Are We Importing Antisemitism? And Other Concerns...

Ilana Mercer rightly expresses concern over the effect that immigration from Muslim countries (which, let's be honest here, have a high level of antisemitism, not in the sense that they don't completely trust Jewish people, but in the sense that they want them dead) might have on American Jewry.

The problem we currently have with immigration is that our policies are not based on any rational notion of what is best for the country; there is little attempt to make certain that immigrants assimilate, or even that they wish to assimilate or even that they have made any moves before coming here to assimilate. Moreover, constatnly streaming in new immigrants without a break makes it difficult to assimilate the ones who are here, because they can form a critical mass that can maintain enough of their culture to avoid assimilating.

Now don't get me wrong; I have nothing against people from Mexico or Africa or the Middle East maintaining some of their traditions. But we need to make certain that the American concept of government, the American concept of law and order, the American concept of how to relate to neighbors and to family (e.g. wife as partner) and the general American ethos firmly saturates their minds.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that only Americans believe in these concepts, but other countries often have a different conception of what they mean or of how to achieve them. Not necessarily every one of these things, but people from some other countries might have a different concept of family relationships (women as chattel) or of relationship to society (protect your own people first), or of government (the goal of goverment is to enrich family and friends through nepotism). Not that there aren't some Americans with these ideas, or that most non-Americans will necessarily have them, but we only need a small number of people with a vastly different idea of society to cause problems. This is especially true when we consider that a lot of the Mexicans who come to the US do not particularly like US culture, they are just looking for the jobs it produces. While I am sympathetic, such people will not necessarily make model pro-American citizens if they wind up staying here (and let's face it, the Mexican government would rather be rid of its poor by sendng them to the US than deal with the corruption, racism and other problems that make poverty such a common Mexican problem).

The point is that we need a more regulated system for letting people in the country, and for the next few years, should probably greatly decrease the number of people we let in and even deport some of those who are in here, as we assimilate those who remain.

And lest we think that Mexican immigration is unrelated to the topic of this post, let me remind you that foreign-born Hispanics have the second highest incidence of antisemitism of any ethnic group in the US (Yes, the title of this post is based on the title of that Steve Sailer essay).