Nov. 8 (F,), 2024 The fate of a country built by serial waves of immigrants

Aug. 28 (W) 2019 Perhaps, A French Prank?

艋舺臺灣

Who says that "immigration is the sincerest form of flattery"?
Flattery to which, what, and how?
What is the opposite of "Flattery"?
What about the brain/brawn-drained countries? Why?


艋舺臺灣

A first-hand experience:

Before the Global Village is not a phantom, most of the immigrating and emigrating journeys are no fun at all!

Ask your great-great-great parents, if they were NOT Native Americans and got an opportunity to be honest to you !

Unfortunately, I think I may belong to the 3rd type of the cultural sojourner on the list - been there, done that and keep on going and leaving...

My sincere advice: If you don't Need it (not want), don't do it! :)!

艋舺臺灣

I heard some interesting stories about hardship from the local students and friends regarding their Emigrating from the rural to cities, from one state to another state, or from the south, west, east, and north to some parts of the US. (while being white. Imagine, with different colors)!!!
The disorientation, difficulties, and adjustments are TOO much to bear !

艋舺臺灣

Sociologists call it as a type of horrific "anomie" as part of all sorts of inescapable migrating experiences.

Jan 14 (Sn) 2018 Do you like to put the "Shxxhxle" in a gentle perspective? Yes, I do...

Do you like to put the "Shxxhxle" (Axxxxle) in a gentle perspective? Yes, I do...

When the us leader condescended on some countries with a vulgar word of “Sxxxhxle”, the gentle and kind scenarios toward this nothing-"surprising"-event may look like these:

Perspective#1
This person intentionally reinforces his base and the non-base with his “non-political innocence”, or “straight-forwardness” which is the non-existent attribute or character of the most career politicians, so both his supporters and dissidents may not fuss up a non-professional business-politician’s cute conducts. Thus, the American people will be saturated with these types of self-claimed genius-acts and loosen up the alert of the continuous narcissistic behaviors. Finally, everyone might as well just drop the potential Impeachments.

You don’t prosecute a mentally disturbed person, even so genuinely faked, do you?

Meanwhile, could you image if the other presidential candidate had won the game, how boring, and disappointed it might have been to the mushrooming media mouth-pieces, including the high time of all sorts of comedians, the booming political junkies and analysts, as well as the hype of Wall Street speculators ?

Furthermore, how the global politic-economic games might have lost its "dynamics", if not the highly demanded the "lime-lights" on the playfulness of the running bull in the china shop?

Perspective#2
It manifests the limitation of the individual life experiences, such as, the ability to put oneself into others’ shoes. As a short story goes that a 2nd grader tells his/her teacher who discusses the concept of life styles between the rich and poor families. The kid raised his/her hand to express ideas, “I think my family is very poor, because our housemaids always wear the same old clothing, my tutors bring in lunch bags without fruits, and my father’s chauffeur’s shoes are so worn out…  I think my father does not have money to hire people who are not so poor. My poor daddy.... My family is really poor! ” Social class experiences are unique to each stratum.

Insiders have hard time to comprehend the outsiders’ situations. The empathetic simulations might only capture a glimpse of different life styles and conditions. Between Us and Them, there exists an invisible chasm unable to be crossed over. A good example is this: there was one of the brat emperors in the history when he heard the officials reporting the death tolls of people in a severe famine, “Your Majesty, the mass has no rice, wheat, nor corns to eat. They are starving to death…We need to work out a disastrous famine relief Act as soon as possible...” The emperor, then, absent-mindlessly raised his voice, “Why are you guys so stupid?! If they don’t have rice or wheat, why not just eat meat to stop the hunger?” (朱門酒肉臭, 野有餓死骨). There is a Taiwanese saying, “He who eats rice readily made every day, does not know how much costs a kilo of rice” (吃米不知米價). People taking many things for granted is a part of the habituated outcomes of conditioning.

Perspective#3
Ask these questions and answer honestly - who and which generation truly work hard, if not work smart for the America? Who are those truly representing the US spirit - the land of the Free and the home of the Brave? Who are those living off the social programs, particularly, with their very own decadent downward social mobility, seeking rewards with the least efforts, exploiting those who have hard time to climb up the social ladder?

How does it look like in the US, if you cut off the immigrants of the high-end foreign "voluntary self-enslaving, intelligent labor forces” and the low-end INVOLUNTARY cheap-slaving laborers? What does the middle-end of mediocrity seek, if not comfort, easy life, without getting finger dirty, then what else? A proverb says that the lazy dogs in the manger, complain and force the hard-working, hard-hatted cats away from competing the food sources.
  
