I was hashing with one of my conservative acquaintances at the Gold's Gym dry sauna. He said that he thought that the "melting pot" was the greatest thing for the country and "multiculturalism" was leading to its downfall. He asked me if I thought multiculturalism was good or bad. I answered that it depends on what he means by "multiculturalism." He then stated, "Don't go lawyer on me."
Yet when I had him define what he meant by each term, we discovered that we had more that we agreed on than we had differences about. I, who think "multiculturalism" is a good thing could point out many things that have fallen under the term "melting pot" that where damaging and negative that he agreed with and he could point out some components of "multiculturalism" that I could agree were destructive and divisive. This is because the meanings that certain political and emotional terms take on often have no connection to what different groups of people associate them with or believe them to mean depending on what that groups experience was with the term.
Ask a native American what he or she thinks of America's "melting pot" and you may hear a very different sentiment than that of a protestant, Scottish immigrant--and for good reasons. Ask Arizonans living on the border with Mexico what they think of "multiculturalism" and they will have a different view of it than Professors at Harvard. (And I don't mean that Mexican culture has dimmed their view of the term but the clash of the "drug culture" on both sides and the chaos of our immigration policies have caused on both sides.
Politicians and the pseudo-entertainment journalists, especially in a election year want to emphasize the disagreements and ignore the common ground. They don't want us to discuss our consensus nor do the want us to understand the meanings of the polarizing terms they use because they want to use those terms to cause greater division. They want to whip us into fearing and loathing our opponents so that they can exploit it for votes.
Language matters. We sometimes think we know what others believe or are saying because of the labels they use and the labels we give them, but a closer look often reveals that we have more in common than our politicians and their talking heads want us to know.
So go lawyer on you neighbors, friends and loved ones. They'll thank you for it.
Loren M. Lambert © August 25, 2012
Yet when I had him define what he meant by each term, we discovered that we had more that we agreed on than we had differences about. I, who think "multiculturalism" is a good thing could point out many things that have fallen under the term "melting pot" that where damaging and negative that he agreed with and he could point out some components of "multiculturalism" that I could agree were destructive and divisive. This is because the meanings that certain political and emotional terms take on often have no connection to what different groups of people associate them with or believe them to mean depending on what that groups experience was with the term.
Ask a native American what he or she thinks of America's "melting pot" and you may hear a very different sentiment than that of a protestant, Scottish immigrant--and for good reasons. Ask Arizonans living on the border with Mexico what they think of "multiculturalism" and they will have a different view of it than Professors at Harvard. (And I don't mean that Mexican culture has dimmed their view of the term but the clash of the "drug culture" on both sides and the chaos of our immigration policies have caused on both sides.
Politicians and the pseudo-entertainment journalists, especially in a election year want to emphasize the disagreements and ignore the common ground. They don't want us to discuss our consensus nor do the want us to understand the meanings of the polarizing terms they use because they want to use those terms to cause greater division. They want to whip us into fearing and loathing our opponents so that they can exploit it for votes.
Language matters. We sometimes think we know what others believe or are saying because of the labels they use and the labels we give them, but a closer look often reveals that we have more in common than our politicians and their talking heads want us to know.
So go lawyer on you neighbors, friends and loved ones. They'll thank you for it.
Loren M. Lambert © August 25, 2012
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