Immiscibles

Poshe Haziran 26, 2021

It’s a charming word, isn’t it? Try to pronounce it; it’s more of a challenge than you might think. But no matter how it’s mangled orally, its meaning remains the same: incapable of being mixed.

The immiscibility of oil and water is well known. Indeed, it’s the reason for the invention of soap. The grime we accumulate on our skin won’t wash off in water alone. That’s because it’s suspended in the oil our skin naturally exudes as a protection against friction and ultraviolet light. Soap emulsifies (another charming word) that grime-in-oil suspension into something water can flush away. Without soap’s emulsifying action, we’d be reduced to scraping the dirt off ourselves with sticks. That explains the dermatological problems of uncivilized societies pretty well, doesn’t it? But I’m not here to talk about physical chemistry or its practical application to personal hygiene.

Are there demographics, whether they’re already a significant part of the American population or are still largely outside our borders, that are inherently immiscible with the American majority? If so, what makes them immiscible with us?

I think you can guess my opinion, so I won’t bother to rattle on about it. The abstract question is itself of considerable interest. If there are characteristics that render a people incapable of becoming Americans, it would be well for us to know what they are, and for our immigration laws to be cognizant of them. However, at this time little attention has gone to such studies, for a fairly obvious reason: it would be shouted down by the usual suspects as “racist,” “jingoist,” and “xenophobic.”

Rudyard Kipling didn’t think so:

The Stranger within my gate,
     He may be true or kind,
But he does not talk my talk--
     I cannot feel his mind.
I see the face and the eyes and the mouth,
     But not the soul behind.
The men of my own stock,
     They may do ill or well,
But they tell the lies I am wanted to,
     They are used to the lies I tell;
And we do not need interpreters
     When we go to buy or sell.
The Stranger within my gates,
     He may be evil or good,
But I cannot tell what powers control--
     What reasons sway his mood;
Nor when the Gods of his far-off land
     Shall repossess his blood.
The men of my own stock,
     Bitter bad they may be,
But, at least, they hear the things I hear,
     And see the things I see;
And whatever I think of them and their likes
     They think of the likes of me.
This was my father's belief
     And this is also mine:
Let the corn be all one sheaf--
     And the grapes be all one vine,
Ere our children's teeth are set on edge
     By bitter bread and wine.

And of course, we all know what today’s bien-pensants think of Kipling.

Since I have a great deal before me today, I’m setting this question “on the table” for general discussion. I’d like it to focus on characteristics visibly abroad in the world today: traits, beliefs, and practices we can see are firmly associated with particular demographics: