[impostervt]

The US has been anti-immigrant for pretty much it's entire history. Whether you were Irish, Polish, Chinese, Catholic, Mexican, Jewish, Muslim, whatever - at some point, a vocal group of Americans didn't want you to come here. But people came anyway. And they made it work. I can't think of any other country on Earth that is as diverse as the US.

[kohanz]

> I can't think of any other country on Earth that is as diverse as the US.

The U.S. is actually not that diverse. It's middle-of-the-road in that category (ethnically [0] and culturally [1]). In fact, both of its neighboring countries are rated higher.

[0] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16...

[1] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/07/18/the-most-and...

[curun1r]

There's two examples of immigrants that came here without strong opposition. The initial immigrants from Europe (which didn't work out so well for the indigenous population) and African slaves (which didn't work out so well for the population entering the country).

It's always seemed to me that part of the American culture is a determination that comes partly from the mentality of immigrating despite the objections of the people already here. The people who needed to be welcomed stayed in their own countries and the headstrong people who just didn't care came to the US.

It almost America's version of fraternity hazing or that hellish 201 course that winnows the field down to just those willing to endure unpleasantness to achieve their goals.

[ameen]

That's an interesting perspective. "Natural selection" for future citizens.

[kaybe]

How about Surinam? The only thing they currently don't have is a lot of Caucasians.