I got yet another bigoted e-mail forward from my co-worker today. This time it was about immigration and how these new immigrants (i.e. Mexicans, though it never explicitly said so) make no attempt to assimilate into American society, how they demand all the perks of native-born citizens but refuse to adapt to the culture or learn the language. Instead they snidely snub the melting pot ideology and cling to their own customs, which the e-mail insisted they were expected to reject the moment they crossed the border (and I suppose a few good Mexican restaurants are all that should be allowed to survive the melting pot's flames). The forward went on about how immigrants in the early 1900s (which it listed explicitly as Irish, Italians, and other European-only nationalities) came to this country and fell to the floors at Ellis Island in gratitude, kissed the concrete and readily tossed aside their heritages to embrace the toil and freedom duality that constituted joining the American working class. And they didn't even whine about the lack of labor laws! ...right. I must have been out sick the day my high school American history teacher went over how Americans-born citizens were lined up on the ports of New York City with welcoming baskets and volunteer sponsors for every new Irish immigrant. I guess I didn't realize that ethnic neighborhoods like Little Italy and Chinatown are only modern tourist attractions and bear no historical relevance of how immigrants in the past tried to preserve their cultural identities as well.
Of course anything political or religious is forbidden to be distributed via company property, but that doesn't stop me getting e-mails listing why it's un-Christian to vote for Obama, why global warming is just another for-profit, liberal hoax, or why Muslims are out for world domination and Christians beware. I'd complain, but a part of me can't help but stutter in shocked curiosity as to what kind of people find such lazy validation for their beliefs by redistributing e-mail forwards of this kind. And although I'm mainly using conservative messages as examples, as these are the only forwards of this type that I ever receive, I highly doubt any group is free from adherers to such propagandist offenses.
I've definitely had enough of my co-workers, but I can't say it hasn't been an enlightening, if not disconcerting, experience. Surrounding oneself with only people of the same opinions can yield a false sense of absolute correctness. I've gained so much insight into all sorts of subcultures and opinions which so much contradict my own and of which I would have never otherwise had such direct exposure to. And since no one contradicts them, they unleash opinions that they would probably never say if they knew they were amid unbelievers. Every now and then I get into arguments with one of them, which I thoroughly enjoy because he generally tears me to pieces. He can throw so many facts and incidents in as evidence for his arguments that my novice knowledge really has to struggle to put up a good fight. I may disagree with most everything he says, but I appreciate how intensely he educates himself, and encourages me to do the same, whereas most people (on both sides) just hold their stubborn opinions in ignorance, relying on cheap-shot e-mails for credibility. Perhaps it has always been so, but I tire of the endless monologues and crave to both listen and participate in genuine discourse between opposing opinions. Instead it's all about picking a side, as if choosing which sports team to root for, and both compromise and understanding are considered forms of defeat.
Of course anything political or religious is forbidden to be distributed via company property, but that doesn't stop me getting e-mails listing why it's un-Christian to vote for Obama, why global warming is just another for-profit, liberal hoax, or why Muslims are out for world domination and Christians beware. I'd complain, but a part of me can't help but stutter in shocked curiosity as to what kind of people find such lazy validation for their beliefs by redistributing e-mail forwards of this kind. And although I'm mainly using conservative messages as examples, as these are the only forwards of this type that I ever receive, I highly doubt any group is free from adherers to such propagandist offenses.
I've definitely had enough of my co-workers, but I can't say it hasn't been an enlightening, if not disconcerting, experience. Surrounding oneself with only people of the same opinions can yield a false sense of absolute correctness. I've gained so much insight into all sorts of subcultures and opinions which so much contradict my own and of which I would have never otherwise had such direct exposure to. And since no one contradicts them, they unleash opinions that they would probably never say if they knew they were amid unbelievers. Every now and then I get into arguments with one of them, which I thoroughly enjoy because he generally tears me to pieces. He can throw so many facts and incidents in as evidence for his arguments that my novice knowledge really has to struggle to put up a good fight. I may disagree with most everything he says, but I appreciate how intensely he educates himself, and encourages me to do the same, whereas most people (on both sides) just hold their stubborn opinions in ignorance, relying on cheap-shot e-mails for credibility. Perhaps it has always been so, but I tire of the endless monologues and crave to both listen and participate in genuine discourse between opposing opinions. Instead it's all about picking a side, as if choosing which sports team to root for, and both compromise and understanding are considered forms of defeat.
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