If you recall the history of immigrants, you might encounter the fact that the ONLY people in the US, who don’t take things for granted,  are,  the First-Generation Immigrants, and in the past, they were probably, your grand-grand-grand… mothers and fathers. They had/have to fight and work hard for everything with vitality infusing into the aging, deteriorating society with new blood. From the shamed native language and learning the new one, struggling and competing for jobs (not with the black, yellow or brown yet), protecting belongings, adapting the new living environment which, sometimes, could relate to life and death. In short, they needed to adapt, adjust, and relearn the new whole cultural package (even within the Caucasian Ethnic groups). But after the successful adaptation, the upgraded status separates them from the new comers. The story repeats itself from the day one of the Mayflower till today in the countries of immigrants, including, such as, Australia, Canada etc. white immigrated nations (WIN), ( those of which are not WIN in the Southeast Asia have different stories). Then, much later, the story was added with different colored classes into this competitive arena.

Perspective#4
Is he qualified to be a typical Social Darwinist baby? The phrase “survival of the fittest” is best understood as "Survival of the form that will leave the most copies of itself in successive generations". Though the notion was originated from the Darwinism, in fact, Herbert Spencer was the first person who coined these words. 

Spencer after reading
On the Origin of Species of Charles Darwin, published in 1859, he used this phrase - “Survival of the fittest” in his Principles of Biology, published in 1864. He drew parallels between his own economic theories and Darwin's biological ones: "This survival of the fittest, which I have here sought to express in mechanical terms, is that which Mr. Darwin has called 'natural selection', or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life".  This juxtaposed phenomenon of social and natural sciences might have presumed that human species has the similar evolutionary process to that of the non-human living organisms – those who are “stronger” are on the top of the human totem.

Nevertheless,  the questions are, how people are or become stronger, and stronger in what sense? Yes, we do see people like Shaquille O'neal growing up to the 7’1”, 325 lbs., or Michael Jordan being able to jump higher than the basketball hoop, or actress Audrey Hepburn, born with the natural beauty. These are biologically based or naturally endowed strength by human values, as in the animal kingdom, lions with stronger muscles, bigger claws and tougher fangs, will dominate the pride. These values are biologically pre-determined attributes (but determined by Whom, and what?) Nevertheless, if there were not the sport institutions, or the entertaining industries existing and demanding these biologically attractive attributes, then the supreme height, speed, and beauty might have not been discovered, cultivated, trained, or supplied.  For example, there was a short story about a traveler who visited Africa. During the trip, he accidentally found a boy who played soccer with kids in a poor neighborhood. The excellent skills of this boy shocked the traveler who, in the long run helped recruit him to the Europe. Then, the story ended with the success, money, and fame bestowed to this used-to-be a mini poor boy. The similar stories can also be found from many baseball stars from Lain America in the US. Major Leagues. Individual talents might count for nothing, or being buried, if not cultivated in the interconnected social institutions or systems.

As a cliché goes that it takes many villages for a long period of time to let a genius flourishing. In sociological terms, it refers to the accumulated, both positive and/or negative national/cultural capitals, and the inter-generational social mobility that nurture or hinder the individual's naturally endowed potentials, or given defects (i.e., the Ascribed Statuses, as mentioned in the previous article of life chance vs. life opportunity). 

A familiar setting of the writer’s: in the classroom, she observes that most students tend to agree to the notion of meritocracy. Most of them believe in those who are on the top of social ladder are smarter, work harder, and deserve the “merits” they earn/deserve “individually”. Even more interesting phenomenon is that students also reflect they earned every bit of their own “success” (most of them come from the working-class background). The playing field is leveled or not, which is not important, for oftentimes, it is not visible or out of thoughts, but how much efforts one puts into that counts. In fact, this mixed blessing individualism is quite inspiring that people need to believe in self-reliance to ask what oneself can do for the country, not the other way around confidently. Furthermore, most people believe opportunities (what kind of opportunity is not questioned) are available to everyone, “equally”, particularly, in the US. A good scenario in the classroom looks like this when the topic is focused on the social mobility:

John, “There are tons of job opportunities available. Some people are just lazy who don’t want to pull themselves up and prefer to stay home living off well-fare programs, or just beg for money, instead of sending their job application forms to the hiring companies. Today, on the way driving to the school, I saw both McDonald and Walmart are hiring people…” Jenny continues,” Ya, one of my neighbors, getting government checks monthly, purchases everything they want, and I, have to work my butt off…”. Finally, Jamie says, “O. K., this is my family thing. My sister got pregnant at the age of 17 and dropped out of school. Now she gets everything, from food stamps, to housing subsidy… Then I have to earn every penny to pay my tuition (in fact, 56% of it is from the local tax payers) and the rest of bills…”  As an instructor, in this situation, you cannot deny that there are the diligent, lazy and people between these two spectra with different dispositions from various social strata.  People with bootstraps to pull themselves up might not understand some, who might not have boots, nor bootstraps. You also think of Nickle and Dimed regarding how, some people are deeply trapped in the culture of poverty INVOLUNTARILY, unhealthy living conditions, lack of basic job-seeking capacities (e.g., the ability to pay the rent, get a car, and the rest of cost associated with it: the car insurance policy, gas, parking spot/fees, maintenance, and the rest of utility bills), just to name a few. Then, the lucky ones, believe in the just-world-phenomenon (you-get-what-you-deserve),  regardless the deeply intertwined social forces imposing on every individual with no exception, which, unfortunately, are invisible to the most people.Yes, god helps those who help themselves - the statement can get you and politicians no wrong.

