Analysis Of People Like Us

David Brook’s essay, “People Like Us, describes about the tolerance and diversity in the United States. Since the great immigration of the late 19th century, America has been cited as one of the most diverse countries in the world. The United States is home to individuals from many different races, ethnic backgrounds, religions, political views, interests, personalities, and income levels. However, according to Brook’s, instead of the population of the country uniting in its diversity and using it as a strength, individuals are trying to distance themselves from others who are not like themselves, rather, band themselves together with those who are like them. Brook’s notes that, even though most of Americans are doing the right thing by finding locations where they are most comfortable and where they believe they can succeed. Their decisions make them achieve their goals often lead towards their own ethnic or racial extractions. For instance, Brook’s himself confesses that he has in the past gravitated towards places where he believed he could be most comfortable in and where he also felt he could pursue his identity. He further states, that the majority of his friends are middle-income level Caucasians and conservative Christians. Brooks’ main argument in the essay is that many individuals in the United States often do not even bother to show that they would like to

Brooks uses the diversity of neighborhoods in America to support his claim: America lacks diversity. He states that he has noticed people are “making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves” (Brooks 132). People who share common values and interests seem to attract, including in communities. Brooks points out that many neighborhoods have a general race, values, and interests. When making this argument Books neglects addressing the origin of segregated neighborhoods. When America was just developing its government and values, millions of people where coming into America from other countries and relocating themselves. They moved in by and reached out to others who shared their common values and cultural beliefs. They segregated themselves for support and structure during their new adventure, becoming an American. While understanding that it looks as though America is not diverse because of the efforts made by Americans to segregate themselves, we have to keep in

Since our nation has such diverse qualities and characteristics, you would think that everyone who lives in such a country, we would all come and stick together. With people who are so different, in so many different types of ways, being a united and unified nation would be knowledgeable. But instead our country consists of "people making strenuous efforts to group themselves with people who are basically like themselves" (Brooks 62). When taking a deeper look, and basically breaking down the nation piece by piece, we see segregation that happens to go unnoticed. There are neighborhoods that have a reputation for being where "African Americans live," “Asians Live," "Caucasians live," "Mexicans live" etc. which is not a good thing. People tend to not go out of their comfort zone and expand on what they are used to, to try new things, which is usually only

In David Brooks’ “People Like Us” passage on the issue of diversity, Brooks takes a personally emotional perspective of the way in which Americans don’t appreciate how diverse our nation is while “relatively homogeneous” (Brooks 136). His argument is weakened, however, through a bias and hypocrisy that his diction conveys. He claims that grouping ourselves with those who we are most alike is in our nature to, and in doing so, we separate ourselves from those who are different. Using certain statistics as evidence, Brooks points out that the social segmentation created by society will always exist.

John F. Kennedy once said, “Conformity is the jailer of freedom and the enemy of growth.”. This has been a puzzling idea for many; most of us are grown into some form of conformity at one time or another. At what point does following the rules become wrong? When is it too much? Over the years many people begin to question what the acts of following the crowd can mean; whether or not we need these orders, and structures to function; or whether it’s really worth losing yourself just to make everybody else happy. When does it become too much? And once is does, how do we break the cycle? This topic has been used throughout many different mediums; films, and literature, all alluding to the signs, and actions of when conformity is doing nothing

Dividing, categorizing, and grouping ourselves with what is familiar is perhaps human nature. We look to find what we have in common with others to help identify who we are. Of course there are different ways to do so, such as political beliefs and religion. Yet, what seems to be most prominent in our history is grouping people based on race. Just looking into recent years minority groups were not given the the same rights as whites, because of their skin color. Admittedly, “white” is a generalization and doesn’t demonstrate the struggles some, such as the Italians and Irish, faced. However, these are struggles/discriminations are completely different in experience.

Stephanie M. Wildman and Adrienne D. Davis are very convincing by having a well thought out essay, I do agree with them when the say "Building a sense of community across these power categories is our real challenge" (pg. 341). Communities are every where, and factions are developed because of human need to feel exclusive, when communities are able to communicate tolerably standards for tolerance are raised higher. When building a more general populace than divided residents there is more gray area to maneuver in so anybody can assimilate with everybody. Grand Valley State has already taken initiatives to crack down on -isms by always asking its students if they have been targets to intolerance and are active to resolve and prevent such discriminations.

