I work with a Muslim from Pakistan. Know what? Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

I work in a secure military facility, and we have multiple employees who are not U.S. citizens, and are practicing Muslims who attend services weekly, won't consume alcohol or non-Halal foods, fast during Ramadan, etc. The only consequence is that they cannot obtain security clearances, and that's only because of the citizenship issue.

It's funny that the Department of Defense can see the utility of having these immigrants working within our military's research and development structure, but Pro thinks having immigrants taking low-income manual labor jobs will somehow undermine our nation. (Heck, Keith Ellison will soon have all sorts of security privileges after he swears in on his Koran in January.)

If half of the stuff Pro said about getting into barroom brawls on a regular basis in the martial arts thread is true... he'd fail the background check that my co-workers passed.

When I was a graduate student, I was frequently in the minority as a U.S. citizen. Our lab was composed of as much as 2/3 foreign nationals. Many of them spoke English... how you say, not so well. Their opinions of America as a country ran from very positive to fairly negative.

Quoth Pro: "...most Americans don't want to go work with a road gang of people the share no language with and only minimal cultural similarities."

This American thought it was fascinating. I probably learned as much over those lunches than I did getting my PoliSci minor. It definitely dispelled a lot of misconceptions I had regarding quality of life elsewhere vs. here. By a lot of objective standards (lifespan, median purchasing power, crime rates, individual rights, educational standards, etc.), it's ludicrous to pretend we're this City on the Hill that all other nations envy. America is a great nation, but it's not the only great nation.

I think that as humans we're wired for a bit of xenophobia/tribalism, largely because it had evolutionary value in protection. That said, we inherit a lot of traits (craving fatty foods was my favorite example when I taught this topic) that were great for our ancestors, but are counterproductive, morally repugnant, or just plain useless in a modern context. One of America's strengths has always been the synergy gained during the fusion of multiple cultures, and that's the guiding principle that feeds my opinions on a fairly permissive immigration policy.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com