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Just for you to get a picture of the type of diversity that I grew up with, take a look at these ladies competing for the title of Ms. La Palma (a tiny town in North Orange County, where my high school is located in):
Despite the immense diversity of where I grew up...there was never a sense of "otherness". We all consider ourselves Americans. It really doesn't even become a concern until you start traveling to other states and you realize how narrow minded many people's views of what is to be American can be. Case in point: the reaction many mid-western and Southern Americans had to the Mexican-American kid who sung the National Anthem for the San Antonio Spurs.
Anecdote: When I traveled to Japan, I did it with two of my best friends, both Americans. One, female, is black and Chinese. The second one is a blond blue-eyed white dude from Texas. As for me, I am olive skinned, brown hair, brown eyed Mexican guy from California. All of us in our mid-20's. When we were there, and other Americans heard our very American accents, they would approach us to talk to us and many were just really happy to be able to socialize with other Americans (especially those that were living in Japan.) This was the case wherever we went throughout Japan, and all types of Americans approached us (including Asian/Japanese Americans). There were no sense of ethnic or racial divisions amongst us. It was actually embarrassingly common to hear other Americans chant "Murica! Murica! Murica!" if they heard or saw you, LOL.
Either way, in a country where people get so stuck in identity politics and hyphenations, it was very nice to just be plain ol American for once.
This happens because it's only when you travel outside the United States, it dawns on you that 96% of the world's population is not American.
You begin to understand what that actually feels like.
•do you feel American or another nationality? American
•do you feel cosmopolitan? Yes, but I have found that many Americans are ethnocentric when visiting other countries.
•do you perceive there is solidarity between Americans regardless of their ethnic identity? Yes.
•are you more drawn (sexually, friends, social life) by your ethnicity (whatever broad or small ethnicity you identify with) or it doesn't infuence whom you are drawn by? (Meaning do you stick to your people?) No. I love other cultures and have found that most people that I know welcome diversity so long as they do not feel that their way of living is not threatened.
•if you stick to your people is this perceived as discrimination by others (and probably by yourself too)? I do not stick to "my people" , but doing so would not be perceived so much as discrimination but more insular and close minded - in other words, Un-American! FYI, I am of French and Native American decent and Catholic while my wife is of Korean decent and Evangelical Christian.
•if constricted to; where would you emigrate outside USA? France or Tuscany, Italy (was there 25 years ago and fell in love with it), but I love West Michigan more than every other place that I have been.
•is it a problem for you a multicultural/multiethnic society? Nope.I love it!
•would you desire a more monocultural (/monoethnic?) society for USA? (Meaning do you wish a more quick meltingpot for USA..as people will be mixed in a one monoculture/ethnic block?) And give up all of the delicious restaurants, exciting conversations with new immigrants as well as all of the new cultural events that having them in my community brings? No Way! When everyone go into it with an open mind, multiculturalism is wonderful. That said, America was founded on multiculturalism so it is in our roots. However, I have lived in Europe where I found single cultures that where formed over hundreds of years by insulated communities. It is going to be tough for Italy to change their deep seated ways of thinking and open themselves to new ways of thinking. Traditions will need to be thrown out and open mindedness will need to prevail. It is easy to think that your society can succeed at this, but actually doing so is going be a long and challenging journey.
•is for you better a monocultural/ethnic society or a multicultural/multiethnic society? Multi!
•if you were born outside USA; was it a shock/problem usa's multiethnic and multicultural society? Born in America. Lived in Germany, Saudi Arabia and the USA states of Texas, Arizona, Virginia, New Jersey, Kansas. Illinois, and my favorite and home - Michigan. Visited most US States as well as Canada, The Netherlands, Austria, Italia, Kuwait, and Iraq.
•do you tolerate other religions? (Even if you are atheist or agnostic; do you tolerate other religion different than that/those of your parents?) Yes. I think that I am right and that is why I believe what I believe, but I am not so arrogant that I know that I am right and everyone else is wrong.
•can religions in USA cohexist peacefully? Yes and it does, with rare exceptions.
Anecdote: When I traveled to Japan, I did it with two of my best friends, both Americans. One, female, is black and Chinese. The second one is a blond blue-eyed white dude from Texas. As for me, I am olive skinned, brown hair, brown eyed Mexican guy from California. All of us in our mid-20's. When we were there, and other Americans heard our very American accents, they would approach us to talk to us and many were just really happy to be able to socialize with other Americans (especially those that were living in Japan.) This was the case wherever we went throughout Japan, and all types of Americans approached us (including Asian/Japanese Americans). There were no sense of ethnic or racial divisions amongst us. It was actually embarrassingly common to hear other Americans chant "Murica! Murica! Murica!" if they heard or saw you, LOL.
Were the local Japanese surprised that all of you were American? Or have certain stereotypes of you, from appearance?
