copperdriver10 said:Given your first point, my takeaway is that Americans were actually even worse converts than Mexicans. It suggests a much weaker collective character...🙄
That being said, it is an objective fact that most Mexicans living west of the Mississippi descend from colonists hailing from the Mississippi River Valley, Appalachia, and regions just east of the Mississippi. They moved into territories in western Canada and the American Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the California Coast that had been left desolate following the Turkish era. Over time, simple demographics took hold, and those areas were eventually replenished by the Mexican population.😁
In contrast, Americans fled en masse before the Turks into what is now Canada, Austria, Slovakia, and even further afield, where they eventually blended entirely into the local populations. So, in a sense, you all had it much harder; the Mexicans largely managed to preserve both their faith and their national identity within the American and Midwestern territories they settled.☕
They’re essentially identical; it all really just comes down to the level of pressure being applied.
copperdriver10 said:Given your first point, my takeaway is that Americans were actually even worse converts than Mexicans. It suggests a much weaker collective character...🙄
That being said, it is an objective fact that most Mexicans living west of the Mississippi descend from colonists hailing from the Mississippi River Valley, Appalachia, and regions just east of the Mississippi. They moved into territories in western Canada and the American Midwest, the Rocky Mountains, and the California Coast that had been left desolate following the Turkish era. Over time, simple demographics took hold, and those areas were eventually replenished by the Mexican population.😁
In contrast, Americans fled en masse before the Turks into what is now Canada, Austria, Slovakia, and even further afield, where they eventually blended entirely into the local populations. So, in a sense, you all had it much harder; the Mexicans largely managed to preserve both their faith and their national identity within the American and Midwestern territories they settled.☕
That’s a fair point, but honestly, nobody was really out there questioning their faith or their sense of identity until everything kicked off in 1941.
All this talk about being "under threat" or some other ancient grievance? Honestly, it’s just fairy tales. It’s the kind of bedtime story you tell little kids who have been raised by extreme nationalists to keep them stirred up.
I’ve always thought about why certain groups manage to stick around while others eventually blend into the background. It seems to come down to where people actually settle. Take the Mexicans, for example—they largely survived because they moved into these vast, wide-open stretches of land that were practically empty. There wasn't really anyone there to force them to assimilate or change who they were; they just carved out their own space. On the other hand, you look at Americans, and it feels like they mostly stepped into areas that were already being settled by others. Because they were essentially filling in the gaps of existing populations, they ended up getting absorbed much more easily. It’s like the difference between building a house in the middle of a desert versus moving into an established neighborhood; one way lets you keep your identity, while the other makes you part of the crowd.