kain_kusanagi said:
fordy said:
kain_kusanagi said:
I can't tip my hat just yet because your list isn't talking about the kind of melting pot I'm talking about. Let's take your list's Number 1 most "diverse" nation, Afghanistan.
Afghanistan is comprised of Pashtun 42%, Tajik 27%, Hazara 9%, Uzbek 9%, Aimak 4%, Turkmen 3%, Baloch 2%, other 4%.
Those are all groups that have more in common than they have differences. That's not the kind of diversity I was talking about. I was talking about how the USA is made up of people from so many different nations of who's nations are made up of so many different cultures and subcultures.
The USA ranks low on your list because it it's so much broader that it gets simplified to white 79.96%, black 12.85%, Asian 4.43%, Amerindian and Alaska native 0.97%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.18%, two or more races 1.61.
What does "white" or "black" mean? To your list it just means that, people of European and African descent. But you and I both know that broad terms like White or Black or Asian can mean hundreds of thousands of different cultures.
Can you imagine the list of cultures within the USA if it was given the specifics that the Afghanistan data was? It's almost impossible to even collect that amount of data. The US Census just asks for race, but the Afghanistan list shows nationality. All the people of the Afghanistan list would get lumped into the USA's data as one statistic.
But on top of that. I was really talking about how the USA's larger culture is a sum of it's parts. The Great Melting Pot of the USA is so grand that today we live in a county that looks like a snapshot of the entire planet, culturally speaking.
Source: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/peo_eth_gro-people-ethnic-groups
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So that's one example, now if you can provide examplesfor all other countries above the US in cultural diversity, then you might be on to something.
On top of this, the "melting pot" concept is actually seen as intolerable towards other cultures, because the concept is that cultures mix to form ONE culture, and is AGAINST diversity. Multiculturalism aims to preserve cultures and build tolerance between them. See melting pot vs multiculturalism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melting_pot
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In America we want everyone to be themselves as well as be American. That's not the same as making everyone turn away from their heritage and a white picket fence. That's why we don't want schools teaching in Spanish or French. We want our citizens to be American first and have their own thing going on too. US culture is a mix of assimilation and multiculturalism. When I used the term "Melting Pot" I was not referring to the outdated viewpoint that everyone coming to the USA should cast away their name. I was referring to the present day tolerant view that we can be American and still keep our unique cultural traditions. Within reason. I mean we don't allow honor killings and stuff like that.
The majority of American does not believe in the open boarders and anything goes that hardcore Multiculturalists want. American loves its "Americaness" and we know that it's the mix of cultures that makes it so American. That's what I was referring to. The term "Melting Pot" may be an outdated choices of words, but now you know what I meant.
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Your argument fails to recognise that a multicultural society also embraces similar. Despite a mix of different cultures, their common trait is the ideals that they all embrace: tolerance for all cultures. America has YET to formally adopt a multiculturalism in any policy at the federal level. The first to do so was Canada, followed by Australia in the 1970s.
Fear of open borders policy extends towards melting pot theory, on the basis of fear of BEING assimilated rather than assimilating others, once another culture becomes too common. In a multicultural society, this is not the case. That's why you'll find that many who support melting pot do not want open borders, and those who support multiculturalism are indifferent towards it.
However, boasting that America "engulfs" other cultures isn't exactly a positive thing when talking about cultural diversity, you know...
