Why aren't whites called European Americans?

[sgtmac_46]

Actually, teaching only one or the other is what is "futile".

From where I'm standing, both of these imbalances have occured in copious amounts in the present-day United States.

I'm not claiming otherwise, though it is over-emphasis on diversity that has created the specific problem we are discussing. The opposite has created other problems.

Um, no. My personal definition of "centrism" entails the following:

You wasted an awful lot of time and effort responding to a statement that was made tongue and cheek. You need to relax.

 

[sgtmac_46]

Sounds good...sounds wonderful. Now, how does one do that? Give me some hard examples.

I'm just pointing out the situation. If what Bigshadow outlined is true (and it may be) the fact is, there may not be a solution.

Competition and conflict sometimes seem to be hallmark traits of human interaction. We can tame it on the short term, but in the long run, "The center doesn't hold". I hope Bigshadow is wrong, but history doesn't seem to support that.

Start with religion. Now how does one going about finding common ground between a Muslim, a secular Jew, and an Evangelical Christian that has voted Republican since Reagan? Bridge that gap, PLEASE.

I'm not sure they can. How's that for an answer.

Now find the common ground between a Chippewa on the White Earth Reservation and a retired Admiral living in Hobe Sound, Florida.

Maybe there isn't one.

Find common ground between a white man from Mississippi who has been laid off from his factory job and a black cop in Philadelphia who is going to have fairly good job security the rest of his life.

Maybe the gulf is too big.

You might in your search for common ground come up with English...the flag...the National Anthem...or any other icons of nationalism. This, however, provides very little for the Mississippian's kids at Christmas, the Chippewa who gets cold stares from the whites just off the reservation, and the Muslim whose mosque just got firebombed (as happened here two months ago). These people don't share much of a common history.

Again, the divide between those groups may be to big. If they don't share common ground, and if we decide that being a part of the same nation isn't really any big deal, and doesn't mean anything anyway anymore (Remember in WWII, when Native Americans, blacks, hispanics, Japanese, joined the military out of national pride and a desire to serve), if that commonality purpose is lost, maybe there is no bond.

Teaching tolerance and showing our children how to respect diversity will end bigotry and racism. If we teach that "different" isn't so bad, then we might accomplish something. We might get somewhere if we can actually end segregation...though illegal it is enforced by economic boundaries. If you don't believe this visit a high school in Gary, Indiana.

The irony is that the most racist people I know, are those who have lived on the fringes between competing groups, not in the most remote places away from diversity. The most racist people I know are working class people who have lived in urban areas where the population is extremely diverse. They viewed other races as competition for survival in those areas, and it was overabundance of exposure coupled with the idea that they were in competition, not a lack of exposure, that resulted in those racist views.

It seems that lack of exposure isn't the problem. So teaching everyone that bigotry and racism is wrong on an intellectual level isn't the answer.

The reality is in understanding of how the human mind creates in and out groups. Human beings engaged in a common cause with others, tend to view those other people, regardless of race and other differences, as part of their in-group. However, when those people come to cross purposes, they tend to lump others in to out-groups. It's normal human behavior.

Therefore, racism isn't so much taught, as it is naturally occurring in the human mind. How we fight it is by working toward a common purpose. We don't fight racism by teaching people about other cultures. We fight it by working side by side with other races toward a common purpose. This is a subtle but distinct difference.

Why do you think that the first place we saw the racial barriers come down was in the military? It certainly isn't because the military is so progressive. It's because the military is one organization where commonality of purpose is a way of life. That commonality of purpose causes everyone who is part of it to view others involved in that purpose as part of one large in-group, regardless of race or other differences.

You can not reach any common ground without mutual interaction. You can't get that without mutual respect. You can't get mutual respect without mutual tolerance. You can't get tolerance if one or both sides fear the other.

So...what do you suggest? How do you intend to implement it?

You don't need to teach tolerance. You need to understand the human mind. You need to understand how and why people form in and out groups. You get mutual respect by being part of the same overall goal, that's how you get tolerance.

Fear isn't the issue, people don't hate others out of ignorance, that's a truism that isn't really true. They hate others because they view others and their group status as being a threat to their in-group. It's about working and cross purposes.

Our society creates a circumstance where it appears as if different groups are in constant competition, the result is going to be out-group behavior on the part of both of them. They view each other as a threat, many times for very real reasons because they are working at cross-purposes.

As for my solutions, I don't have any more of those than you do. I'm merely pointing out the problems. But if we don't understand how the human mind works, and how social groups form in group and out group opinions, we are spinning our wheels.

Of course one suggestion might be ending the perception that we are seperate people. It is in that sense that I feel overemphasis on teaching diversity is wrong. It adds to the belief that we are seperate peoples, instead of one group united toward a common purpose, and the perception of seperation adds to the conflict.

You want to get a group of young men to get along? You don't do it by lecturing them about how tolerant they should be. That's futile. You sure has heck don't do it by extolling the virture of their differences, and how beautiful those differences make them.

You do it by placing them all in a difficult situation where they have to rely on each other to succeed. If they all pull together, they will respect one another, regardless of past differences.

Schools have been doing that for years...they call them sports programs. I know many guys who's first real contact with people of other races was in sports programs. I know many guys who had never even really talked to someone of another race before playing football. After a little while of suffering, working hard, playing together and relying on each other, they respected and admired each other more than any amount of preaching about diversity could bring. Why? Because they had a commonality of purpose and accepted each other in to their in-group. They had to rely on each other.

 

[Marginal]

Especially when people like you spend your time pointing out everyones differences, rather than people embracing their similarities and working together

It's true. I'm not a comunist. Odd to even consider this as the American way given the US's commonly stated penchant for rugged individualism. How exactly is that compatible with the idea of the melting pot?