Thursday, June 15, 2017

Is the United States multicultural or is it a melting pot?


The US isn't a multicultural country at all. Some of the bigger cities are diverse but for as long as America has existed, immigrants were forced to assimilate and to adopt the cultural norms of the Anglo saxon descended majority or face social ostracism and racism like Black Americans faced.
You could argue that America has become a more diverse society now however you need to realise that racism is covert now and the pressure to conform is intense. British names and surnames continue to dominate and other names are mocked for example. Basically what I'm trying to say is that the mainstream culture expects immigrants to conform and adopt their Anglo ideals otherwise they won't be considered true Americans.

Americans like to view themselves as an individualistic group of people that accept everyone for who they are, however this simply isn't true. If you don't conform to the mainstream culture you'll be seen as a foreigner that doesn't belong. Multiculturalism was not tolerated by the settler colonists who built America and they made sure that the waves of European migrants assimilated into their cultural ideals. Hence why English names are considered normal for Americans.

In cities like New York and Los Angeles you see a lot of different immigrants but ultimately all of these people and their children will probably American however due to racism, many of them may unfortunately abandon their own cultures and adopt the anglo-american values. I must admit, the US is really good at turning immigrants into patriotic Americans however they still have problems with racism unfortunately and for this reason I don't think America is multiracial.

You'll find that most countries in Africa and Asia are far more multicultural than the United States. This isn't even an opinion it's a fact supported by academics. You see a lot of different races and groups in America but theyre all pressured into conforming into anglo-american cultural norms or face being treated as foreigners in their own country.

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