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I agree, bran.
I have noticed the younger generations, those born from the late 80's on, have much less concern about race and culture than those who are older.
The kids who were born here or have lived here most of their lives are pretty relaxed these days about their culture. But being a part of a group seems to be more important than it once was, and their groups are much more constantly in touch with a group's members than in the past.
That probably makes it harder for the newcomers than in the past. They need to fit in with our wider culture and at the same time, they want to have their small group to fit into as well. That makes two big adjustments, not just one.
And there are still lots of loners who aren't loners by choice; for whatever reasons, they're unable to fit in with a group, or can't find a group that is made up of people like them. They too have it harder than those who easily find a niche and a group that they can fit into easily.
We used to be a more openly social society. Americans were always great joiners; they created many of the social fraternities like the Elks, the Moose, the Odd Fellows, etc., and all were a great way of socializing as part of a group. We were more sociable too, with friends and strangers alike.
We have changed substantially in the past 20 years. Most of the change has been a move away from our social ability and towards greater self-isolation and greater limiting of our widespread social contacts. I know a woman who isn't a hermit at all, but never goes shopping for anything but groceries. She buys everything else over the internet, and while she has a small circle of friends, has no need to enlarge that circle.
I think she may be untypical of most folks, but not to a large degree. The young also nest a lot and only keep in constant touch through second-hand ways, mostly the cell phone and internet. Very few of us are completely off the grid these days.
It may affect our self esteem in ways we aren't aware of, too. I'm sure all the artificial ways we connect with each other do affect how deep our relationships are. I'm old enough that an internet insult doesn't ruffle my feathers at all, but younger folks are deeply wounded by the same comments. That's a self esteem issue for sure.
It's just the USA that drives people insane. Here in Canada all of the very many different ethnic and cultural groups are proud of their heritage and wear it on their sleeves for all to see. It has not always been that way though. Forty years ago the government of Canada decided to take a different approach. Even to the extent of establishing a cabinet level department called The ministry of multiculturalism which was mandated to abolish racial prejudice within the country. It has been largely successful with pretty much everyone respecting and even celebrating all the different and interesting peoples we have here as proud Canadians. To be a racist here now, mainly on account of the education system, is to be a pariah. I like that and am very proud of my nation for everything they have done and continue to do in that sphere.
I really don't want to talk about Canada. I realize that racial dynamics in every country is different. But I do look at this as an American (more specifically a USA) issue. I don't know how things play out in Canada, but I'm sure it's not without it's own racial issues.
OP, the problem with this thread is that it takes the miniscule extremes of our society and magnifies it assuming that these issues are more common than they really are. The fact remains that MOST Asians aren't having eye surgery to make their eyes bigger. MOST black people are not bleaching their skin to be lighter. MOST whites do not tan excessively to be darker. If one solely goes by the loud ranting of online blogs and YouTube as gospel then I am sure that I can be convinced that these issues are an epidemic when they simply are not.
A lot of stuff that I have talked about was going on long before the economy started having issues. The economy doesn't explain why Asian women are getting eyelid surgery, or why Filipina women are bleaching their skin.
Please, Filipinas and Latinas bleaching their skin comes from the fact that for centuries those in Spanish colonies benefitted from having a lighter skin color. This is nothing new.
OP, the problem with this thread is that it takes the miniscule extremes of our society and magnifies it assuming that these issues are more common than they really are. The fact remains that MOST Asians aren't having eye surgery to make their eyes bigger. MOST black people are not bleaching their skin to be lighter. MOST whites do not tan excessively to be darker. If one solely goes by the loud ranting of online blogs and YouTube as gospel then I am sure that I can be convinced that these issues are an epidemic when they simply are not.
No, not everyone is doing it. But in all cases it's a GROWING fad. That's the key, it's becoming more common than less common. Black people would have never though of bleaching their skin in the 80s when I was growing up. People were taught to be proud of who they are, and to make your race great. Not use your race to make you great. It's in reverse now. Seems like people, moreso in the past are trying to hide behind their race, or believe that admission into a certain group will seem to help them out in some way.
I can tell you it's VERY big in the asian community. I have a lot of Asian male friends, and I've heard them blow the lid off of this one completely. There is a lot of self hate amongst the women in the asian community. And they do nothing short of worship white men. No all of them won't take it to the level of getting eylelid surgery since I'm sure most of them can't afford it. But to even pretend that this isn't endemic amongst asians is ignorance.
Then you have latinos. To some degree I see two things with them. Some of them are really old school, and back in the 80s when I was growing up, Latina women really wanted to be with white men. It was heavily encouraged in Latina communities to marry white, take on white names, and integrate with society. These days, it's harder to tell where they stand on the issue. But I've found more pride and resistence to white supremecy from that group in more recent times. But I also realize it depends where in the country you are. Here in California, Latinos really don't white worship. In my home town of KC and in Atlanta, white worship is pretty big in the latino community.
In either case, I'm finding that this whole mantra of racial integration has side effects and trade offs. As we try to integrate as a society, it seems that the trade off is self hate. Self image problems, and the need to distance yourself from your race. And it's not exclusive to any race, because from what I can tell white people have it the worse.
i grieve the loss of pride in being an american. then again if you realize u r doing stuff that u r not proud of, then a good part of manhood is correctly your mistake and going forward. in our zeal to see our own faults we might have forgotten some of our good features.
Let me rep. that one you. The OP's diatribe paints a really dark picture, unless it's a self-portrait.
I'm not sure why it's considered a dark topic. I get it, Americans don't like to talk about race. It's get's people uncomfortable. When you're talking about race in America, you're dealing with some heavy firepower. And most people would rather crawl under the bed when it comes to a racial shootout. And try to wait it out until the gun fight is over. But the gun fight will never end, unless you get in the game and start firing off a few rounds yourself.
The real issue is that, we think racial integration works. And we rarely question the downfalls of racial integration. We pretend it's a system that works flawlessly with no trade off. The reality self hate is a by product of racial integration. And those who suffer under it aren't just your socially regressive garden variety white supremacist and redneck. The reality is that everyone suffers underneath it. I'm not here to bash racial integration, because it's good in the long run. But this doesn't mean that it doesn't create some dark mentalities and resentment along the way. In America we've been trained to just blindly tolerate and accept it. But there are some people out here hating themselves and hating themselves under gun point integration.
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