Tommy D > Recent Status Updates

The author has done a good job of explaining history, but so far has been obviously biased against Europeans and Christians.

I can tell this book is going to be very interesting.

I was confused about what was happening as the plot suddenly switched, but now I understand what is going on. At times, it is very interesting.

The story is moving fast. I like it so far.

I’m liking the book so far. He switches between different immigrants and their stories, but the focus is on Northern Europeans coming to the Midwest. So far, most have been poor and needing a new start.

The West struggles to impose its values on other societies as other societies become more powerful and assert themselves.

The West will likely have more success with Latin American and Southern African countries due to similar religious affiliations and culture comparative to Islam and Asian civilizations.

Ukraine and Taiwan fall along the fault lines of civilizations. Ukraine is stuck between being Western and Russian in terms of civilizations.

Nations are, on occasion, attempting to choose which civilization they belong to. This has dramatic impact on Central and Eastern European countries who wish to be Western, especially with respect to Russia. Australia is also attempting to be Asian. Ultimately, culture and religion draw the fault lines between civilizations.

Countries used to identify with ideology. This allowed them, regardless of location to choose sides. The question was, “whose side are you on?” Now, countries increasingly identify with at civilizational levels. The question is, “who are you?” Equally important is the hatred of those different from us. As modernization comes, universalization does not necessarily tag along.

Huntington focused on how the relative power of the West is declining. He used two major and presently occurring events to justify this. Firstly, he used what he dubbed the “Asian Affirmation.” East Asian countries are rapidly expanding economically and socially. The “Islamic Resurgence” is evidence that Muslim power relative to the West will continue to grow.

As the world becomes increasingly modernized, many intellectuals assumed religion would fade. The opposite is true. Across the world, religious revivalism occurred as countries became more modern. This is especially true for nations who have strong historic religious roots but went through periods of atheism or passive religious practice.

Modernization and westernization are not inherently intertwined. Different societies and civilizations have different approaches to westernization and modernization. Such approaches are rejectionist, Kemalism, and reformist.

Huntington has focused on the history of civilizations, primarily focusing on Western civilization and how it differs from other non-Western peoples and civilizations.

The principle driving force of any state action is its civilizational belonging. Western states act in accordance with western interests. Right now, the world can be divided into the one West and the non-Western many.

Globalization and globalism are not inherently intertwined, but the impacts transnational elites have left on the US is easy to see. It is because of their transnational identities they hold they promote globalism. There are 3 reasons in which they do this. Universalism, moralism, and economic interests are the three categories they fall into.

Huntington focused on how diversity among immigrants enhances assimilation as they have no cultural bloc to cling to as a minority. They are forced to become Americanized. However, Hispanics tend to migrate en masse and without dispersion. This does not promote Americanization but rather Hispanization of their respective regions, namely the Southwest and specifically California.

Recently, Huntington has focused on assimilation and how certain immigrant groups assimilate differently than others based on certain conditions. For example, Cubans settled primarily in Miami. They established, for many reasons, a society very similar to Cuba itself. Hispanics, Mexicans in particular, are doing this in the West and Southwest. This is not inherently wrong, but the conversation should be had.

This book makes very intriguing points on how the current immigration climate differs from past immigration. The ideas, notions, and existence of dual citizenship, remittances, Hispanization, and ampersands are the most notable ways immigration has changed since 1965.