies, damn lies and s t atis t ic s. Myths prolifecult ure t he y comprise a power house of drive and rate • .Vestern ers commonly \•iew immigran t s as i lambition ~ literate refuse , abusing wel fare and government Contagi ous or not the ;,si ar. work et h ic will profit services and causi ng native uner.iploymen t . Concern ed t he U.S . It is by no·:, l argely establi.shed that the - -4--l'+c'.c-5--c i ~ ~ o u g ht""of •'WB.Ve art'"e"'r.----c: c"=e= n tre or woria growth- and influence fiis- ~ wave of Mexican tllegals. So l'luch nonsense. There from the North :\tlantic to the Pacific. Japan, . Sout were 800,000 legal immigrants to the U.s in 1980 Korea and other newly industrialised countries are the most recent high - yet at the turn of the forging ahead. China is to make a momentous - if century and foi six years, immigration ·t opped t ~e long overdue - appearance on t he world stage. Is it milli"On mark. In the same country illegals ce rtainly entirely naive t o suggest t hat America's Asians wi number less than 5 millions and s tudy after study i nevitably be called upon to foster r elations and shows that they do not Me welfare services, for ease out tensions on acc ount of t heir unique fear of being caught. Migrants generally arrive in credentials? their 20s or 30s, while physically and mentally vigorous, fill out areas of l abor-shortage and Social disturbance and con f lict have usually since the number of j obs is not f ixed - create jobs accompanied mass mov~ments of population . Yet few as well as take t hem . I f there were no evidence of realize how quickly acculturation occurs. The yery positive contributions should we find a thinker extravaganza of violence that is raging throughout such as Galbraith celebrating migration as a practice the Western world i s delaying this process, sinc e that helps those who go, thos e left behind and the i t is natural f or minorities to re - affirm thei r places they go tot identity when t hreatened . Once upon a time a king invited some villagers to a feast, then grew an gry when all they brought as a gift was a bunch ·or bananas. !le th rew them away wi1hout unpeeling them and never found out that , inside, each was solid gold . Ame rica, of all c ountries , ought to know that the re often is more than me ets the eye - and not just with bananas .
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VALENTINE)S DAY: A rn er-·, c. Q"'
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I have just experienced my f irst Japanes e Valentine's Day. I hope with all my heart that I never have the misfort"!Jne of going t hrough it again. What I had hoped would be a day of love <1nd sweet frienr\liness turned out to b e a C"a p·u1 ese "Love-Chocolate Day", and ended up leaving a ba,l taste in my mouth. In the immortal words of a friend ( s orry , J forgot who it was or surely I would credi t him), 11 ·;:hatever holiday the nmericans come up with, the Japanese just rape it. " In America, Vl\le!lti ne's Ihy is a day when boys a nd girls t ry t o e xpr ess their feelings for each other, wh en m<>n ar.d women and husbands and wives express their love for each other in special ways , and when fri en ,is t el 1 each other how happy they are to have each ether. I n Japan, th;i.s sincere holiday has been degraded to a variety of purposes ran ging from just sellin£ chocolate to giving t he female a role in the Male dominated dating process to boys a nd :_:irls :il a yi ne; practical jokes and making fools ·of eac h other; the Japanese hav~ again made a folly of an originally sweet, sincere h oliday. Valentine's Day was introduced t o J ap;i.n ir. the early 1970 ' s by the ~lorinaga candy company to boost sales. Judging by the amount of chocolate that changed hands by way of our message- boxe s alone, I would say they have been very successful i;Q,__this e~ ea~.· Valentintt!.@~X gives Ja~ese gi rl s t he chance t o te l l t he boy o f her fan cy that she is interested; :-.e can respond0r. Nhite Ja y , !'.arch 14, if he is r.1utually interestP.d. This is rare in a male-dominatedsoc ie ty c;uch a s that ;vhich unfortunately exists in Jap;.n. • ,Vhat I -sorely r.1issed this year was the friendly sweetness which is freely express,;d on this day in America. The ,Tapanese ha ve replaced this with a dual mental ity of givi ng t c express tl'."._: € love and giving in return for having received; acknowledeing friendship is r.ot part of ,Japanese Valentine's Day. The .antics of 3 of the 4 women 's dorms were especially depressin g . Two donns assigned to their members names of men's dorm residents to whom the young women wrote fake Valentine meiosages . A third broke into the men 's dorms in the middle of the ni ght and secretly pulled trick;; like put ting ket chup on doorknobs and newspaper over door\•:ays, soaping windows, and the like. I'm sorry, girls , but this kind of garbage is a far cry from what Valentine's Day is about! Of course there are exceptions, but they we r- · few and far hetween. The Aerobics Club's Valentine-gram service was a breath of sweet a i r in t h e smog of love-laden/thou~htless-retu r n-r,ift chocola te. A few friends made nice ~e ,; tures, but by f::lr the most beautiful gift I received was a single small' wild flower placed i n my riessage box anonymously. That flower, the epitome of si 11cerjty , is the most wonderful Valen tin e I have ever rec eived. To whomever gave me that fl o"ler, t han~ you very, very much. Yo· , rea lly made 'nY ,lay .
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