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You have a very simplistic and shallow knowledge of history..... Europe is not and never was a harmonious group of ethnic humans. It wasn't kumbaya here in the US either amongst European ethnic groups either. I suggest you take some college level American history courses if you think Europeans all got along.
Egypt reigned for thousands of years. I don't think the US has gotten a few thousand years of rule under it's belt yet. Egypt was as multicultural as you can get. There is a nice exhibit in NYC. You should visit and take notes.
For sure.
There was ENORMOUS tension when the Scots-Irish hit the American shores. The already in-place Puritans and Quakers reeled in shock. The encouragement to move on coupled with greater economic opportunity on the frontier moved many West where their clashes with existing Indian population disrupted the entire colonies.
Interested in their cultural history, I'm always intrigued when I see various references to the subculture. One author (name, ???) recently commented that of all the white European populations it is the Scots-Irish who never fully assimilated into so-called "white" culture.
Or, rather, today there are two competing white subcultures that form the basis of our current political turmoil.
So, yes, in that sense homogeneity can be "easier" but it simply is not reality.
Well five races hasn't been together in the history of the world but lets look at the countries today that are successful.
South Africa- one of the best countries in Africa and has 4 racial/ethnic groups- Whites/ Blacks/ Cape Coloureds.
The two most advanced countries in Africa are Mauritius and Seychelles by HDI, they are both multiracial/multicultural.
Western Europe which on average is about 20% non-white as a region is considered better than Eastern Europe by most measures.
Lets look at the most successful countries (by HDI) and their percent that is one race.
90% White- Norway (between 88% and 92%)
85% White- Australia (Reported 92% but apparently that figure is off)
85% White- Switzerland (this is debatable it is as high as 90%)
88% White- Germany
92% White- Denmark
75% East Asian (88% Asian/Mongoloid overall but mostly Malay people)- Singapore
83% White- Netherlands
93% White- Ireland
98% White- Iceland
72% White- Canada
64% White- U.S.A
94% East Asian (97% Asian/Mongoloid overall mostly Filipinos)- Hong Kong
74% White- New Zealand
84% White- Sweden
94% White- Lichtenstein (debatable number likely higher)
85% White- U.K, England itself is 80% White
99.4% East Asian (98.5% Japanese .5% Korean and .4% Chinese other minorities are so small it is 99.6% Asian/Mongoloid)- Japan
98% East Asian (96% Korean 2% Chinese 99% Asian/Mongoloid)- South Korea
55% Semitic/Middle Eastern (don't know if Jews would be a racial category at 74% of all of Israel, but the largest historical ethno-racial groups of Jews is something like 43% Mizrahi, 38% Ashkenazi, 19% Sephardic)
Here is the same list by Ethnicity.
80% Norwegian
74% Anglo-Celtic Australians
63% Swiss
79% German
88% Danish
74% Singaporean Chinese
77% Dutch
87% Irish
92% Icelandic
32% Canadian (this is debatable, but most of those that identify as Canadian are from French regions followed by ethnically English speaking regions so I would say French at roughly 35% followed by English at 30%)
14% German (this is also debatable as some people identify as just American which would likely fall more into Irish, Scots-Irish and English ancestry although the gap is massive, African
Americans will likely become the number one ethnic group in America at 13% of the population and a six million person gap)
will finish later...
It should be abundantly clear that people within the same culture also do not always share the same values.
Agree.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldglory
For the most part they do though. There will always be fringe elements within any culture.
That is what I was taught when I was a child and what kept me isolated from the Hispanic culture who saw my actions as fringe. I couldn't be part of White community because I wasn't White. So much for assimilation.
The solution was to move away and find people who share the same values as me. My connections are pretty diverse now, politically, racially, ethnically and culturally.
You have a very simplistic and shallow knowledge of history..... Europe is not and never was a harmonious group of ethnic humans. It wasn't kumbaya here in the US either amongst European ethnic groups either. I suggest you take some college level American history courses if you think Europeans all got along.
Egypt reigned for thousands of years. I don't think the US has gotten a few thousand years of rule under it's belt yet. Egypt was as multicultural as you can get. There is a nice exhibit in NYC. You should visit and take notes.
