Is America still a 'melting pot' for peoples of dfifferent ethnic backgrounds and beliefs?

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“The melting pot is a metaphor for a heterogeneous society becoming more homogeneous, the different elements “melting together” into a harmonious whole with a common culture. It is particularly used to describe the assimilation of immigrants to the United States; the melting-together metaphor was in use by the 1780s.”
-Wikipedia

I firmly believe this is so today! I believe today that the ‘melting pot’ also takes people with differing values and attitudes and ‘melts’ them into harmonious whole that is consistent with the values and attitudes of today’s world.
 
The media is not there to make money, but is there to guide the way people think (mostly passive thinking at the present time). The media shapes our values and morals. The media is an important part of our national security. On a more positive note, the media also keeps everyone in the population on the same page in a rapidly changing world. I firmly believe that someday religion will dominate the media! Not during our lifetime perhaps, but in due time.
 
Well, I would say as someone who has lived in California, Connecticut, and Louisiana and has traveled to the MidWest alot, that the cultures within the United States differ greatly from area to area. Moving from West Coast to East Coast was a total culture shock! I was considered rude for hugging people the first time I met them, most people smoked cigarettes, people thought I was rude for correcting grammar and mispronunciations (which in my area of California everyone does this and it is considered courteous), it was foreign to me that people wore pajamas outside to check their mail and go to the grocery store, they also had a lot of nomenclature that I have never heard of , people were WAY WAY more into sports and tanning, and the list goes on and on.

I would say that each area of the U.S. has a distinct culture and I would say that each area is maybe a melting pot of the people in that area, but not as the U.S. as a whole. I would say that the morals differ from area to area, customs, and culture.
 
We are far less of a “melting pot” than we once were. Governmental preoccupation with “diversity,” ethnic / racial / gender quotas (de facto or de jure), the rise of “identity politics” – all of these are at work to emphasize our differences, not our similarities. And the media, who most assuredly ARE in it for the money (as their stockholders so demand), constantly stir this pot by framing their reporting along whatever social “fault lines” that they can find. That’s how we end up with stories, such as the one reported in the media about 3 weeks ago, like the West Coast school official who stated that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches have racist overtones.
 
I don’t like the analogy of the “melting pot” as I believe it emphasizes a desire for folks to cast aside the unique life experiences which they bring with them.

I prefer the analogy of the “salad bowl”.

Diversity is what makes the US the vibrant country that it is.
 
ringil said:
I don’t like the analogy of the “melting pot” as I believe it emphasizes a desire for folks to cast aside the unique life experiences which they bring with them.

I prefer the analogy of the “salad bowl”.

Diversity is what makes the US the vibrant country that it is.
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According to the media, we live in culturally diverse society that resembles a salad bowl, but look deeper and you may see that it’s really a melting pot in terms of key values, attitudes and other beliefs and norms.
 
“into a harmonious whole, consistent with the values and attitudes of today’s world”.

I think the Catholic Church has both opposed and supported the idea of the “melting pot”. Obviously, for a long time we all had Latin mass, and most communities huddled together into their respective Italian, Lithuanian, Polish, German, Irish, etc. communities. They supported it by obviously being patriotic during the World Wars for instance. The Catholic Bishops during those times were worried that the Church was perceived as foreign… and might side with European powers.

Anyways, I dislike the “melting pot” idea, at least nowadays. I don’t think we’re divided by race as much today as religion. Now the “melting pot” is wanting to melt down our religious faiths into a “harmonious whole”. That’s what those ‘coexist’ stickers are saying, “well, to each his own, as long as your religion doesn’t make any claims to being better than ANY other religion, or any lifestyle for that matter”.

Obviously the Catholic Church contains the fullness of truth. And, saying that might get you in trouble with the law in certain secularized quarters of the European Union.

I don’t know about the media being dominated by religion… but it catches my fancy that CNN might one day stand for “Catholic News Network”, and FOX might stand for “Faith of Christ”… the X being turned into a Chi Rho. [Does FOX even stand for anything right now?]. MSNBC would have long since gone bankrupt and thrown in the dustbin of history. 😃
 
Time to let it go and forgive, fighting over needless secondary religious beliefs as do most Catholics and Protestants
 
Robert_Sock said:
According to the media, we live in culturally diverse society that resembles a salad bowl, but look deeper and you may see that it’s really a melting pot in terms of key values, attitudes and other beliefs and norms.
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There are overarching ideals to the American consciousness which do transcend cultural norms and in that sense we are a melting pot and I think that is a good thing.