•do you feel American or another nationality? American, but I don't have any recent immigrants in my family. My ancestors all came here during the colonial era.
•do you feel cosmopolitan? Not sure what you mean here. I do feel that I'm fairly cosmopolitan because I like to learn and travel. However, I don't think that living around all types of cultures in American makes a person cosmopolitan. I think it's dependent on the person.
•do you perceive there is solidarity between Americans regardless of their ethnic identity? Not really. I live in a very diverse city and have lived in others as well, and people generally associate with others like them, whether it be people of the same ethnic background or socioeconomic class.Also, ethnic background and culture often go hand-in-hand.
•are you more drawn (sexually, friends, social life) by your ethnicity (whatever broad or small ethnicity you identify with) or it doesn't infuence whom you are drawn by? (Meaning do you stick to your people?) I'm generally drawn to white Americans because that is typically who I share the most in common with and who I'm attracted to sexually. There are exceptions though, but even those are people who are non-white but would be considered to be "white American" culturally.That being said, there are certainly white Americans that I do not have much in common with either.
•if you stick to your people is this perceived as discrimination by others (and probably by yourself too)? For the most part no.
•if constricted to; where would you emigrate outside USA? Not including Canada (since it's so similar to the US), I would go to Europe. I'm of European stock so I would not stand out walking down the street, and American culture was spawned by European culture.
•is it a problem for you a multicultural/multiethnic society? I think there can be since it can create divisions among the people instead of united cultural solidarity.I think it depends on the capacity of the source population to absorb the new population.
•would you desire a more monocultural (/monoethnic?) society for USA? (Meaning do you wish a more quick meltingpot for USA..as people will be mixed in a one monoculture/ethnic block?) Less. There are already many immigrants here and I don't think that bringing in more will add to the quality of life for Americans.
•is for you better a monocultural/ethnic society or a multicultural/multiethnic society? I think a monocultural society is stronger and more unified in the long run.
•if you were born outside USA; was it a shock/problem usa's multiethnic and multicultural society? Does not apply to me.
•do you tolerate other religions? (Even if you are atheist or agnostic; do you tolerate other religion different than that/those of your parents?) Yes, as long as they are not forced upon me. I'm agnostic and it's not much of an issue. In other parts of the country in may be since religion plays a bigger part of people's lives in certain areas. I will say that there are some religious influences on our government that I do not agree with, so in that respect I do have a problem with religion.
•can religions in USA cohexist peacefully? They can and usually do. Although in America there are no violent religious extremists. There are some fundamentalist Christians that can be annoying, but they're easy to ignore for the most part.
Hi; first I introduce myself; I m a women from Europe; Italy. I ve always stayed here (in Italy) and I plan my future in Italy. (I've always imagined myself here)
Europe say intellectuals and newspapers will become multicultural/multiethnic maybe.
I ve always wondered about this kind of society (since imigration started only in 2000 in my country)..to comprehend better this new big thing. And USA is the better country to look at for myself (study Theese phenomenon)
Btw I don t want to see on this thread any form of racial discrimination or racial slurs
And sorry for my grammar mistakes if there are any
Here some questions for you Americans:
•do you feel American or another nationality?
•do you feel cosmopolitan?
•do you perceive there is solidarity between Americans regardless of their ethnic identity?
•are you more drawn (sexually, friends, social life) by your ethnicity (whatever broad or small ethnicity you identify with) or it doesn't infuence whom you are drawn by? (Meaning do you stick to your people?)
•if you stick to your people is this perceived as discrimination by others (and probably by yourself too)?
•if constricted to; where would you emigrate outside USA?
•is it a problem for you a multicultural/multiethnic society?
•would you desire a more monocultural (/monoethnic?) society for USA? (Meaning do you wish a more quick meltingpot for USA..as people will be mixed in a one monoculture/ethnic block?)
•is for you better a monocultural/ethnic society or a multicultural/multiethnic society?
•if you were born outside USA; was it a shock/problem usa's multiethnic and multicultural society?
1. American is my nationality, but not my ethnicity.
2. I live in DC, so yes.
3. Hell NO. The US is very divided in some ways.
4. Meh. I have a variety of friends different races, ethnic backgrounds.
5. Probably Canada?
6. No
7. That would get boring quick.
8. Multicultural society is kind of nice. Monocultures strike me as very stale.
Were the local Japanese surprised that all of you were American? Or have certain stereotypes of you, from appearance?
Not really. I think they are aware that it is supposed to be a pretty diverse country. I met a lot of Japanese that had study abroad or worked in California. California and Hawaii are the states they are most familiar with, so if anything, going to a place like Nebraska or Kansas might be a bit of a shock to them.
In terms of stereotypes, there were some girls in a bar that changed my name to Alejandro (Thank Lady Gaga for this) when they would forget what my first name was. This happened a couple times. -_-
Not sure. Why? Looking for a potential prom date? aha
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