Most of us are standing on the shoulders of giants, dwarfs, and the heights between them to begin our life journeys. On the giant’s, may give you broader horizon and inspire you with higher goals, but, some might not fully take such an advantage or use/be aware of the privilege to advance themselves or humanity. Whereas, on the dwarf’s, most exposed to the limited eyesight, and the thriving spirit may be left less inspired or under-developed, while some learn to stay put with unmotivated mindset via the scarce opportunities.  The downward social mobility, in this case, can spiral down, unless unusual conditions break up the cyclical conditions. Those in the between, there are various possible mobility for better and worse. General speaking, with necessary and sufficient scaffolds, the better well-beings can be achieved.

Within a society, or between societies, there are different shoulders of giants, dwarfs, and the heights between them to stand on. These giants and dwarfs are part of the global stratification system derived from the historical conditions: culture diffusion, invention, discovery, geo-political formation, imperialism, neo/colonialism, and the rest man-made ideologies shackle human mind via various power structures.

Are there potential solutions available to ameliorate the aforementioned conditions? Which of the following institution do you still believe in making the potential transformation possible - government/politics, military, economy, religion, family, health care, media, or education?

Nov 11 (F), 2016 Who are those living off the high-end and low-end immigrants?

Crystal LC Huang
13 hrs ·

What about an instant Exodus of the first and second generation immigrants of the following two types: ( if happening, will please the uneducated as well as the pseudo-educated intellects, and then make the profiteering business and the smart policy makers want to kick the bucket!)

Type One/High end:
engineers, statisticians, doctors, IT entrepreneurs, nurses, mathematicians, chemists, professors, CEOs, businessmen/women, artists of all kinds, humanists, environmentalists, sport-celebrities, entertainers, and the rest of natural/social scientists, Including several Nobel Prize winners.

Type Two/low end:
soldiers, hotel-restaurant workers, household workers, factory workers, slaughters, veggie/fruit pickers, sanitation workers, construction workers, street cleaners, undertakers, unfairly paid silent workers, forced underground workers, workers of the untouchables and the rest....

How many are they? What are the impacts ? How much is the loss of the tax revenue?

11You, 林小艾, Plamen Kazakov and 8 others
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Crystal LC Huang Who are those living off the high-end and the low-end immigrants?
 ( no, there is no such things called -  "settlers" ) do you know?
Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hrs · Edited

Marcie Bakker I'm first generation. I would leave if I can take my family including my fur babies of course.
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Crystal LC Huang Are you, like me- the first generation ? Or you have different interpretation?
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Marcie Bakker Crystal LC Huang My Mom was from Germany.
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Crystal LC Huang Planning to do - waiting for all my feline Majesties'
Approvals :)! They are part of the Go-between-types ( ya, b/w and living off the have and the have-not) of the earlier immigrants!
Like · Reply · 1 · 10 hrs · Edited



Mary Shepardson Can I come even though I'm only second generation? I don't want to be left here with all the a-holes!
Unlike · Reply · 1 · 7 hrs

Oct 18 (Sn), 2015 ~ Vernacular Sociology without Border Series ~ Pop-quiz for tonight: "Settlers vs. Immigrants" (will be continued)

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Crystal Huang
10 mins · Edited ·

~ Vernacular Sociology without Border Series ~ Pop-quiz for tonight:

Why Did and do people come to /stay in the US?
(Note, very interesting, a female, either a political pundit and/or an ideological demagogue claimed that her ancestors came to the US as "Settlers", not "Immigrants"...)

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江浪 likes this.
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Crystal Huang Note: so far as we know that this lady does not relate to any Native American lineage.
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Crystal Huang Interestingly, a female, either a political pundit and/or an ideological demagogue claimed that her ancestors came to the US as "Settlers", not "Immigrants"...) Note: so far as we know that this lady does not relate to any Native American lineage, even though, the latter, is not fully understood as a part of "Settlers' culture" or "Immigrants' culture"...

Crystal Huang "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"?
Who were/are they? Where were/are they? How were/are they?
Isn't it nice to search for the Land of those who are "the Free-minded", and those who are "the Brave" to inhabit/"rejuvenate" this great land?

The on-going debates or conversations:

Version A: an opinion from the Internet.  
http://curate.tumblr.com/post/852891253/settlers-vs-immigrants

"So, let’s stop saying “this is a nation of immigrants.”

