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Entry: Requiem for a Heavyweight Link: http://www.takimag.com/blogs/article/requiem_for_a_heavyweight1#705 Post contents: H.A., don't think so. Jones denies utterly the concept of a melting pot which melds various types of European immigrants into a common American identity over several generations. This is contrary to observable facts about America's white population in 2007. Today the descendents of Polish immigrants marry WASPs, descendents of Italian immigrants marry Scotch-Irish; Catholics marry Southern Baptists, Methodists marry Greek-Orthodox and Jews marry into all these groups. Granted, there are large pockets of exclusive Cathollics, Protestants, and Jews, but neither Jones nor you can deny the reality of what I have just described. (As a historical aside, I would mention that this melding, assimilative process was largely made possible by the severe limitation in immigration imposed in the early 1920's which lasted until the late 1960's, a "digestive" breathing space of over two generations.) And where in his speech does Jones say his version, the triple melting pot, is a good thing? On the contrary, he clearly states it has made us a nation like Yugoslavia (not exactly a desirable comparison), where ethnic groups wage eternal war and ethnic cleansing against each other. In what way does Jones think that's a good thing? However, my chief objection to Jones is his flat denial that Americans have a common history and his assertion that the white majority has no common ethnic identity. Here, he sounds just like Newt Gingrich, Bill Kristol, or George Will, a devotee of the "proposition nation" shibboleth. How ironic that a man like Jones, who indeed has some intriguing ideas, should sound at the end of his speech like a water carrier for our enemies, the people who wish to destroy us. But he does. Sent at: 2008 10 06