An excellent question jpinkman and thanks for asking!I think it's the racists who would like us to believe that this kind of prejudice is very recent but in fact it's old as the hills.I can tell you in terms of the UK, there's been increasing resentment since the recession of people from Eastern Europe coming to live and work in our country. This has mainly to do with their strong work ethic and the fact they're willing to do many jobs British people wouldn't want to do e.g work as chamber maids in hotels. While in fact this has been going on for around 60 years now, it's more of a hot topic since countries like Poland joined the European Union and as such have a right to live and work in any other EU country which includes England - I know that many Americans see Europe as a united politica unit but since you follow world news, you'll know this isn't the case!There are also of course some British people, as indeed there are some Americans who do not have a very outward view and have received a poor level of education, making it difficult for them to understand the need for immigration and fearful of those who speak a different language for instance.In the UK this type of prejudice has led to some low level support for the British National Party who want to reverse all non white immigration to the British Isles - I have been campaigning against them since 2004 as if they even win one seat in the British or European Parliament, they will receive large amounts of funding.As you say their general consensus is that segregation will get rid of many of the supposed problems caused by multiculturalism - of course they conveniently forget that it's people like them who cause fear and distrust between communities in the first place!The counter argument to this runs very much along the lines you said which is that newcomers to our country don't seem to want to assimilate into our culture. This point of view shows they haven't done their history!2,000 years ago my country was an unimportant satellite colony of the Roman Empire. Go forward another 1,000, nearly half of England was governed by Denmark (it was actually they who implemented the idea of a Jury trial - something I point out to people who boast about the English justice system) - around 60 years later the Saxons (descendants of German immigrants) were conquered by Normans from modern day France who imposed their political system and language upon both the Anglo-Saxons and native Celts.Fast forward another five hundred years or so you see us conquering foreign cultures right left and centre ourselves, including 300 Million Indians - and of course fighting a War of Independence with a rather upstart colony who believed in no taxation without representation. :-)This is important because when such people say that foreigners can't appreciate our values, what we find is in fact that our values are actually quite recent inventions, which we in turn have borrowed from other cultures!I'd be interested to know to what extent this is true in the USA - if anything I'd say your country is an excellent example of the multicultural model. I have read that many Republican candidates have gained popularity through guaranteeing to tighten your borders against Mexican immigration and I did see the LA Times was in a flutter about the number of non white births exceeding white ones in the US but for the same reasons I don't think you need worry!V.Quote from: jpinkman on May 19, 2012, 06:17 pmAll quite fascinating stuff Vlad. But since you're on the topic and you're from the UK, I kind of have a related question for you.Though I'm American, over the last decade I've found myself relying strictly on British sources of world news since the writing is so much more articulate with far less bias and stories have far more depth where as American MSM is so dumbed down and corporate. So the Independent and Guardian are sources for probably 90% of my news including news on the US, and no the irony is not lost. ;)Anyway, from reading various comments over the years on CiF and elsewhere from primarily UK and other European posters, not often but once in a while I've come across a sort of virulent racism, or at least I think it's racism, that I can't quite put my finger on and was hoping you could better explain it to me. These people seem to disguise their prejudices by being strongly and vocally opposed to multiculturalism and their argument goes something like this: "Multiculturalism is bad because it breeds division and hatreds within the same society. We are not racist, we just want those of other cultures to assimilate into ours to foster understanding and cohesiveness instead of remain suspicious and divided, which is what happens when the left tolerates multiculturalism with blinders on that allows other cultures to come her and remain in their own communities and breed amongst their own."I've seen this argument made enough times, from Europeans of different nationalities, and it seems to be a semi-legitimate perspective shared maybe by some politicians on the right? Where did this big anti-multiculturalism push come from and what's it all about?