[refurb]

You seem to be confusing a strong culture with not embracing new ideas. Those aren’t intrinsically linked.

Encouraging immigrants to adopt Western values like gender equality, support for democratic ideas is a good thing, not a bad thing.

[goldcd]

The part that concerns me, is that this always seems to be one-sided - "You will be better if you adopt our values"

Rarely does anybody make the statement that "My adoption of your values will improve me"

Implicit subtext is that, all of my values are better than yours. Strikes me that this is probably quite unlikely.

[tsherr]

Actually, if I move to a new country, part of why I'm doing that is because it's better than my country, so their ideas/values are better than mine. So the adoption of these ideas/values will make me better.

[alistairSH]

The chances that 100% of their cultural values/ideas are better is probably pretty slim. And most people are moving for economic reasons, not cultural ones (though the two are often tightly coupled).

Take a move from the US to Canada. I might prefer Canada's nationalized health system to America's every-man-for-himself system. But, I might also prefer American's highly interventionist foreign policy and take that preference with me when I move. [Not claiming I believe in either, just an example]

[magduf]

>The chances that 100% of their cultural values/ideas are better is probably pretty slim. And most people are moving for economic reasons, not cultural ones (though the two are often tightly coupled).

The reason the new country is economically better is most likely due in some part to their culture, not just luck or geography.

This doesn't mean that 100% of their cultural values are better, of course. But you should, if immigrating, take a very careful look at their values, because there's likely some very important things that have caused that country to do so well and for your former country to not do so well.

[ScottFree]

So you're saying that an American immigrating to Japan should resist learning about Japanese culture or the Japanese language?

[jhoechtl]

I _think_ what the poster tried to say is:

"Now as I have been welcomed in this country I am willing to adopt their habbits because I want to be part of this community and the community will accept me more easily when I am doing so."

[ScottFree]

What are you basing this interpretation on?

[partlysean]

I agree 100%. Thanks for putting that in a way my comment didn’t fully reach.

[blaser-waffle]

> Encouraging immigrants to adopt Western values like gender equality, support for democratic ideas is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Says a person who is undoubtedly western. You might not get the same response from someone in China or Saudi Arabia.

[drewmol]

It is a good thing.

>You might not get the same response from China or Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia, if you’re not a man you might not even get a response. Or you could get beheaded.

[0]From Wikipedia:

In September 2011 a Sudanese migrant worker was beheaded for "sorcery",[37] ... Other forms of general discrimination, such as a lack of freedom of religion for non-Sunni Muslims, are also applicable.[12] ... The international organisation Human Rights Watch (HRW) describes these conditions as "near-slavery" and attributes them to "deeply rooted gender, religious, and racial discrimination".[12] ... Trade unions, strikes, and collective bargaining are banned for both Saudi citizens and foreigners alike.[32]

[6510]

Western values? Do you mean money? :P