People are incredible.

[Petit Papillon]

This is a different thing. It's not a problem with immigration so to say. It's a global problem with Muslims (cause it's mostly them who are against celebration of christmas at school) .

[Lovable]

Personally, the only immigrants I have a problem with are the ones that try to change the culture of the country they end up in, rather than accept the culture there and adapt. I'm not saying people have to leave all of their customs behind, just accept that things aren't as they were 'at home'. Here in Aus. we have certain immigrants complaining that their children are being taught Christmas Carols in school. Worst bit is, their complaints are being heeded and we are at risk of not having Christmas celebrated within public schools. I find this extremely frustrating. I don't understand why my child should be denied Christmas in school just because a certain amount of kids don't celebrate Christmas at home. How are these kids supposed to integrate into Aussie society if their parents get to dictate what Aussie society should be?

Dammit...where's the thanks button when I need it!

I couldn't agree with you more Minx!! Immigrants both legal & illegal come from all around & expect those of us living in the countries to conform to their customs/traditions, etc., I say BULLSHIT to that!!

[MaidenMinx]

Oh Petit, over here it's not just the Muslims complaining. It's everyone who doesn't celebrate Christmas. We get a lot of Hindus that have added their voice and even the Jewish and the occasional Buddhist too... which seems weird to me. It's starting to feel like Aussies are becoming an endangered species... I'll stop there before I sound racist. Essentially, I'm not racist. I'll give any individual I meet the benefit of all doubt. Do I find it sad when my son is the only child in a packed play ground that has generations of Australians behind him? Yes I do. Do I object to my son playing with kids from other cultures? Not at all. Just don't shove your crap down my throat.

And thanks Lovable.

[Petit Papillon]

Over here, in Europe, we have pure Europeans that don't want to celebrate the christmas at school - the atheists lol
Here we don't have many problems with other religions (other than Islam) . I have actually never seen a real Jew (or actually any Jew so to say) . The same with all the buddha-asian religions, maybe the people who work at the Asian Restaurants I have been to, are someone like that.

[MaidenMinx]

Interesting. Here in Aus we have what is considered an almost empty country. We have a very similar amount of land to the USA yet we only have less than a 6th of the population. Therefore we are very tempting to immigrants.

In the 1850's we had a gold rush and therefore a lot of Chinese immigrants. These people integrated reasonably well and gave us Chinese food.
From the 30's - the 60's our immigrants were mostly European. They have integrated quite well and gave us wonderful take away food.
From the 60's - the 90's our immigrants have mostly been Asian. Very little integration has occurred.
Since then, Indians and Nigerians and Sudanese, even less integration.

This might sound racist, it's not. It's a statement of the facts.

[IndiReloaded]

Muslim isn't a culture, its a religion. That makes all the difference. A foreigner comes to a Western country and adapts. Same for a Westerner going to an asian culture. Or a least one should.

Muslims bring their religion to another culture and *expect that culture to adapt*. That is just flat-out wrong. Apologetic politicians who permit this need to be outed from office immediately. Kids in Oz should sing Christmas carols. Muslims that don't like it should move back to an arab country, send them to a muslim school or keep their kids home that day. Or hell, teach everyone a muslim song and a rousing Hanukha song while their at it. But don't bother the administrators about it.

We'll be screwed eventually simply b/c the muslims are outbreeding us. A second dark age, hooray. :-P

[Petit Papillon]

If we stop to have either no kids or one kid, two kids tops, it won't be such a problem. We just need to change our mentality .

I'm not afraid of Islam overtaking the power here in Europe, people start to really be pissed off and it's a matter of time before it explodes right in their faces. In Poland for example it's pretty impossible for a situation like no christmas thing at school, because a group of olive skinned people said it's not right. It's like heeeeellll no lol We're too deep into our traditions.

[Lipp]

Interesting. Here in Aus we have what is considered an almost empty country. We have a very similar amount of land to the USA yet we only have less than a 6th of the population. Therefore we are very tempting to immigrants.

In the 1850's we had a gold rush and therefore a lot of Chinese immigrants. These people integrated reasonably well and gave us Chinese food.
From the 30's - the 60's our immigrants were mostly European. They have integrated quite well and gave us wonderful take away food.
From the 60's - the 90's our immigrants have mostly been Asian. Very little integration has occurred.
Since then, Indians and Nigerians and Sudanese, even less integration.

This might sound racist, it's not. It's a statement of the facts.

Moral of the story - to integrate well, make sure that your food is appealing.

[MaidenMinx]

Moral of the story - to integrate well, make sure that your food is appealing.

LMAO!!
Sure it helps but it's more than that. It's being prepared to have friends outside your own nationality. Though, I do think many would agree with the idea that food is a great way to bridge gaps and create friendships. Sit down to a meal with people you don't know and you can come away with good friends.