I think the contrast between the old immigrants and new immigrants bought up by William is a very interesting idea. In the 1800s, the immigrants were indeed “poor” and “…yearning to breathe free.” By reading Anbinder’s book, you can see just how deeply they yearned by learning about the conditions the old immigrants went through. After reading the chapters, I was shocked and horrified at the same time. Anbinder compared the conditions on the immigrant ship to those on a slave ship, in which hundreds of passengers were literally stuffed into a confined and dark space.
When I read about the conditions on the ship and the ones in the immigrants’ own homeland, I kind of understand why people became selfish and greedy. This brings me to ToniAnn’s point. I totally agree with the fact that immigrants have no right to discriminate against each other. In fact, they should be sympathizing instead. But after reading Anbinder’s book, I give the Irish a little more slack. After so much turmoil and hardship in life, I can see why they wouldn’t want the other immigrant groups taking up jobs or space. I think this is the case with anyone who has worked hard for something in life. It’s natural to be jealous and selfish. I actually think it’s part of human nature.
I also think that discrimination today is a lot less prevalent because it is so easy to get to America by airplane. Hardship is also avoided now that we have so much technology and money as a nation (for the most part). A famine would probably be very hard to come by now that theirs thousands of acres of farm land and machinery/factories to assist in the food production process. This is not to say that discrimination is non-existent, because it will always be there. However, discrimination on the basis of “competition” is definitely less prevalent.
