How should America look? Salad Bowl vs. Melting Pot

[RB TexLa]

[expatriot]

1. Other - stone soup.

The analogy is pretty self-evident if you know the reference to "stone soup"

[Jed Dilligan]

2. I have another one: moldy bread

Eventually, "white" disappears.

[AspenRose]

3. Actually I like the Canadian concept of a Mosaic.

eom

[GreenArrow]

4. Jesse Jackson

used to liken America to a crazy quilt, with all sorts of wild colorful patterns, sewn into a whole. I've always liked that one.

[TahitiNut]

5. I tend to think "pie," "stew," or "buffet."

I regard "melting pot" and other homogenization metaphors to be phobic. We are, each of us human beans, unique. I find it laughable that the phobics who aspire to homgeneity also possess the dissonant aspirations (for others, of course) of "individual responsibility," self-sufficiency, and Social Darwinism.

As far as I'm concerned, the best use of the "melting pot" would be to melt down the aggregate wealth of The People and redistributing it -- after repairing an economic system that is wholly biased toward enriching the wealthy and exploiting human suffering.

Diversity isn't to be tolerated - it's to be celebrated. Vive la difference!

[Bridget Burke]

Jambalaya!

Lots of distinctive tasty bits that add up to a delicious dish.

[OneBlueSky]

6. a "quilt of many colors" . . . n/t

.

[Shipwack]

7. I hate to be the voice of dissent here...

But definitely melting pot, or at least a stew pot, maybe.

Now, the problem is that they are both two sides of a broad spectrum.

At worst, the "salad bowl" is a divisive nation, where people live in the US, but refuse to give up any part of their own culture no matter how much it clashes with US cultural values (whatever those are... but that's a whole 'nother post...) Refuse to learn English, or allow your daughter to go to school? Well, it's part of your culture, so that's ok! Beat your wife for 24 hours because she's possessed by the devil (as evidenced by her talking back to you)? Well, gosh darn, if that's your culture, go right ahead.

Granted, the above are extreme examples, but the "melting pot" can be just as bad when exaggerated. Perogies? Eat american food, you darn polock. And you brown people, stop socializing on the corner, we don't do that here. And forget about all them furin' holidays like Cinco de Mayo, Pulaski Day, or Saint Patrick's Day. Hey, look... he talks funny... har har har. He must be dumb.

I believe that a nation that is fairly homogeneous has fewer problems... however, most of the mechanisms that do well at promoting "unity" are ugly and shameful, at best. I don't know what the solution is, or even if there is a problem that requires one,(though my gut says there is, here and there...). The key is to take the best of incoming cultures, and combine them with the best of ours.