As someone whose culture and religion deviate from those of Republicans, I'm much more terrified of any movement along the axis towards "turning American into Utah¹" than "turning America into Queens" -- on behalf of both myself and my brown neighbors. Also, I'd happily argue that anyone who loathes Queens should be ashamed of calling themselves an American. For as long as I've been around, Queens has been far more representative of the US and its promise than white middle America.

¹ (Strange example to pick given that Mormonism is pretty far removed from Evangelical Christianity, but whatever.)

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rayiner 6 hours ago | parent [-]

You’re ret-conning America. Who was Alexis de Tocqueville writing about in “Democracy in America?” It was the people in what you call “middle america.” The America that my parents left their homeland for was created by those people and reflects their culture.

There is nothing great about Queens. It’s just a richer version of Dhaka. Loud, chaotic, fractious, politically dysfunctional cities are a dime a dozen all over the world.

Utah, meanwhile, is a fucking treasure. It’s clean, organized, orderly. The people are rule following, cheerful by default, emotionally repressed, legalistic, and punctual. They’re socialized to be that way from an early age. There’s only a handful of places in the world like it in the world and it’s precious.[1]

America’s greatness isn’t whatever bullshit you’re on about. That’s not why my parents left everything behind to come here. What makes America great is that I can go down to my county office and get a birth certificate printed in 20 minutes. It’s people who are so rule following that they’ll jump off a bridge if you give them paperwork that says they have to do that. That’s what a rarity in the world.

[1] The fact that Mormonism is very different from evangelical Christianity proves that my point isn’t about religion. I don’t care what religion you are. If Little Bangladesh was clean and orderly and efficient like Salt Lake City I would live there myself go to mosque and get fat eating Bangladeshi desserts: https://yelp.to/0XejznQCXp

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tastyface 6 hours ago | parent [-]

As it so happens, my parents also left behind a failed state to come here, seemingly around the same time as yours. So don't go preaching *your* bullshit to me: I've seen the same America you have, except believe it or not, I've found great personal joy and meaning in the aspects of our messy, polycultural society that you gape at in horror. If you want perfect order at the expense of everything else, maybe you should start learning Mandarin. (You can probably get your birth certificate delivered straight from an app! What a life!) Meanwhile, I'll do everything in my political power to make your nightmare of a woke dystopia¹ take root at home. And I will look forward to visiting Queens next time I'm in NYC.

¹ (Immigrant-friendly and deeply multicultural democratic socialism without psychos at the helm.)

P.S. "ret-conning America" -- America was never supposed to be frozen in ice. I take what some dusty philosophers said 200 years ago under advisement. Other than that, they can fuck off.

	▲	rayiner 4 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> the expense of everything else, maybe you should start learning Mandarin. My greatest regret is that I wasn’t born Japanese. > I've found great personal joy and meaning in the aspects of our messy, polycultural society Good god. Are you one of those people who goes to India and marvels at how “vibrant” it is? That sentence just radiates inefficiency. > Meanwhile, I'll do everything in my political power to make your nightmare of a woke dystopia take root at home I already thought that is what democrats were aiming at. > Immigrant-friendly and deeply multicultural democratic socialism You’re describing India, except the “immigrant-friendly” part. You’re not describing any functional country that actually exists today. You’re certainly not describing any version of America that’s ever existed. You’re committing us to an unprecedented social experiment based on romantic bullshit.