I do believe that it is part of Americas strength when folks do keep their cultural heritage and practices intact.
 
In my opinion the problem is not America being a melting pot or “salad bowl” as someone here aptly put it, but ideologues who try, through government or social programs, to reverse, slow, or speed up the cultural “melting” process.

It does violence to the individual or ethnicity to force integration faster than it would happen organically, and it is deleterious to society to try to artificially maintain old cultural divisions through the centuries or even reverse the process of coming together as a single people. Today the former problem is primarily seen in people with a positive distaste for the Spanish language, who try to prevent it being used in public contexts through things like the movement to make English the official language of the United States. The latter problem is much worse currently, with efforts to alienate every ethnicity from the whole in different ways. For example, the declaration that only American Indians are “natives” of this country makes them feel different from the vast majority of Americans while labeling everyone else, even if their ancestors have lived here for centuries, as “immigrants” whose true native soil therefore lies elsewhere- or nowhere.
 
Not where I live.

I’m a minority. I was born here and English is my native tongue.

A huge number of Hispanics won’t assimilate. The town I used to live in was 94% Hispanic. We had to drive almost 5 miles to get to a normal grocery store, all we had nearby featured Mexican delicacies, the announcements in Spanish, the aisles marked in Spanish, etc.

Billboards are in Spanish. Ads on buses are in Spanish. Half the radio stations are in Spanish here. They get their voter guides printed in Spanish! I thought basic English was a requirement for citizenship? Don’t forget, the kids have to be taught in Spanish, too.

Anyway… the cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park may as well just change their names to something in Chinese. The City of Walnut may as well be renamed Manila.

What irks me most though is that the Church feels it must accommodate them in every way. Ever been to a bilingual Mass? Or trilingual? The Creed said in three languages simultaneously doesn’t give the impression of one unified Church. Or on a Holy Day of Obligation, the Vigil Mass is held in Spanish. And nine people show up, at least two of whom, I know, are native English speakers and the rest don’t look like recent immigrants.

Not a melting pot at all. No way.
 
Richard320 said:
Not where I live.

I’m a minority. I was born here and English is my native tongue.

A huge number of Hispanics won’t assimilate. The town I used to live in was 94% Hispanic. We had to drive almost 5 miles to get to a normal grocery store, all we had nearby featured Mexican delicacies, the announcements in Spanish, the aisles marked in Spanish, etc.

Billboards are in Spanish. Ads on buses are in Spanish. Half the radio stations are in Spanish here. They get their voter guides printed in Spanish! I thought basic English was a requirement for citizenship? Don’t forget, the kids have to be taught in Spanish, too.

Anyway… the cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park may as well just change their names to something in Chinese. The City of Walnut may as well be renamed Manila.

What irks me most though is that the Church feels it must accommodate them in every way. Ever been to a bilingual Mass? Or trilingual? The Creed said in three languages simultaneously doesn’t give the impression of one unified Church. Or on a Holy Day of Obligation, the Vigil Mass is held in Spanish. And nine people show up, at least two of whom, I know, are native English speakers and the rest don’t look like recent immigrants.

Not a melting pot at all. No way.
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I’m not really talking about the homogeneity like it was used in the past. but I’m redefining it mean similarity in terms of values, attitudes, and other beliefs and norms. Do the Hispanic population value LOVE the way it ought to be?
 
Richard320 said:
What irks me most though is that the Church feels it must accommodate them in every way. Ever been to a bilingual Mass? Or trilingual? The Creed said in three languages simultaneously doesn’t give the impression of one unified Church. Or on a Holy Day of Obligation, the Vigil Mass is held in Spanish. And nine people show up, at least two of whom, I know, are native English speakers and the rest don’t look like recent immigrants.
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Latin worked for at least 1600 years. I guess you could call these trilingual expressions of faith unintended consequences of having everything in the vulgar/vernacular. Anglophones pushed for it, not realizing that after 40 years there would be worldwide tons more Spanish Masses celebrated than the English Masses.
 