This is really interesting and makes total f__king sense and yet is something I have not really thought of before, so (and god, yes, I know I’m speaking from privilege and I’m really sorry about that) but could someone please explain to me the difference between settlers and immigrants? Because, clearly, out of all the groups that have showed up on this particular chunk of land, it’s the people identified as “Settlers” in the article who became/were/always will be the ruling class, and I’ve always thought “we’re all immigrants” is a way to bring the “settlers” - white anglo-saxon protestants, for the most part - down to the same level as everyone else."
 (via cherrispryteaintsobrite)

Version B from an Internet site:
"Settlers- form their own segregated community, they are not interested in learning the language or the cultural attributes of the nation they occupy. They have come to settle - to take over a territory.

Immigrants- give their allegiance to the nation they have moved to. They become integrated into the society of their future. They have come to contribute to the whole."

Version C: from an Internet site:
"A settler is a person who has migrated to an area and established permanent residence there, often to colonize the area. Settlers are generally people who take up residence on land and cultivate it, as opposed to nomads. Settlers are sometimes termed “colonists” or “colonials” and—in the United States — “pioneers”.

Excerpts from Samuel Huntington’s provocative book, Who Are We? - The Challenges to America’s National Identity (Simon & Schuster):

In its origins America was not a nation of immigrants, it was a society, or societies, of settlers who came to the New World in the 17th and 18th centuries. Its origins as an Anglo-Protestant settler society have, more than anything else, profoundly and lastingly shaped American culture, institutions, historical development, and identity.

Settlers and immigrants differ fundamentally.

Settlers leave an existing society, usually in a group, in order to create a new community, a city on a hill, in a new and often distant territory. They are imbued with a sense of collective purpose. Implicitly or explicitly they subscribe to a compact or charter that defines the basis of the community they create and their collective relation to their mother country.

Immigrants, in contrast, do not create a new society. They move from one society to a different society. Migration is usually a personal process, involving individuals and families, who individually define their relation to their old and new countries. The 17th and 18th century settlers came to America because it was a tabula rasa. Apart from Indian tribes, which could be killed off or pushed westward, no society was there; and they came in order to create societies that embodied and would reinforce the culture and values they brought with them from their origin country.

Immigrants came later because they wanted to become part of the society the settlers had created. Unlike settlers, they experienced “culture shock” as they and their offspring attempted to absorb a culture often much at odds with that which they brought with them. Before immigrants could come to American, settlers had to found America."

My points of view:
Some WASP "settlers" ( immigrants?)  might be admired for their ingenuity and capacity to find/invade/occupy the "free lands" and control the "free or cheap labors" - the two most important capitals to create a "new community with collective consciousness". But, not all the early settlers/immigrants adopted this mode, such as the Amish people who were settlers/immigrants in the early US history, yet, they did not shape much about the "American culture, institutions, historical development, and identity". Why?

What substantiated  the early "settlers'" founding America successfully if lands were not "found" free, and "slaves" were as expensive as the smart, hard-working WASPs who smelled less like the Social Darwinist colonial masters, meanwhile, the laws, the rights were written by the WASPs, of the WASPs, and for the WASPs?

So what are the differences between the "early settlers" vs the "early immigrants", such as WASP "Settlers" vs, Irish-Italian "Immigrants"? or "WASP" Settlers" vs. "Amish" Settlers?

What if the early Native Indians were Settlers from other continent?  They settled down in America, shaped their cultural identity, kept the Natural environment intact without artificial consumption, air-water pollution, endangered species, lost habitats, and dysfunctional institutions, since no other "Settlers" resided on this land before them (Surely, they were "noble savages", "lack of" technological ingenuity,  monetary hunger, and competitive appetites). Later "WASP Settlers" abhorred the early "Settlers'" constructed reality, and then systematically engaged in the world largest magnitude of genocide in order to create their own identity? 

March 30 (Sn), 2014 Crystal's Serendipitous Teaching-Learning-Sharing#27: Pedagogical Recipe #10

Crystal Huang shared a link.
about an hour ago

Pedagogical recipe Sharing!!! - at the end...

Could you believe it???

The attached song clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6_OwvyyH30 - which I compiled yesterday titled "My Hometown Is In China Mainland " 誰的家在大陸上- is one of my MOST favorite songs when I was a kid who is a 6th generation Taiwanese- in origin. People of my generation might also be familiar with songs such as 長城謠 (Ballads of the Great Wall) and 我的家在山的那一邊 (My home is on the other side of the mountains) which I might want to make into videos soon.

It needs a little patience for my twists and turns to reach the pedagogical recipe part! Though, this writing mainly is about songs, it also touched a little bit of other socio-cultural aspects.

There were 2 major types of Chinese songs popular in Taiwan during 50s, 60s and early 70s. One was nostalgic songs reminiscing China. The other one was military or patriotic songs to stir up the Will for fighting back to Reclaim China. The most prevalent sentiment during that time was that no one ever dared to ask - by whom, for whom, and of whom to get this holy task done!

