I was ashamed to be an American today

[raysr]

I went to the new VA clinic in my area to see a new doctor. When I met him I could tell he was middle eastern by his accent. I asked him where he was from and he said "Persia". It didn't dawn on me that that was Iran. I said "Persia?" and he said "Iran".
We got to talking and said he took the job away from the Seattle VA because his parents live in Vancouver B.C. and my area is closer to B.C.
He then said that he was afraid to move up to the area where I live. Alot of hicks and rednecks but not noticeably racist, I told him I didn't think he have any trouble. But at the VA there's alot of old guys from WW2 still and most are Repubs. So he probably runs into this horseshit once in a while.
I felt ashamed to be an American at that moment when a qualified physician working for the VA is afraid to live in certain parts of the US.
Bush and the repukes have made us all assholes. I really hope they what's coming to them soon.

[panAmerican]

1. How very, very sad

[PetrusMonsFormicarum]

2. Don't be ashamed

Be Angry.

[OakCliffDem]

3. Kicked and Recommended

[DFW]

4. There are Iranian exiles all over America, and many of them are scared to say where they are from

Which is ridiculous, since anyone from Iran living in the USA is in all likelihood
no friend of the current regime, but more likely to be an exile who is afraid of,
or at least in disagreement with the current regime there.

I was in an Italian restaurant in Baltimore recently where there was a dark-complexioned
woman at the reception. She said "buona sera," but with a decidedly non-Italian accent.
I asked where she was from, and she wouldn't tell me, but said I had to guess. I figured
our pretty quickly what was going on. I said "salam, chekhabaré, Farsi aman bad ast (hi,
what's going on, my Farsi isn't too good)." Her jaw dropped in astonishment, but she said
yes, indeed she was from Iran, and my table got the best service in the whole place that
night.

[TahitiNut]

7. I envy you for your facility with languages.

While I have a very good 'ear' and can pick up a language in a total immersion situation enough to exchange pleasantries and find the restroom, I'm rock-hard unteachable in a classroom or Berlitz sense. I *love* keying in to accents and pronunciation and have been known to identify a Canadian's origins to within 40 miles (outside Calgary) and several Englishmen's origins to the shire (or neighborhood of London) based on but a few nominal conversational exchanges. Years ago I even 'mapped' the background of a young female Buckeye living in Detroit to the suburbs she lived in and schools she attended in and around Columbus, Ohio, based on merely overhearing some unrelated office conversation and without knowing anything about her background. Sometimes a 'picture' just forms in my head ... impressions of a map ... and a person's origins and background just seem obvious.

All my life I've been able to mimic (or assimilate) speech patterns and accents for English-speakers. (I grew up in a Norwegian-American immigrant family.) I have very little difficulty understanding ESL speakers ... I tend to savor the inflections and intonations as a kind of travelogue.

It's actually fun ... and folks react like it's a "magic trick."

[DFW]

9. You have quite a gift, too, if you are THAT good at regional accents

I haven't been around English-speaking places enough to be able to do that.
I once did blow away a guy from Sweden, by not only speaking Swedish to him,
but telling him what town he came from (Malmö has such a distinctive accent,
he might as well have been wearing a billboard! LOL)

[TahitiNut]

11. Malmö ... Malmö ... that triggers some vague memory or impression in me.

I'm unable to recall where or when (never having been there or, as I recall, meeting anyone from there) ... but I'm inclined to think "the N'awleans of Sweden." I don't know why. I'm a life-long "people-watcher" and (often embarassing to my companions) am nosy as hell about asking folks about themselves ... even total strangers, like people in the seats next to me on the plane or even in restaurants. It's like people are these walking/talking adventure books ... with stories and experiences and backgrounds and perspectives and tons of fascinating things to hear about. It's just been a fascination of mine all my life. When I was a "seen but not heard" child I often just hung around to listen to people talk. I don't have to have visited a place to get an impression of accents ... just listening to people who've been from there seems to do it. It's like so many places have a "music" in the speech patterns that I recognize the tune when I hear it again. Make sense? I don't even remember when or where I heard it before ... it just forms this image of a world globe in my head and some kind of mental "dowsing rod" that locates the geography. Not all the time ... and not 'scientifically' ... just occasionally and in ways I don't really know.

[ColoradoMagician]

5. Be proud to be an American

even if you are not proud of everything the citizens do.

[DFW]

6. I've been ststioned in Europe since 1979

I speak 9 European languages, and have been doing just that for nearly 30 years!

Although: from January 1981-January 1993, and then from January 2001 to present,
it has not always been an easy task.

[Karenina]

10. Why?

[rucky]

8. The VA felt comfortable enough to hire him.

that's a plus.