On the left side, we have a salad bowl. Clearly, on the right side there's a melting pot. The difference is clear: the salad bowl has distinct components to it that result in a variety of textures, colors, and flavors, whereas the melting pot combines and layers flavors into one that has a unique flavor. These are two schools of thoughts on multiculturalism in America and around the world. On one hand, the salad bowl concept entails different cultures mixing in interaction but not altogether merging. On the other hand, the melting pot concept is the notion of various heterogeneous cultures "melting" into one homogeneous American society. One encourages pluralism, and another encourages assimilation.
At this point, I'd like YOU to cast a vote on which cultural idea you're in favor of, melting pot or salad bowl: http://pollmaker.vote/p/C9RIN80O
Personally, I support the salad bowl cultural idea more. Although some want one uniform American culture, I love the idea of distinctive groups remaining harmonious. Salad bowl makes me Pakistani American, not American American. It preserves the concept of ethnicity and nationality as two distinct entities. On the other hand, one question on the melting pot theory that's never answered is what culture are we trying to melt into? In many cases, it's the white American culture.
This picture is the essential reason why I'm wary of the notion of melting pot. It can lead to forced assimilation, as seen above. Similarly, Teddy Roosevelt was quoted saying, "We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language". No one should be forced to conform to a certain culture, regardless of if it's American, Iranian, Pakistani, or Japanese.
 |
| How can you say no to this? |
To some degree, I think you are oversimplifying the melting pot idea. A meeting pot isn’t pure assimilation into a dominant culture, it’s integration. America’s a melting pot because you can go get faux Chinese food along with the authentic. It’s a false dichotomy to say that America can’t be both.
ReplyDeleteWas the point of the blog to say that America is already a melting pot or salad bowl? Because simply subscribing to the salad bowl idea because it’s better sounding doesn’t make it true. We all react to the culture we’re in.
Fundamentally, I’m adverse to your assumptions. Why can’t we accept assimilation? Why must it be bad? Shall the secular egalitarianism so popular now be stunted under the guise of anti-conformity? Shall we embrace the racism and sexism of other cultures? Shall we remove the land of freedom and opportunity for the very immigrants who come to seek it?
You might say that I’m being extreme, but so are you. There’s no right answer; the issue is not black and white. It’s mixed, yet discrete, like America is.
Yujie I think you missed the actual point of my blog. I explained melting pot and salad bowl theories and simply stated which one I'd encourage. No where did I suggest America is any of those, just the two possible theories. Your point of America being both is possible, and no where did I refute that. In fact, you brought up a great point about the possibility of getting faux Chinese food and authentic Chinese food. However, some aspects of your comment are concerning. You mention the "racism and sexism of other cultures" without acknowledging the qualms of American racism (which is clearly evident) and sexism (more subtle in things as the wage gap). This is a clear generalization which ironically, you are encouraging me to avoid. And to answer your question of why assimilation is a bad thing, the answer is clear. A second generation immigrant being born in the US does not make them any less than a white child born in the US; They don't owe anything, especially giving up my own identity and culture to become American, as they don't need to prove it. It's not their fault that their parents are immigrants and someone else's aren't.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteI like how you compared two ideologies to simple plates of food. It was also creative of you to include a voting poll to actually see people's opinions on the topics. I agree with you on some points-- that people should not completely conform to ALL aspects of American society and still maintain their own roots. Great job on taking a different outlook on the piece we read in class.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with Yujie's take on this. There are rarely cases in the world that can be simplified into two opposing extremes. America is neither a melting pot nor a salad bowl, but a combination of the two.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteAdmittedly, I used a few embellishments in my response, but they do need to be addressed. Please explain, what did you actually mean by "the contortionist"?
DeleteHowever, me saying "every person living here was an immigrant at one point or another" is necessary in refuting your false claim that America is not a country of immigrants. To your earlier points, who is seen as valid in "founding America"? Technically, didn't Native Americans discover America before Christopher Columbus? Who are we to decide who's seen as a valid American or not? It's arrogant to brand the founders of America as born on American soil, as if any people who came before that weren't valid. Native Americans came before, so why did they have to assimilate to a culture that came after them? Aren't they technically Americans too?
"I am not judging solely based off of the value and standards of my own culture"
But you really aren't. You tried to come for the country of my ethnicity by making the broad assumption that you would be discriminated against there without even taking into account the sociology of that country's residents. Cultural superiority is not one standard rule, it depends on the likings of an individual. The literacy rate in Pakistan is 59.4% (https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/pakistan_pakistan_statistics.html), almost half the population can't read but the majority are Muslim. It's obvious that they would automatically support aspects of their religion without realizing the broad generalizations it's used to make in western culture.
"Haha, no."
This simple answer just portrays an inability to understand without experience. My statement was 100% true. Admittedly, the religious intolerance in Pakistan is sadly very present, but that's not to say America doesn't have its fair share. Hate crimes specifically against Muslims are on the rise (I hope this is seen as a true statement to you).
Also, I agree that Jewish and Asian cultures are generally more successful than the overall American population, but this is the first time I've heard of the Christian population included in that (most Americans are Christians!); please give a viable source to back that claim up.
One thing I didn't address in my last comment is your source of Ben Shapiro. Please understand that Ben Shapiro clearly aligns with your viewpoint and it'd be easier for me to find a common ground if you use a source that is unbiased.
Furthermore, to your claim that the "separation of church and state clause was to protect Christians": first of all, Thomas Jefferson himself was a Christian deist and rejected many of its traditional ideologies. Benjamin Franklin was was just a Deist. Many of the founding fathers had beliefs that expanded on just Christianity. And regardless of the original intent of the separation of church and state law, it's evident that now it's used as a proponent of secularism.
It's very telling that there's only a critique on Dearborn and Hamtramck and not on the Chaldean culture of Sterling Heights when there was a fully publicized controversy of residents of Sterling Heights refusing to allow a mosque to be built there. You make it sound like being Muslim is incompatible with being American.
"You're identity is not what you're born into"
Simply, it is if I want it to be. I agree with your idea that "you make your own identity" but mine includes what I was born into and that shouldn't be a problem...
OVereall, I see my claim as uncontroversial, just like this post. I'm simply advocating for a form of culturalism and these comments almost trying to force me to change my viewpoint is reactionary and concerning.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think you bring up interesting analogies of the salad and the melting pot. There is a lot of grey area between these ideologies (which of course you've presented in their extreme forms) and I think neither is particularity bad.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete