(This posting is United States centric, but it should apply to all humanity.)
One of the nicknames of the United States is THE MELTING POT.
People would come from all parts of the world – the vast majority of the time
because they wanted to become part of America, and have America be part of them
(I suspect it already was – they were just coming home.) They wouldn’t totally
abandon the culture they came from, but they would embrace OUR culture, too –
melt into and become part of the American family, while adding their own
ingredients to the mix at the same time - everyone blended into the melting
pot.
Lately, this feature of America has been corrupted by multi-culturism.
Now, even suggesting that there is ONE COMMON AMERICAN CULTURE, or that this
should be DESIRABLE brings accusations of racism and bigotry. How dare anyone
think that the American Culture is superior to any other? THAT IS NOT WHAT THIS
IS ABOUT (although there must be something
good about American culture – the success of our nation has had didn’t happen despite
it.)
A common culture unifies us, and the more that culture is
diluted and denigrated, the less unified we are as a nation. This isn’t just a
problem with the lack of assimilation of new immigrants (legal or otherwise) –
it’s particularly damaging that it’s happened with ACTUAL AMERICANS who have
forgotten that that’s what they are. We’ve become hyphenated Americans, which
wouldn’t be a bad thing if the emphasis was on the suffix (the AMERICAN part),
but instead we stress the prefix (the part that SEPARATES them from being
Americans.)
This is why we have Mexican-Americans who think it’s okay for
people to come into our country illegally. It’s why we have African-Americans who
will protest the self-defense shooting death of a thug in Ferguson SIMPLY
because of his skin color. We can’t function as a society if any one group thinks
the law shouldn’t apply to them.
I’m an Italian-American (among other things); I identify most
strongly with being American. I’m also a white American, but I refuse to have
my ethnic background, or the color of my skin, be the most important thing to
define me. And I won’t allow my allegiances to be blindly determined by the
same. Why should I scream “Foul!” if another Italian American is arrested for
stealing? Or if a white person is tasered or shot while assaulting a police
officer? Really?
It’s sort of like wanting to belong to a club or a church, but
not being willing to follow the rules that are a condition of membership. Why did
you join? Why are you staying? (answering that question might help you see the
benefits of membership, and help you realize that MAYBE this isn’t the
heartless, oppressive place that some people have told you...)
We live in a nation of laws, created by WE THE PEOPLE, and a
big part of being a functioning member of our culture is understanding the
importance those laws have in maintaining a civil society. The law applies to
everyone, regardless of their skin tone, ethnic origin, or any other subset you
want to use.
I feel sorry for anyone who lives in what I believe is the
greatest country on earth but who can’t be anything beyond their prefix.
They’ve bought into a bill of goods, sold to them by power-seekers who continue
to get what they want as long as WE allow them to divide us.
Why can’t we all just look at what we have in common, instead
of allowing ourselves to be distracted and manipulated by our differences?
Just
saying…
<<<>>>
William Mangieri’s writing (including his
latest ePublication “The Final Ending?”) can be found in many places, such as:
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