Which raises the issue of the nature of gaffes. This is an example from the category of "painful truths best left unsaid." Few are disputing that there is something to the governor's analysis, that immigrants from Mexico may indeed -- sometimes, in some cases, not always! -- be a little slower to assimilate than immigrants from, say, Ireland. And I have a hard time hearing hard-heartedness in the governor's talk, in which he went on to recount his own assimilation and urge other immigrants to embrace America as he did. How dare he say such a thing!
Which brings us to the shocking failure to assimilate that I've noticed among my Canadian immigrant friends, who get all misty-eyed at seeing a maple leaf and can't shake a craving for soup and French fries drenched in brown gravy (stereotype alert!). It's that proximity thing, for sure. To them I say, embrace America, mes amis, embrace ketchup.
(For those who wish to deplore my insensitivity, a handy Comments button is provided below.)
