My heritage is Scots/English with a wee bit of Irish/Dutch/Native American....and I am happy to claim all of them. I feel most 'aware' of the Scots/English linage, and tend to favor music and images etc. from those areas. I go to the Scottish games at various times, and enjoy meeting those who are even MORE involved in celebrating that culture and heritage......but, when I leave there, I am American, with very little 'overlay'.

Multi-culturalism is both a wonderful thing and a problem: wonderful because the virtues of having different viewpoints, knowledge and historical perspective can help any country cope with the complexities of easy travel, the internet/WWW and world commerce. But.... a problem because some folks either cannot or WILL not truly assimilate into a new culture, and expect, somehow, their adopted country/culture to adapt to them. When you have several...or many...different cultures all trying to retain the trappings, language and behavioral norms of their different backgrounds in the same urban area, conflicts are inevitable.

It is one thing to be proud of your heritage and to *preserve* its customs, foods, language, dress....etc. for special occasions...as in the Scottish games; but it is quite another make one's major 'hobby' being Irish, Russian, Latino, Black, Japanese...whatever.
   If I were to emigrate to Japan, Australia, Poland...whatever, I would expect to 1)learn the language as best as I could, 2)learn and adopt acceptable public behavior (as in 'personal space', when to bargain over price, operating a motor vehicle, how loud to talk in a restaurant...and so on. This is NOT always clear & easy, but a little effort can avoid the more serious conflicts.

If you think I am overstating this issue, you may live in an area where it really IS a minor thing...but I assure you that in major cities, it is often quite ...ummm...major. In the Washington D.C. metropolitan area, we get the best & the worst of 'multi-culturalism'. I assume there are similar issues in London, Sydney, Hong Kong, Seattle, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, ...and many more.

   It is obviously a delicate matter to discuss the fine line between embracing and welcoming a variety of 'others' to enhance one's society and knowing when and HOW to ask 'others' to please try to adapt to the customs and language they are visiting or emigrating to.
These days, it seems to me, political correctness has made it awkward to even debate the problem...and the news every day..(at least around here)..is full of stories which have elements of this situation embedded in them...though usually not explicitly stated.

I don't know all the answers...I only know that it SHOULD be addressed.

I am proud of and interested in my cultural heritage...and you should feel the same about yours...but we MUST have some common ground for their comfortable co-existence.


I will now retreat to a corner and see if there is any opinion on my concerns.