Robert_Sock said:
According to the media, we live in culturally diverse society that resembles a salad bowl, but look deeper and you may see that it’s really a melting pot in terms of key values, attitudes and other beliefs and norms.
Click to expand...
Perhaps not a melting pot, but a stew pot. The potatoes, and carrots, and onions, and meat, etc retain their distinctive characters. But to some degree they lend their flavor to the gravy or broth which holds everything together. And the potatoes, carrots, onions, meat, etc acquire a different flavor because of the gravy or broth which coats and permeates them.
 
Richard320 said:
Billboards are in Spanish. Ads on buses are in Spanish. Half the radio stations are in Spanish here. They get their voter guides printed in Spanish! I thought basic English was a requirement for citizenship?
Click to expand...
Since when? :confused:

There has never been such a requirement, to my knowledge.
What irks me most though is that the Church feels it must accommodate them in every way.
Click to expand...
Yes, the Church holds masses in local tongues.
 
Richard320 said:
Not where I live.

I’m a minority. I was born here and English is my native tongue.

A huge number of Hispanics won’t assimilate. The town I used to live in was 94% Hispanic. We had to drive almost 5 miles to get to a normal grocery store, all we had nearby featured Mexican delicacies, the announcements in Spanish, the aisles marked in Spanish, etc.

Billboards are in Spanish. Ads on buses are in Spanish. Half the radio stations are in Spanish here. They get their voter guides printed in Spanish! I thought basic English was a requirement for citizenship? Don’t forget, the kids have to be taught in Spanish, too.

Anyway… the cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park may as well just change their names to something in Chinese. The City of Walnut may as well be renamed Manila.

What irks me most though is that the Church feels it must accommodate them in every way. Ever been to a bilingual Mass? Or trilingual? The Creed said in three languages simultaneously doesn’t give the impression of one unified Church. Or on a Holy Day of Obligation, the Vigil Mass is held in Spanish. And nine people show up, at least two of whom, I know, are native English speakers and the rest don’t look like recent immigrants.

Not a melting pot at all. No way.
Click to expand...
What you describe, is almost (not quite), the historicall norm for all ethnic groups coming to the United States. In the 19th and early 20th century, ethnic groups lived in the same communities for 2 or 3 generations. My family came to the US in the 1840s and my grandfathers First Communion certificate from 1900 (sizty years later) is written in German!! It is not difficult at all to find property records dated from the 19th century written in German in some midwest counties.

They lived in communities of their same ethnicity (Polish, Irish, Italian, German) regardless if they were ffarming communities or in urban areas. Hence all of the old Catholic Parishs that to this day are still the “Polish” parish or the “Italian” parish in large urban cities in the midwest and northeast. They did business amoung themselves.

Integration with the country at large was slow.

Today with the hispanics, it is slightly different. I will bet that in your town, that is 95% hispanic, all of the second generation (those raised here) speak good English. Excepting recent immigrants from Asia, this is the fastest any group has adopted our language (it is just not easy for an adult to learn a second language).

The other thing that is different is Catholic Church, which does try to integrate the parishes. I am surprised that any parish is still trying to do so with bilingual masses, which everyone hates. Around here parishes just have some masses in spanish and some in English. We have daily English and Spanish mass, and on the weekend multiple spanish masses and multiple English masses. When the influx of hispanics started in the early to mid 90s, several years of suffering through bilingual masses made it very difficult and really caused resentment between English speaking and Spanish speaking folks. Regular bilingual masses is the WORSE way to integrate a parish, it will cause a lot of problems.

Well, that is my two cents. I am fairly sure of my historical analysis. Quick assimilation of any ethnic immigrant group is a myth, don’t hold it against the hispanics.

I would bet, that even in the town with 85% hispanic, most (all of them by the time they are grown) of the kids speak English.
 
We might me a nation of immigrants, but we have been, and still today, been a very reluctant nation of immigrants. The myth of quick assimilation is matched by the myth of Americans welcoming immigrants with open arms. That has really never been the case.

But the anti-immigrant mood of the population (a constant through out our history) has never been able to offset the “market” forces which bring people here.

We didn’t have Ellis Island processing 1000s of immigrants a day because we wanted to. It was just a matter of adding a little control to what was basically uncontrollable.

The inscription on the Statue of Liberty is nice, but it was written by the French, who really did not understand that most Americans never really felt that way.
 
With the rise of identity politics, the idea of the melting pot had slowly disappeared. The result is that the United States had become overly polarized over anything.
 
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