The Irony of American Assimilation
societystandpoint.com
societystandpoint.com
The American culture is not the object we call "the American culture," which is held up for our ridicule and hatred. Rather, it's the holding up of the object and the ridiculing and the hating. The American culture is what is happening around us.
My sticking point which I am sure is unpopular (but I hope if you disagree, you will engage in discourse with me) is that America is not an "international" country, sort of like the UN but a country. America is a country that welcomes immigrants from any country but was largely made up of european migrants and africans from the slave trade until about 50yrs ago. this does not mean every culture can coexist, if you think so then you are supporting ethnic segregation plain and simple. Immigrants must work to abandon their culture, except as a historical artifact for them and their descendants.
See, the thing is when I say culture here, I don't know if we're talking about the same thing? Is it food? Then keep it , so long as every american can participate in it. Is it social manners? The abandon it because that precludes and conflicts with existing social manners. If your culture precludes other americans from participating or comingling with you then you are causing a division and segregation. Go to any major US city, there are large parts of it cordoned off to people of specific ethnicities. Even at jobs, people get them by networking so you have companies where realistic opportunities depend on ethnicity.
Schools, neighborhoods, work places, places of entertainment,restaurants.etc... should not belong to people of specific ethnicities for participation. i would want to go to any public place or business and feel welcome regardless of my ethnicity in my own country!
Look, people are herd animals. The segregation I speak of is a direct reflection of divisive tribalism. And don't get me wrong, this very much applies to rural white americans as well. You should be free to have a local culture, even invent one! You should not be free to bind your culture to a race, ethnicity or national origin/heritage.
America is a country of immigrants... who are coming together to build and sustain one country, a union of many states, not a mere association of racially dividied tribes.
It's not that I have a problem with any specific culture, it's that I don't see how I can call people my fellow citizens when they live segregated away from me, wanting little to do with me and refusing to learn my culture and ways.
I think having people migrate from all over the world is an extremely valuable asset and I would love to learn from people who are immigrating, comingle with them and interchange ideas and know that when I say "my country" or "my people" I am including them and they are including me and that we are not living in bubbles, isolated and divided because we refuse to let go of the past, traditions from countries we or our ancestors left behind, or because we look different or live in differnt parts of the country.
Withou assimilation, there is only division. A house divided cannot stand.
And assimilation here does not mean assimilating to a european or english culture racists mean when they say assimilate but rather a culture that is purely american -- one that evolved out of 200+ years of immigrants blending.
If you really disagree, then pretend the american economy collapsed and people cann't make ends meet and remember what happened to Yugoslavia (and their culture is so similar!) and many other countries that couldn't unite their people.
If someone moves to an entirely new country, it's likely less intimidating to find an environment that's similar to home
> You should not be free to bind your culture to a race, ethnicity or national origin/heritage.
I find it interesting that you leave religion out of here, even though there's a nontrivial correlation
This same attitude has been deployed as an antisemitic mechanism (ref, Adorno: The Authoritarian Personality). I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but this attitude has historical precedents and there's a reason why people find it highly offensive
Yes, but also less likely they will leave that environment as well.
> I find it interesting that you leave religion out of here, even though there's a nontrivial correlation
I just never saw religion as a matter of culture to begin with, although culture is affected by as it affects it, but I do agree that a culture should not be restricted to a religion, I also don't know any religion that doesn't welcome others, but it is silly to expect a pre-existing religion to change to adapt to someone's culture because then it would just be a "make it up as you go" club. I disagree with the antisemetism association because Jewish people in hollywood assimilate there, same with new york, germany,etc... to the most part but then again not always. There are hardly any situations that are not religious where you could even tell apart if a person is jewish or not without their name. Jewish tradition in my view is firmly a matter of religion not culture. However, I don't support "secular" jews that reject their faith but keep their tradition for the sake of segregation. Keep in mind, anyone can convert to judaism and become a jew.
America will fall because of this kind of absurdly binary viewpoint. You can take my conflicting culture when you pry it from my cold dead hands. I would rather suffer anarchy or death than meekly accept the totalitarianism of homogeneity.
I don’t see how I can call people my fellow citizens when they want me to abandon my principles and beliefs in order to adopt a different set of values that they happen to value more than mine.
I grew up as part or diaspora and still know people who have refused to mingle with the host country and just keep to out ghetto, or as we call “the colony”
Now, if you disagree with that, why did you migrate? A country isn't just land. You migrated into a culture and people and their ways.