These songs were composed by China-mainlanders. Many Chinese people followed the defeated Nationalist Government to Taiwan after they lost the civil war against the Communist China. Since then, Taiwan functioned as another military base for the Nationalist government's "Regain China Policy - 反攻大陸" after Japan’s colonialization in Taiwan for half of a century (1895-1945).

After this brief historical depiction, now getting into my focal point- in reminiscence, there were not many expensive, programmed, or chicken-cooped entertaining activities available, except the fresh air, butterflies, breeze, grass, dirt-n-clay, self-made rag dolls and so on when we were kids. For indoor activities, listening songs and learning to sing from our neighbors’ radios (my parents never owned a radio - a luxury item at that time- throughout our childhood) was a great treat. But, at school, you did not have much choice for songs which you needed to learn and sing. This could be one of the reasons I cultivated such a taste to listen and sing many Chinese Songs and loved them dearly. As a young kid, nice melody was always the first thing pleasing your eardrums that made you a day! Who cared the lyrics at that stage of life?

As growing a little bit older as a middle-school girl, then suddenly what the song trying to say did mean something. But they were almost the same, describing the wonderful things in China which we had never seen, never touched, or felt - from my reminiscence, in fact, it was quite a healthy way to cultivate the capacity of imagination as a young kid.

Furthermore, the war between the Nationalists and Communists caused the brutal separation of the new Immigrants' ties with China. They mainly comprised soldiers, bureaucrats, business people and commoners with an approximation of 2 million to swamp into this Island to be the Ruling Class during the chaotic transitional stage of 1949. It created a unique type of domination of low-quality Minority ruled the high-end majority due to the historical mischief and international irresponsibility. Any contact with people in China would be severely jailed or executed. Then you might be able to comprehend why these songs, poetry, and the rest of mind-feeders were so desperately needed with tremendous influence on people's daily thinking and behaving in Taiwan during those 4 decades (to Chinamainlanders and the rest of the populations). These happy and wonderful images typically depicted the OLD China's cornucopia with lovely 4 seasons, the magnificent landscapes, the sweet family, the sentimental love stories and so on so forth, and then suddenly the Communist Bandits destroyed everything….burring, looting, and plundering like the wild beasts… and we should be courageous to fight for the Nationalists to arrest and kill all the Communists, such as Sha Zhu Ba Mao (殺朱拔毛, slaughter Zhu Der and Pluck the hair of Mao Tse Dong)…
As an adult, recalling those various type of socio-economic-political domination and controlling both from Japan and China onto Taiwanese, one is hard to deny the power of Ideological manipulation via "Mandarinization" in addition to its predecessor of "Japanization" throughout Taiwan's modern herstory.

To understand the Mandarization process, it had better for me to brief the Japan's imperial-colonialism (1895-1945). In the early stage of Japanese oppression onto Taiwanese was brutally bloody to tame the socio-political dissidents (both the aborigines and the early immigrants). After the resistance was subdued, the Japanese colonial government implemented series of Japanization policies to transform/reform Taiwanese into the Emperor's loyal subjects. To render the few Taiwanese intellectuals, she prohibited the socio-cultural elites from studying Law, Politics and Economics. A tiny group of privileged Taiwanese were encouraged to study Science and Medicine and then selectively recruited or absorbed into the Japanese's system.

After World War II, a couple of unresolved Treaties from Japan's surrender suspending Taiwan's international status in uncertainty (the controversial issues of De Facto vs. De Jure status). The Nationalist Government left China after defeated by the Communists. As to the early stage of Chinese Nationalists' domination on Taiwanese (since 1947), it was not so well planned out as that of Japan's (a mutli-level socio-economic-cultural chasms and chaos resulted into a massacre with casualties of 20,000 Taiwanese. Majority were social elites. Detailed info could be found in my thesis - A Multi-Level Analysis of 228 Social Movement (A Massacre) of 1947 in Taiwan, deposited in the General Library of UW-Madison, 1993. After the socio-econ-cultural clash was suppressed, the long term witch-hunting Taiwanese started resulting in the White Terrors era - the Chinese style of McCarthyism imposing on Taiwan for more than 4 decades.

Here is a snapshot to recall some tiny events that most of us experienced:

When we were young, we were not allowed to speak our mother tongue at school (Taiwanese which, in fact, could be traced back its root relating to Fujianese, a dialect of the Fujian province in China). Japanese was denigrated as some older generations were taught and sometimes deemed as disloyal or traitors for using a foreign language. Majority of the curricular subject matters were all about China and Chinese - in a nutshell, NOTHING about Taiwan.