I am married to a White Eastern European with a very different culture. When I visited his family and childhood friends, I ate the same food and spoke the same language. However, some families were prejudice against me for being American, forget about my skin color.
Other families tried to learn as much as possible from me. I noticed we got along because we shared the same values. This had nothing to do with culture.
Values are an aspect of culture. Cultural values can be prioritized differently in different cultures. Some cultures value family above all, while others may value it but place individual achievement higher. America highly values individualism, for example. In my husband's Middle Eastern family, decisions are usually made by committee! What the family expects is highly important to them, while Americans will call the family and announce, " We got married."
But to the OP, interesting question and I really have no idea. But another way of looking at is should we strive to be a melting pot as before or can we just be a big salad? My suspicion is we will do better if there are underlying and overlapping common beliefs and values with a clear commitment and understanding of our democracy and principles. A common language is important for the sense of community and oneness IMO. But foods, festivals, religion, holidays and other ethnic traditions add to our tapestry. Though clear offenses to the universal values of our overarching culture cannot be tolerated like child marriages, genital mutilation, or animal cruelty.
We would surely gain some positive changes in thinking from other cultures as well. Diversity that enriches should be welcomed. We could use more appreciation of the Arts and something called decorum, perhaps. Examples of striving, diligence, and family cohesiveness?
However, I would think common ideals and social beliefs are important ..which is where education and the rule of law would have a role. I certainly wouldn't want our society to be impeded and turned backward from enlightenment and modernity because of a desire to worship diversity. Let's negate concerns about superficial aspects like skin color, race, or place of origin. At least I would hope such ridiculous criteria for judging another's worth will disappear.
We are all familiar with the phrase "diversity is our strength." I would like to know what the historical basis for that is. Sure, US has always been "multi-cultural" but all of those cultures came from the same race/geographic area and were always forced to assimilate into one culture. Where did the idea that a society made up roughly equally of fiver different races would be better than a county of only one race?
I'm not trying to stir the pot here, just trying to learn. Thanks!
Not without LOTS of problems/thread.
For what it's worth, multi-cultural and multi-ethnic societies tend to have far less problems than multi-racial societies.
You can have one group do far better than another, or you can forcefully make everyone equal. It's one or the other, and that's the way it will always be unfortunately.
You can blame this on evolution. We're hard wired to have a tribal mentality, and race goes beyond skin color. It sucks, but that is the awful truth no matter how much we tell ourselves that it's not.
A few do, and wear their hatred proudly, as a badge of honor. As for the others - I'm not sure they can. Cognitive dissonance is never a fun thing to live with, so rather than admitting a position they know is wrong or changing a comfortable behavior, they create an excuse that allows them to protect the behavior without acknowledging the attitude that inspires it.
People find all sorts of ways to defend the indefensible.
Some do admit to their hatred with pride. And then there are others who are obviously bigoted/racist, but there are things they try to do to hide it. It will start off with "I'm not racist, but...." or "No offense, but....".
Very often, making excuses to protect their behavior is often a way to save face. They know what they're doing is not right, but they don't want to stop doing it.
I don't know about that. I am white, in an interracial relationship, and live in a majority Mexican neighborhood, and I don't feel fear of my neighbors
You are an individual, not a population. That said, the argument made by the OP is grossly oversimplified to the point of nonsense.
There is consensus in the scientific community that human do have bias based on physical traits that is even detectable in infants and this is thought to translate to a survival adaptation that can be extrapolated to the societal level, but it does not mean humans are inherently racist or that overcoming bias based on physical traits is not itself a survival trait.
America is an experiment and we don't know the results yet. Immigrating across oceans in great numbers wasn't possible in the past. Not like today with airplanes.
I'd like to see the experiment work. I'd like to have a national language so that we can all communicate, like to see religion kept to one's own self as it should be, not forced on others by people who think their religion is superior, like to see people hired by merit, not race--in other words, it would be better to ignore the differences. Stop all this hollering about some minority not getting something. That just makes it worse. Liberal extremists need to shut up. Conservative extremists need to shut up.
I do think most of the racists are old and will die off. Younger people don't care so much about the differences and they will be the voters and decision makers of the future. I am one of the older people and I am not racist--I don't know anyone who is racist but I still think that the younger people are the hope of the future as far as being more tolerant and accepting.
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