I don't understand how some people hate their own culture

When my spouse and I were in Indonesia a few months ago, one thing I noticed was how much the people loved their own culture. The Balinese, for example, swim in their culture. They love their Hindu religion, their family compounds in their home villages, their extended families, their island.

I like the Balinese--and their island--a lot. They're a great people and it's a great place. And they like Americans and America--we're their favorite visitors (along with the Japanese). However, the Balinese affection for us doesn't mean they want to turn Bali into America, or that they want a million Americans to move there. A few, sure. No prob. But not so many that their island becomes transformed into Balimerica. Despite their dependence on the tourist trade, they've worked hard to retain their cultural identity--and they've succeeded. Actually, the biggest imposition on the Balinese comes from Indonesia's Islamic officialdom, who have built imposing mosques around Bali, out of which blast the Muslem call to prayer through giant loudspeakers day and night. The Balinese hate it--hate the sheer acoustic imposition, hate the religious arrogance and intolerance it represents, hate their own helplessness to do anything about it.

It just floors me that so many illegal alien advocates show zero comprehension of these basic cultural facts. People. Like. Their. Own. Culture. And even when they welcome change, they just about never welcome seeing their own culture shoved aside and replaced with another one.

Why do so many amnesty advocates not get this? Why do some even go so far as to root for their own culture's demise?

When I was a college commie I knew a bunch of people like this. I figured they must have had tyrannical fathers, and they'd come to associate their country with Bad Dad. But that's just armchair psychologizing. I really don't know. Maybe I should get it. All intellectuals have to make their peace with their own society, because to some degree we'll always be strangers in our own land. Nevertheless I get it. I get Thanksgiving turkey dinner (even though I also love mole poblano [which was originally made with turkey of course]). I get Christian hymns and dreidels, even though I'm neither Christian nor Jewish. I get Ford F150 pickup trucks, even though I own a VW van. I get the Star Spangled Banner (which I can sing, unlike many Americans, despite its wide range, as long as it's transposed a bit). Do these people not get all this? Do the trappings of our culture fill them with fear and loathing?

Or are they like Neville Chamberlain seeking Peace in Our Time, without reckoning the long-term damage they're promoting?

None of this has any bearing of the validity of their arguments or ours. But it does have a bearing on the framework within which those arguments take place. If they place no value on our society--or even actively dislike it--then of course they should cheer on this invasion. Or if they reject nationality (without, of course, giving up the enormous benefits they derive from theirs) and the very idea of borders, then again they should cheer on this invasion. And any arguments my side would be irrelevant, since they all stand on different premises.

So let's argue premises--once those opposing America's identity and culture and sovereignty give up the benefits they derive from all that.