These were routine themes in daily learning of the curriculum, such as the Chinese style of Pledge of Allegiance to China, vows to reclaim China, recitation of National Zestiest, obeying all sorts of authority and doctrines. Had I ever questioned something??? Or anyone else? Ohhh, yes, ask those dare-devils (if still alive) who questioned, either disappeared from the community or found in the prisons. Silence was golden- a universal truth, as my mother constantly worried us children saying something wrong and innocent while persecuted. Thus, you saw, you listened, but kept mouth shut - there was never ever a question questioned by me throughout my student life in Taiwan for being such an "academically achieved one" and the winner of several great scholarships! Indeed, we lived in a question-free society!! What an out-of the-question wonderful world!

I was so good at learning about China, a pure successful product of the "Reclaiming Recovering China Educational Policy" - the poetry, literature, arts, music, history, geography, politics – all the 4000 years package of wonderful knowledge that instilled into me, I could regurgitate precisely as the teachers and all the tough exams wanted.

With so much great knowledge learned at schools, I barely knew the land, the culture, the history of this - Ilha Formosa - that kept me alive as a 5th generation Taiwanese.

Now I found this old and familiar song "My Home Is In China Mainland" that I sang it so often when I was a kid which indeed gave me lots of imagination yet without the required emotion or feeling about a great country that I should embrace dearly.

Now I am in the US, and I am trying to sing this song with feeling, just like other foreign songs that I love to listen and sing. I try to be mature enough to empathize the emotional part of those early Nationalist immigrants in Taiwan during those awkwardly separated time, just as I am here now. But listening and singing an another country’s song, you can be very much carefree and appreciate more in the melody, while those songs learned from early school days were so heavily loaded with socio-political ideologies foie-grased into the little brain so seamlessly, beautifully, and unforgettably. To songs, I was defenseless. Maybe, like most kids of my age, listening, singing repeatedly the songs with implanted love, imaginary care, and illusory ideologies, we might have become to believe - Yes, all the Taiwanese, one day, will reclaim China for Chinese! How glorious and grandiose mind-set it was that once occupied my tiny heart with such a strong belief :)!

By the way, why I sang and mentioned this song at this juncture? Well, here is the trigger in addition to the book that I just know a little bit- "The 400 Years Herstory of Taiwan" by Mr. Su Beng who is one of earliest "Questioners" and escaped persecution in exile for 6 decades. For these 2 weeks in my Diversity studies classes,


we have been focusing on how Ideologies dominate the markets of thinking and behaving; why and how certain people purchase/sell, produce/consume specific types of ideologies to recognize or justify the constructed world.

This Unit is the toughest one among the all for this spring semester, because it deals with Ideologies!!!!!!!!

When I was preparing for my lesson plans, the tune of “My Hometown is in ChinaMainland” suddenly lingered in my ears. Then I got this uhha moment for this short writing as my teaching materials.

Now, getting back to the serious part: So what is ideology? Hard to find a consensus.

Here is only a general definition of ideology which is a widely shared belief or idea that has been constructed and disseminated by the POWERFUL that primarily reflects their experiences and that functions for their interests.

Ideologies are anchored in the experiences of their creators, thus they offer only a partial view of the world. An good example of Ideology is how popularly and deeply believed notion of “Meritocracy” ( I wrote a couple of synopses posted on my fb and blog before). The two legs of an ideology are Natural Law Language and Stereotypes which keep ideologies penetrating and mobile.

In the singing case, for example, if anything applicable, it would be the song and lyrics which were constructed by the ruling elites from China to “Educate” Taiwanese people for being patriotic to reclaim China regardless the Taiwanese were barely breathing from Japan’s occupation. The songs was so pervasive in the culture, in particular education and mass media, and then was carrying on the duty of being one of the hegemonic ideologies.

But the most pervasive power of sustaining ideologies’ fluidity is the omnipresent Social Institutions which echo natural law language and stereotypes. The major social institutions include the family, religion, law, science, politics, economy, military, medicine, pop-culture, and now the most powerful one- the mass/social media.

Taiwan's pan-military policy parented the rest of social institutions before the martial law was lifted in 1989. Some people might argue that “social stability” was the great virtue contributing to Taiwan’s economic success. Let me make this statement as a question to end this short writing.
IS IT an ideology?


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高德賢 likes this.
19 minutes ago · Edited · Like
Crystal Huang Thanks to 許馨尹, Lu LU and 高德賢 like this.
A friend (I know her British Ethnic Background as an American citizen) asked me "are you a Taiwanese or a Chinese - regarding the origin?" I jokingly said "how to count the 5th or 6th generation in Taiwan that thrive socio-politic-culturally self-sufficient and independent... well, just for fun- are you an Englishwoman or an American - regarding the origin?" !

See Translation
51 minutes ago · Edited · Like

Crystal Huang
道, 可道, 非常道; 史, 可史, 非常史-歷史啊,歷史-真是個剪不斷理還亂的 愁,惆,&籌.全世界也許再找不到比臺灣更有骨氣與精神 的國家!!!
The Whole World is Waaaaatching - Who is that Courageous and Strong ORPHAN of the Far-Eastern Asia, fighting her way against last 60 years' international and domestic repression and oppression; Who is that DAVID challenging the intriguing Goliath day by day??? Who has the collective GUTs to resist the deadly temptation of the world biggest Fly-Trap!!!!!!!!!!!!! She is - Taiwan - ILla Formosa! The democratic peaceful Warrior -defending humanity's liberty, freedom and justice - at the very FRONT LINE!
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Crystal Huang 騎強者, 既得利益者, 高枕無憂者, 隔岸觀火者, 米虫者, 危恐天下不亂者, 剝富罵街者, 暗渡陳娼者, 以及裡應外和者........也祝福您! To those coward, privileged, advantaged, fence-riders, parasites, blessing you - not to block the way that people are fighting for your freedom and democracy...
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March 14 (F), 2014 Crystal's serendipitous teaching-learning-sharing#26

Crystal Huang
5 hours ago

A student wanted to interview me as a "first generation immigrant" for her assignment. I appreciated that she thought of me for this task.

It also made me thinking of a Pop-Quiz for Today:

What are the differences between a "first generation immigrant" vs. let say... "a third generation immigrant" ???

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郭墉, Angie Lue Lane, 吳吟吟, 黃麗月, 黄經洲, Anahqwittak Lea Brooke and 7 others like this.

Crystal Huang D Eby, Sorry, I missed you ! a sandwiched generation? The differences??? Mainly, it can include many different generations. The 3rd was a just "random" pickup.
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郭墉, Angie Lue Lane, 吳吟吟 and 10 others like this.

Crystal Huang D Eby, Sorry, I missed you ! a sandwiched generation? The differences??? Mainly, it can include many different generations. The 3rd was just a "random" pickup.
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Marcie Bakker I'm second generation. It was a struggle as my mother didn't let go of her Nazi brainwashing. Tough childhood. Good life now though!
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Crystal Huang
Migration! What a touchy hot-button issue, no matter from the aspects of historical evolution, economic trends, socio-cultural reshaping, national-psyche, demographic changes, the future transformation, or the forever targeted negative-perceptions of all sorts, it tends to arouse more emotional charges than the rational assessments of the reality during each wave of migrations recurring in the history.

The push-pull forces behind each migratory tide tend to be like the mischievous cloak and dagger (to both host countries and migration countries). The visible and/or imaginary fear of drains/deficits intimidating or irritating the settled old timers intertwine with the invisible State-Corporate demand and necessities harvested from the waves brought forth by the new comers make issues touchy and murky.

The brain-brawn gain vs. loss from both sides of the countries entices multiple-disciplinary to tap the tip of the iceberg, which is beyond my capacity to comprehend.

In the perceptible reality, the microscopic worrisome, if not abhorrent emotions of the general population interplay with the macro socio-econo-political operations reinforce the controversies. Functions, dysfuctions, as well as latent functions take time to manifest and the entangled social-conflict seems inevitable. Whereas, each wave of migration movement happening in the history, seems working quite well with "TIME" - a problem solver??

But now back to the real life situation, regarding the above pop-quiz, it is kind of interesting to push a little bit further (I am always curious about my students' perspectives, and too, my colleagues'), in addition to the incurable/incorrigible ACCENT ! ) :

What about the differences between a "first generation im/migrant instructor" vs. let say...again, a "2nd, 3rd, or 4th generation im/migrant instructor", in particular, teaching/facilitating Social Sciences, instead of math, computer science, engineering...etc. Natural Sciences, regardless other insignificant issues, such as, "race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexual orientation, disability...etc.". ...? !

Are there some literature reviews available for a reference? I have been quite interested in this topic, but never sitting down to pull up data together to make a case ! Thank to this student who reminds me of an interesting subject matter to engage with when time is available.7 minutes ago · Edited · Like

D Eby MSpitz Marcie -
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Alex Delgado Ancamil Third generations tend to think they are the "real" Americans because they've been here longer and some see the first generations as competition and unwanted immigrants.
Crystal Huang More Common-Sense Pop-quiz in sequels: Why and how did your great-great-great+/great-great/great grand-parents/parents or YOU Migrate to America (not just North)?

What are the benefits and cost (and how to weigh the gain vs. loss, bitter vs. sweet, pain vs. pleasure, safety vs. risk...etc.) to pay for an episode of Migration, from the individual, societal, and global perspectives?

Why are some people EXEMPT (or "Deprived" if you want to differentiate the differences b/w privileges vs. disadvantages) from the notion and action of Migration, while others- are NOT?