We, as people, tend to be cliquish in that we like to be similar to those who are like ourselves. For some, it is the neighborhood they grew up, such as North siders versus South siders. For others, it is heritage, their alma mater or their hometown, or simply their favorite sports team. It seems that we are programed to be communal. It is where we are compelled to find someone or something we bond as a community. Defending it group has a logic of its own, as it become part of what defines each of us. Being integrally part of it is why one can become overzealous in their support for a sports team, fighting stereotypes of being Germans or Mexican, or Jazz music. It is also what makes bullying insidious, as it splits us from our identity and

When we meet new people, we create small talk discussing about interest, dislikes etc. this then may lead to a new friendships or another person to avoid. Our diverse thoughts, interests and experiences steer us to the people we are close to and love. If everyone was exactly the same our relationships would be meaningless because rather than having a two way relationship , it will be like talking to yourself. Also because everyone has their interests and experiences when we meet people who have similar interest and experiences, we can feel excited or relieved knowing there is someone who we can relate to. This then can create a special bond.Some may believe diversity can divide us because we may disagree on opinions, have different lifestyles, create subcultures etc. however ignorance is what divides us. We can become closer as a society by embracing everyone's differences rather than excluding others because of their differences. In other words with diversity will come unity.

Every single person has a different view of society and how the world works; no two minds think alike. One of the greatest qualities of human life is being able to understand and appreciate other people’s views. The diverse environment of our world today reveals that every person has a different background and a distinct story. I grew up in a vastly diverse environment. My elementary and secondary schools had a variety of ethnic and financial makeups that opened my mind to differences between individuals. I had friends from different ethnic backgrounds and learned about their cultures, experiences and values. Financially, the students at my high school range from living in an estate to living with a multitude of family members in an apartment,

There is a nearby connection amongst socialization and prejudice. As the platitude goes, scorn is found out. We tend to go up against the qualities of the general population who raise the group and us we experience childhood in. Despite the fact that a few people can transcend their conditions, we are results of our surroundings. On the off chance that we are brought up in a domain of despise, we may likely grow up to detest. If we are brought up in a situation of resilience, we will endure. At the point when examples of partiality and segregation emerge, they get to be consolidated into the qualities and standards of the gathering. Prejudice and separation toward gatherings then get to be legitimated, transmitted to new individuals through

Being different it good, but they way people are different now, maybe isn't the best thing. The people now make things way more complicated then they really are. If people focused more and worked harder, then it wouldn't be so complicated. People shouldn't judge other people on what they are, who they were, or what they choose to do. In Shakespears time, not a lot of people were critized. They could show their feelings and emotions, and do what they wanted with out critizism. The Elizabethan Era was better than now. Its different, but in a very good way. We are different from them, in a somewhat bad

Imagine a world where every person was just like you with the same interests, same tastes in music, food, books, even same views of society. It would seem like a perfect dream, a heaven even. However, what if other people came into that perfect society? What will happen then? How will the people in that society function with outsiders? There would be chaos and confusion. Now, apply that to our own world, our Earth. Realistically, there is no place where everyone is the same and thinks the same and acts the same. Our community is special. We have so many races, so many ethnicities, so many different people, all in this one city. Together, with each other, we learn about one another, even subconsciously. Our community works together and teaches us a realistic image of the world, teaches us the experiences and opinions of others, and teaches us life experiences.

Life in a big city, or in a postmodern society, where divides of many kinds are found, can end up changing the way we view other people who are not from the same group as we, ourselves, are.

Where there is division, there is also unity. One thing that divides some might be the same thing that unites others. That could be sexual orientation, gender or race. The latter is the one Hanif Kureishi explores in his essay “Knock, Knock, it’s Enoch” which is about the effect of Powell, published in The Guardian in December 2014. He implies that instead of looking for things that divide us, we should stand strong together because in the end, “we are all migrants from somewhere” (p. 7, l. 11-12).