Summary Of Repressive Tolerance

Many nationalities came to America in hopes of a better life for them and their families. However, it was not easy time for them after arriving in America. Each nationality encountered obstacles, some more difficult than others, but in the end they each persevered. One nationality that experienced a considerable amount of difficulties were the Native Americans. There may have been over 2 million Indian people living in what is now the United States (Olson & Beal p.18).

Paine’s book first discusses race and he writes: “If there is a country in the world, where concord, according to common calculation, would be least expected, it is America. Made up, as it is, of people from different nations, accustomed to different forms and habits of government, speaking different languages...” (Paine) Since the beginning of America, immigrants have been coming here to start a new life in a new country. This has resulted in a unique culture because all walks of life have influenced American customs.

Humans rarely change their ways; they stay in their own worlds and always interact with the same types of people. Unfortunately, this habit often creates unseen barriers that divide and alienate human beings from one another. In Luis Alberto Urrea’s book The Devil’s Highway, Urrea provides a personal perspective to immigration by telling the story of 26 illegal immigrants, known as the Wellton 26, who are abandoned as they cross the Mexico-U.S. border. Through their story, Urrea proves there are invisible borders among people that create prejudice, such as language, ethnicity, and economic status. By reading The Devil’s Highway, it is clear that these barriers must be broken down to ensure harmony within society.

Instead Pontrieri argues, he welcomes everyone into his town. However, by using this technique, he fails to acknowledge that ignoring the problem of hate towards immigrants in his community is failure to protect

According to the 2012 National Survey of Latina/os, the respondents indicated that discrimination against Hispanics/Latina/os is a major problem, and it prevents Hispanics/Latina/os from succeeding in America (Pew Hispanic Center, 2012). Furthermore, Markert (2010) stated that there are specific sociocultural and sociopolitical factors that may fuel hostility towards Latina/os. Markert (2010) highlighted a popular discourse in anti-Hispanic rhetoric is the assumption of illegality among Latina/os and the assumption that Latina/os refuse to learn English may increase hostility towards Latina/os. Given the sociopolitical and social discourses around Latina/os, there has been an increase in the literature designed to understand the racially discriminatory

In the process of migration, indigenous peoples have been able to solidify their ethnic identity, which has allowed them to establish themselves and to maintain very close ties with their home communities. BY creating communities so similar to their homeland, it further promotes and strengths the bond to the indigenous homeland and increases the difference between non-indigenous and indigenous Mexicans (Salagrado 7). Although indigenous and non-indigenous Mexicans are different ethnically in many ways, they do share some similarities.

Immigration is deeply rooted in the American culture, yet it is still an issue that has the country divided. Marcelo and Carola Suarez-Orozco, in their essay, “How Immigrants Became ‘Other’” explore the topic of immigration. They argue that Americans view many immigrants as criminals entering America with the hopes of stealing jobs and taking over, but that this viewpoint is not true. They claim that immigrants give up a lot to even have a chance to come into America and will take whatever they can get when they come. The Suarez-Orozco’s support their argument using authority figures to gain credibility as well as exemplification through immigrant stories.

In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.

The immigrant topic has had a long back and forth history with the United States. Since the beginning of this issue the next generation has adopted the common fear of outsiders that don’t look and sound like others around them. From 1900 to 1920, nearly 24 million immigrants arrived during what is known as the “Great Wave”. The outbreak of World War I reduced immigration from Europe, but mass immigration resumed upon the war 's conclusion, and Congress responded with a new immigration policy: the national-origins quota system passed in 1921 and revised in 1924(PEGLER-GORDON, ANNA).

It was quite interesting to study the arguments of authors coming from a variety of schools of thought. Even the authors I disagreed with I still found interesting and beneficial to my understanding of politics. Herbert Marcuse’s essay, Repressive Tolerance, was my least work covered in the latter half of the semester. His method to reduce the harmful effects of “pure tolerance” does not produce a real solution, but rather a continuation of the problem tailored to his views. Marcuse’s biased stance goes against the objective nature of tolerance, his call to be intolerant of opinions emanating from the Right is undemocratic as it undermines the views of one group in favor of another, and his method to fix the problem simply replaces the current power structure with another.

It was so frowned upon that my grandmother simply believed it would be easier to never teach my mother Spanish or major portions of our heritage so that she would never have to go through the difficulties of assimilating that my grandmother was exposed to as a child. Indeed, the discussions of reservation schools in the Carstarpharen text heavily drew this experience to mind in my readings of it. Indeed, much as “reservation schools were designed for cultural genocide” through “ forced assimilation” (Carstarpharen and Sanchez 2012, 96), so was a large portion of my family’s culture eradicated through expectations placed on minorities to conform to an American lifestyle. Moreover, the song “Paciencia y Fe” comes to mind when I think of the experiences of moving to America and assimilating have played in my ancestors’ lives. As the song discusses a woman’s experiences with immigrating from Cuba to New York, gradually losing her culture while assimilative orders

At first Reed easily notices the small cultural differences such as the lack of cutlery at the dinner table (48) and also the customs of marriage, which usually signifies wealth and is “no more binding then the most casual attachment” (53). But later he begins to see that the American idea of Mexicans has been very off base. This first started when his misconceptions were debunked by the hospitable behavior of the people he encountered. Reed gives context of the American perception of Mexicans for example when he says, “I want to mention one fact [about Mexicans]” and making it a matter of importance. He continues, “Americans had insisted that the Mexican was fundamentally dishonest” (65) and then contrasts this assumption by describing the wonderful hospitality that nearly all Mexicans showed him during his travels.

The Sociological Perspective of Immigration and Multiculturalism From the sociological angle, the issue of immigration and its effects on national identity and multiculturalism can be viewed from a completely different perspective. The current regime wars and other conflicts across the world have caused more human displacement and suffering than did World War II. Even as refugees move towards Europe, many die on their way along the Mediterranean region. Still, other suffer o their death in European soil. For socialists, solidarity with other suffering human beings is the only solution to the refugee and immigration crisis, regardless of other concerns such as national identity and multiculturalism.

Diversity is a topic that is very sensitive to society today unfortunately there are people out there who take it to extremes. It’s the uniqueness of an individual who are different in their own way rather it is race, ethnicity, gender, beliefs, and social standing. However, people see others who are different as an alien basically in our society. America is made up of various ethnicities, race, etc basically we are a mixed breed or a mutt, Different cultures came to America to escape the wars and fights that were going on in their country. Our country represents freedom but instead of working together we are fighting each other for being different such as enslaving African Americans.

Unlike many other political thinkers, the idea of tolerance was really crucial to Marcuse. Tolerance means to be satisfied with something, that one does not necessarily agree with. In today’s world, most individuals believe that abortion should be a women ’s right.