You kinda shot yourself in the foot with that article, the father killed his daugther, because she took on a WESTERN life style. Not saying it's understandable at all, but look what happens when people are forced to believe they SHOULD act a certain way, when they immigrate into a country.
Furthermore, take a trip to canada, or the netherlands, or britain, if you want to see diversity at it's best. My culture is one that contains many in it, it's undefined, and that's the way i like to live my life. No justice and independence for one, but diversity.
Since you're so fond of reading articles found on the internet, here's one BY AN AMERICAN, about Canada:
You live next door to a clean-cut, quiet guy. He never plays loud music
or throws raucous parties. He doesn't gossip over the fence, just
smiles politely and offers you some tomatoes. His lawn is cared for,
his house is neat as a pin and you get the feeling he doesn't always
lock his front door.
He wears Dockers. You hardly know he's there.
And then one day you discover that he has pot in his basement, spends
his weekends at peace marches and that guy you've seen mowing the yard
is his spouse.
Allow me to introduce Canada.
The Canadians are so quiet that you may have forgotten they're up
there, but they've been busy doing some surprising things. It's like
discovering that the mice you are dimly aware of in your attic have
been building an espresso machine.
Did you realize, for example, that our reliable little tag-along
brother never joined the Coalition of the Willing? Canada wasn't
willing, as it turns out, to join the fun in Iraq. I can only assume
American diner menus weren't angrily changed to include "freedom
bacon," because nobody here eats the stuff anyway.
And then there's the wild drug situation: Canadian doctors are
authorized to dispense medical marijuana. Parliament is considering
legislation that would not exactly legalize marijuana possession, as
you may have heard, but would reduce the penalty for possession of
under 15 grams to a fine, like a speeding ticket. This is to allow law
enforcement to concentrate resources on traffickers; if your garden is
full of wasps, it's smarter to go for the nest rather than trying to
swat every individual bug. Or, in the United States, bong.
Now, here's the part that I, as an American, can't understand. These
poor benighted pinkos are doing everything wrong. They have a drug
problem: Marijuana offenses have doubled since 1991. And Canada has
strict gun control laws, which means that the criminals must all be
heavily armed, the law-abiding civilians helpless and the government on
the verge of a massive confiscation campaign. (The laws have been in
place since the '70s, but I'm sure the government will get around to
the confiscation eventually.) They don't even have a death penalty!
And yet .. nationally, overall crime in Canada has been declining since
1991. Violent crimes fell 13 percent in 2002. Of course, there are
still crimes committed with guns -- brought in from the United States,
which has become the major illegal weapons supplier for all of North
America but my theory is that the surge in pot-smoking has rendered
most criminals too relaxed to commit violent crimes. They're probably
more focused on shoplifting boxes of Ho-Hos from convenience stores.
And then there's the most reckless move of all: Just last month, Canada
decided to allow and recognize same-sex marriages. Merciful moose, that
can they be thinking? Will there be married Mounties (they always get
their man!)? Dudley Do-Right was sweet on Nell, not Mel! We must be the
only ones who really care about families. Not enough to make sure they
all have health insurance, of course, but more than those libertines up
north.
This sort of behavior is a clear and present danger to all our
stereotypes about Canada. It's supposed to be a cold, wholesome country
of polite, beer-drinking hockey players, not founded by
freedom-fighters in a bloody revolution but quietly assembled by
loyalists and royalists more interested in order and good government
than liberty and independence.
But if we are the rugged individualists, why do we spend so much of our
time trying to get everyone to march in lockstep? And if Canadians are
so reserved and moderate, why are they so progressive about letting
people do what they want to?
Canadians are, as a nation, less religious than we are, according to
polls. As a result, Canada's government isn't influenced by large,
well-organized religious groups and thus has more in common with those
of Scandinavia than those of the United States, or, say, Iran.
Canada signed the Kyoto global warming treaty, lets 19-year-olds drink,
has more of its population living in urban areas and accepts more
immigrants per capita than the United States. These are all things
we've been told will wreck our society. But I guess Canadians are
different, because theirs seems oddly sound.
Like teenagers, we fiercely idolize individual freedom but really
demand that everyone be the same. But the Canadians seem more adult <br>more secure.
They aren't afraid of foreigners. They aren't afraid of homosexuality.
Most of all, they're not afraid of each other.
I wonder if America will ever be that cool.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
Author: Samantha Bennett
Published: Wednesday, July 30, 2003
Copyright: 2003 PG Publishing
Contact: letters@post-gazette.com
Website:
www.post-gazette.com/ 
