America colonized as we speak?

[Peter Cohen]

The definition of colonialism is when a culture creates copies of
itself in a new location. Under this definition you could say that the
US is still being colonized today. Think about it, we have so many
different cultures "making copies" of themselves in America. immigrant
populations and foreign cultures are growing exponentially. Do you
think this is similar to the slow subversion of the Ibo by the white
people? Or are there no parallels at all? Obviously the immigrants are
not coming to america with the intentional purpose of taking over the
US, but still. Will we one day find ourselves too divided to stand up
as one, like the Ibo?

[btay...@colonial.net]

Sorry Peter, I have to disagree. America may be becoming occupied by
those of other nations, but by definition, they are not colonizing the
United States. They are not forcing their customs and language upon
us, and they are abiding by the previous laws stated before they
occupied this land. They are not creating a new legal system to
satisfy their specific needs (as most colonists did). But instead,
they are peacefully abiding by our laws. It is good that these
cultures are entering America and living on our soil. They are
peaceful and bring about a diversity that will only benefit this
nation in years to come. It is hugely valuable that as one country, we
can represent people of many different cultures peacefully, which
cannot be said about most other nations.

[janzer]

Peter, this is a really interesting idea, and I definitely see the
thinking behind it. However, I think the situation here is different
from colonization. The United States has always prided itself on being
a "melting pot" for all different cultures, and was founded with this
in mind. Therefore, I think it would not be fair to say that any
culture in particular has colonized the United States. Considering
that the United States is already a very advanced nation, it would be
almost impossible for one culture to completely dominate the others.
The majority United States citizens already identify themselves as
Americans, as opposed to the culture they previously came from. There
are exceptions to this, as some cultures began to immigrate once the
USA was already established as a powerful entity. The point I agree
with the most is that we may "one day find ourselves too divided to
stand up as one, like the Ibo". As is often said, we may need to
settle our own internal differences before we can fully tackle
external problems. To quote the song Ghetto Gospel by Tupac Shakur,
"Before we find world peace, we gotta find peace in the war on the
streets".

[jmcke...@colonial.net]

The key difference I would note here is that those who come to America
conform to the government structure present. As I have seen little in
the way of immigrant movements to redraft the Constitution, they are
not trying to copy their culture, but instead maintain their unique
culture, which in a way is conforming to American ideals. Without a
unified movement, instead staying in isolated groups, immigrants will
never have the political might to supplant "our" culture with theirs.
In the case of the Ibo, the colonizers never attempted to follow Ibo
law, and instead went directly into producing their own government
within the country. I do however remember an interesting argument made
along similar lines by Samuel Huntington, who used the example of
Miami, who were swarmed with immigrants and now have a vastly
different culture. So there is certainly a point that can be made to
this effect.

[Sloane.Brazina]

Peter- excellent post, cleverly articulated idea. I never thought of
America's "diversity" as a form of colonialism. We are a unique
country in that our populous represents hundreds if not thousands of
different cultures from around the world. That being said, it is hard
to think of yourself as a minority and only one small voice in the sea
of millions. This mentality can definitely put you in your place,
making it hard to be racist or carry a mentality of superiority. It's
interesting to think that one day very soon (in our lifetime, even)
white caucasians will be replaced as the "most abundant breed." I
wonder what the original European colonists would think of that...

[Lucy Fandel]

The idea of the US being colonized is an interesting one but I think
there are too many differences between traditional colonialism and the
mixing of cultures here. When people bring their cultures to the US,
they are not trying to change everyone's views of the world and have
them see through their eyes, they are simply looking to become a part
of our preexisting culture. Also, in colonies such as those in Africa,
only one country controlled a colony. They may have fought over who
had the power there but it was always one power per colony. The
American "melting pot" or "salad bowl" is more of a sharing of
cultures than a domination of one single culture over many.

[Peter Cohen]

Its interesting to hear what you guys have to say. I think Jake makes
the best point when he says "the difference is that we all call
ourselves Americans." The fact that we can call ourselves one country,
despite all our individual differences, is our strong point. A
colonialist in Kenya would not call himself a Kenyan, he would call
himself of whatever european country he was from. In America, we are
all Americans.

[richard...@comcast.net]

I think peter is on to something. America was created and has been
changing by immagrents. we have new cultures constantly growing and
changing the united states. Although i would not go to the extent of
calling it coloniziation, i would say that united states is changing
rapidly with the help of new cultures. in 20 years we could have a
completely different country.