How many sentient beings (surely, including human beings) are doing long-term or short-term domestic/international Migrations either constantly or often- in the nut shell, again, why and how they-do-that vs. no-need-to do that?
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William Jennings Must say quite a springboard to some very interesting and deep pools of thought concerning human endeavor.
Crystal Huang 
It is also interesting to see the differences between the HIGH-END (the rich and powerful equipped with "Knowledge is power for the upward international mobility !) Migration vs. the LOW-END Migration (life is filled with endless challenges/struggles and Vitality, and surely, lots of Involuntary 7/24-hard work-for-NoPay-"immigrants", in the past, perhaps, the present... ). Personally, I have a heart for the latter (who comprise the majority of the original We, The People, from the first wave of migrants till today)- my own biases ! The host countries tend to Want or Need both. But seemingly the former are the Sweeties !

Finally, thanks to all of the past, current, and future Native Americans - Let's sing a song together from one of Woody Guthrie"s :This is your land, this is ______ lands ....thriving through capitalism - oh can you see...

Hopefully, these scratches might add something to students' interview assignments regarding the topic of "Migration".

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I do see some tiny differences between Then and Now, in particular, the writing, currently seemingly improving a little bit than that of the rough time before :)!. Here is the article:

             
Cross cultural transitions- a special experience of ......

By Crystal Li-chin Huang

Goethe once wrote “He who does not know a foreign language does not know his own.” For some people who are politically correct not favor of bilingual or multicultural issues, this statement does not gain much credit. On the other hand, Kipling’s ” East is east and west is west, and never the twain shall meet,” presented another perspective which is very different from those who have thousand reasons to cross the cultural boundary.

Either voluntarily or not, millions of people, from centuries ago-have migrated to or lived for a time in the United States- a nation applauded for her diversity, democracy, equality, and modernity; a nation inspiring people of the brave and for the free.

That also means millions of people had gone or is going through the bitter’n sweet process of cross-cultural transitions, or “transformations”, either by their own will or not.

No matter for avoiding political persecution, oppression, or other socio-economic combination, such as better living and meaning searching , it demands tremendous courage and risk-taking to move geographically and culturally. And the issue of adjustment is a heavy task that has to be made. There are tremendous gains and losses, bitter-sweetness, pains and pleasures, risk and security... all sorts of ups and downs, and twists and turns.

And this phenomenon is not a merely a historical footnote. As human beings achieve a close global interdependence, more and more people will make geographical mobility and cultural transitions.

Cross-culture experience entails both advantages and costs. But how to weigh them takes long storied to tell.

It enhances cross cultural sojourners  to develop a global perspective and a critical minds. It stimulates one to acquire the facility to move back and forth between cultures. And it provides one with the experience to enjoy and appreciate peoples from other background, customs, and tradition.

But, to readjust oneself to a new culture, in some way is similar to restarting a life again. There are losses which are immeasurable in this process. Many cultural transitions experience tremendous hardship far beyond that Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother can tell.

I know some friends in order to breathe the air of freedom, to embrace the democracy, to have better opportunities, despite at the cost of giving up their prestigious status, intellectual prowess and achievement in their countries.

One couple, seeking political asylum, were medical doctors in their county, but worked as janitor and dishwasher in America. Under the bare living condition, they gradually overcame the linguistic and cultural barriers, and went back to their track. Another family, emigrating to the U.S. as refugees due to Nazi domination during World War II have gone through homelessness, isolation, eventually solved the dilemma of acculturation and identity confusion.

In our own community our Hmong friends, whose help U.S. forces received during the Vietnam war, became the basis of the ruthless persecution of their own in the post war period. They came to U.S. with a humble mind to restart their lives and to face all unimaginable challenges: the cultural gap, the language barrier, the different social structure, the difficulty of parenting under two value systems, just to name a few.

As to myself- was an international student who is fascinated by the concept of the “global Village.” Seeking a place of fresh air and water without political, and technological pollution, spending endless time in learning English, observing and being aware of the different social systems, doing as Roman do, and treasuring my own cultural heritage in the mean time appreciating the new one... all these challenges take forever time to learn and to overcome. And time is the most precious element in such a learning process.

There are gains and losses, courage and frustration, appreciation and disappointment- all kind of human drama going on in the everyday presentation of the cross-cultural sojourner. It takes a great magnitude of empathy to understand such happenings in this country experienced by many generational migrants. 

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Crystal Huang
5 hours ago · Edited

Is this a triple celebration and happiness? Happy White Valentine's Day (Far-Eastern Asia) + Happy Albert Einstein's Birthday (3.14.1879) + Happy Pi Day!





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Lu LU, 黃麗月, 黄經洲 and 3 others like this.

Crystal Huang A pre-celebration of the next year's EPIC Pi Day - on 3.1415 at 9:26:53.
A definition of Pi (you might not agree?) = life, with the endless twists and turns, irrationality, and unpredictability, but fortunately, we recognize it - keep on exploring it till the end of the multiverse, if one wants???? !

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