I believe that most people in America aren't really multi-culturalists but cultural assimilationists. I personally believe that multi-culturalism will result in not only fail, but also something that we will never fully achieve and would absolutely kill the American identity and culture.
What I mean by that is for true multi-culturalism to work, every culture in America would have to have a Native American like presence and independence. Instead of China towns being the exceptions, America would be riddled with China towns, Spanish towns, ect each with their own official languages, ect. This would mean that if you were to travel to another city or region, you may end up in a place where Chinese is the official language and the holidays are Chinese holidays, ect.
It's safe to bet that majority of Americans don't want to travel over to another city and now have to speak Spanish/Chinese/whatever and find that the customs, culture, and language are distinctly foreign or wake up one day and find that Soccer is the preferred sport instead of baseball / football, ect.
Most Americans (and American culture imho) has always been that of cultural assimilation. Most of American culture is comprised of 70% Western European with the remaining 30% being an assimilation of other cultures and customs intertwined with it. Sure, we're ok with integrating Cinco De Mayo, St. Pattricks day, and Chinese new year into our celebrations, but it doesn't replace our national holidays like the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, ect. We're ok with visiting a "chinatown" as sort of a cultural amusement park, but at the end of the day we want to leave and go back to our "American" suburbs, downtown, or country homes.
Even the most hippy liberal "multiculturalists" will have to say that they don't want to one day wake up or travel to another part of town that is all of a sudden a distinct and foreign culture (if they're honest with themselves.)
America is first and foremost a Western civilization and culture. The best part of America is that we take the best parts of a Western European culture and identity and augment that with the best of other cultures. That is what makes America great and why we have led the world as a superpower and why we have had the greatest minds and innovations in the last 100 years. The moment we stop doing that and we stop integrating and assimilating and become a country of distinct and separate cultures, we lose that. We lose our unity and identity as Americans.
It's true that America is a country of immigrants. However, in the past, if you did not assimilate you did not survive. There was a period where the Irish were hated, the Polish were hated, the Italians were hated, ect. However, there is no denying that over time, these people integrated and also brought parts of their culture into the American identity and there is no disputing that these are all Americans now.
Today things are different. People today are encouraged to remain separate and foreign from the host culture. It's not like in the past where you have to assimilate to survive. Because of that, what used to be a 1st generation immigrant / cultural difference, we have distinctly foreign communities of people that spans generations. When 2nd and 3rd generation of people in America still remain distinctly "foreign," then something is wrong.
I joke about this, but a good example of what could happen when you have a growing group of "foreign" communities that remain distinctly different and separate is the story of Native Americans. A growing group of people from Western Europe immigrated to this land and paid no regard to the host culture that existed here. They did not integrate and continued to grow independently until one day, the foreign culture basically ganked a whole country right under them. Rofl.
What I mean by that is for true multi-culturalism to work, every culture in America would have to have a Native American like presence and independence. Instead of China towns being the exceptions, America would be riddled with China towns, Spanish towns, ect each with their own official languages, ect. This would mean that if you were to travel to another city or region, you may end up in a place where Chinese is the official language and the holidays are Chinese holidays, ect.
It's safe to bet that majority of Americans don't want to travel over to another city and now have to speak Spanish/Chinese/whatever and find that the customs, culture, and language are distinctly foreign or wake up one day and find that Soccer is the preferred sport instead of baseball / football, ect.
Most Americans (and American culture imho) has always been that of cultural assimilation. Most of American culture is comprised of 70% Western European with the remaining 30% being an assimilation of other cultures and customs intertwined with it. Sure, we're ok with integrating Cinco De Mayo, St. Pattricks day, and Chinese new year into our celebrations, but it doesn't replace our national holidays like the 4th of July and Thanksgiving, ect. We're ok with visiting a "chinatown" as sort of a cultural amusement park, but at the end of the day we want to leave and go back to our "American" suburbs, downtown, or country homes.
Even the most hippy liberal "multiculturalists" will have to say that they don't want to one day wake up or travel to another part of town that is all of a sudden a distinct and foreign culture (if they're honest with themselves.)
America is first and foremost a Western civilization and culture. The best part of America is that we take the best parts of a Western European culture and identity and augment that with the best of other cultures. That is what makes America great and why we have led the world as a superpower and why we have had the greatest minds and innovations in the last 100 years. The moment we stop doing that and we stop integrating and assimilating and become a country of distinct and separate cultures, we lose that. We lose our unity and identity as Americans.
It's true that America is a country of immigrants. However, in the past, if you did not assimilate you did not survive. There was a period where the Irish were hated, the Polish were hated, the Italians were hated, ect. However, there is no denying that over time, these people integrated and also brought parts of their culture into the American identity and there is no disputing that these are all Americans now.
Today things are different. People today are encouraged to remain separate and foreign from the host culture. It's not like in the past where you have to assimilate to survive. Because of that, what used to be a 1st generation immigrant / cultural difference, we have distinctly foreign communities of people that spans generations. When 2nd and 3rd generation of people in America still remain distinctly "foreign," then something is wrong.
I joke about this, but a good example of what could happen when you have a growing group of "foreign" communities that remain distinctly different and separate is the story of Native Americans. A growing group of people from Western Europe immigrated to this land and paid no regard to the host culture that existed here. They did not integrate and continued to grow independently until one day, the foreign culture basically ganked a whole country right under them. Rofl.
