Multiculturalism in the United States
In today’s world being different is not considered a good thing. Recent movements such as “Black Lives Matter” have sparked a flame to many people that being different is tough. Today, the United States of America is still struggling to accept diversity and individuality towards todays accepted status quo.
People are quick to judge when someone is different or out of the mainstream is. The judgments from others make it harder for people to accept who they are and in turn cause them to be afraid of who they are. “Of course, in a culture where homosexuals remain hidden and wrapped in self-contempt, in which their emotional development is often stunted, and late, in which the closet protects all sorts of self-destructive behavior that a more open society would not…” (Source F). By “hiding in the closet” they are being withheld from growing as a person. They cannot be the person they are and instead loathing it. They lose what made them an individual and instead are trying to conform to be normal.
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It is often imperative to be like the crowd in order to make friends and be well liked. “I never asked to be white. I am not literally white. That is, I do not have white skin or white ancestors. I have yellow skin and ancestors, hundreds of generations of them. But like so many other Asian Americans of the second generation, I find myself now the bearer of a strange new status: white by acclimation . . . . I have assimilated. I am the mainstream.” (Source A) Many people try changing who they are in order to be accepted into the status quo. In a white dominated country, people from different cultures have a harder time fitting in with their American peers. They leave behind parts of their culture and assimilate into the American way to be treated
From the time America first declared its independence, to the country we know it as today, the U.S. underwent many dramatic changes, as did American settlers. Frederick Jackson Turner’s frontier thesis stated that as each American generation moved West, the settlers became more American. The first settlers in America on the East Coast arrived thinking and acting like Europeans. However, as settlers began to move west, they started to loosen ties with European ways and develop a more American way of thinking and acting. Without a doubt, Turner’s frontier thesis can be proven upon examination of the growth of America and actions of Americans moving West because as settlers moved West, they became more democratic and less tolerant of hierarchy,
According to former president William McKinley, "The mission of the United Sates is one of benevolent assimilation." It has been widely known that people who don’t fit in (culturally or physically), well, won’t fit in until they are "normal," or assimilated into Western culture. There are examples of this in everyday life, such as if a person with an Asian accent is introduced to a group with an English accent, he or she will most likely be regarded as different, and will be excluded from interaction with the rest of the group. But, if the person slowly changes their accent to become part of the norm, then the person will become
The side in opposition to multiculturalism firmly believes that it weakens America by keeping immigrants from adequately assimilating to the core values of America’s Anglo Protestant identity. This side believes that multiculturalism weakens the “social bond” of the United States by denying that immigrants need to assimilate to the language and values of the country’s dominant culture. The rise of non-English speaking communities is seen as a detrimental factor in the goal of achieving unity in American culture. Opponents state that immigrants coming to the United States must always lose their previous culture from their country of origin, to be able to completely assimilate to and fully embrace
Due to such belittling forms of harm, the LGBT+ people are compelled to remain closeted to avoid receiving ridicule from society. This
We live in a society that has prospered generously over the years. America has opened its doors for so many different people by establishing itself as a free country. Not only have we progressed in technology and economically but we have created our own identity by becoming a free nation in which every individual has the same rights and eligibility as the other. This is the core of our countries success; we are not a nation unified distinctly by a specific race, religion or culture but by the compulsive efforts of our nation’s laws to uphold freedom in every aspect of a civilian’s life. People are not only allowed but encouraged to practice the religion of their choice, eat the food they desire, speak the language they prefer. There is even freedom in the most minute of things such as being able to listen to the music of your choice, these are the laws that promote diversity and strengthen our nation today. Our nation’s identity and prosperity is built upon multiculturalism and ethnic tolerance. However, this was not always the case it has taken many long and brutal years become the stable and versatile country that we are today. Specifically dating back to when this land was first founded and thereafter we see our nation has struggled with conflicts against politics, discrimination, and public affairs up till this very day.
It is a significant struggle for many first or second generation of Asian-American who need to fit in two different culture and expectations sets, especially for who born from early 1980s to late 1990s. On one side, we have to get into the American culture. On other side, we are encouraged to preserve our traditional personality and keep our Asian ethnicities alive. Fail to keep either side of expectations can lead to rejection or culture crisis.
In the essay “Growing up Asian in America” by Kesaya E. Noda, being who you are, or accepting yourself is portrayed through her own life story. “Being Japanese means being a danger to the country during the war and knowing how to use chopsticks. I wear this history on my face” (Noda 34). Living in America can be said to be great, from those who are already the average American, because they don’t deal with the everyday life of being racialized. They also don’t have the label of having another ethnicity besides being American. “Clean, quiet, motivated, and determined to match the American way; this is us, and that is the story of our time here” (Noda 35). Kesaya struggled to learn about herself and her history, due to the fact that she didn’t know much about her Japanese race. When finding out that her family had been apart of the Japanese camps, Kesaya found it easier to just go along with the American way instead of being herself because she was ashamed of herself. “I come from a people with long memory and a distinctive grace. We live our thanks. And we are Americans. Japanese- Americans” (Noda 36). Kesaya had then accepted herself as a Japanese- American because she was proud of all that her family, and all Japanese, went through. Being American isn’t just about living in America, or being a citizen, but about knowing that you belong because America is your home. Along with being American, if it officially says it on paper or not,
Prescription drugs in the competitive market offers a starting point allusion, which certain characteristics of medications and healthcare goods and services can be compared to unique goods and services. According to Carter, A, Pharm D Healthline.com say’s “By not taking care of your diabetes may damage your heart, kidneys, nervous system, and your eyes”. Such as, eating foods with a high content of sugar will extremely increase your blood sugar, or not taking medication to treat diabetes. He also states “metformin may need to be used with other medications to help regulate your blood sugar. Some patients with type 2 diabetes may have complications with hypertension as well. This leads us into an example of many prescription drugs to treat diseases. Such as, diabetes, and hypertension. According to Younossi, Z. M., et.al. (2013).authors of Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, wrote “Explanations for metabolic situations that have been used in the study have been formerly described. Briefly, type 2 diabetes was determined as fasting blood sugar level that is greater than 125 mg/dL , and hypertension was determined as blood pressure level that is greater than 140/90 mmHg .” With this being said the supply and demand of medications to treat diabetes and hypertension depends on the prescribing doctor and the incentives provided by the pharmaceutical company.
We live in a country where diversity is all around us. We choose if we accept diversity in our lives. Some people embrace a diverse life while others want to only associate with people who are like themselves. Whether people lead a diverse life is not the problem, the real issue is how we treat those that are different from ourselves.
Growing up as an Asian American, I often struggle to identify my own cultural identity. Being the first generation of both my mother and father’s side of the family, I more than often get confused between American and Asian culture when applying them to society or at home. While being raised at home, I am largely influenced by culture and traditions from Asian parents and relatives. However, when I go to school or someplace else, I am heavily judged for practicing part of my Asian culture because it is entirely different than western or American. With that being noted, I began to learn and adapt to the western culture in hopes of fitting with society as well of trying to keep my Asian culture intact. As can be seen, this situation I dealt with is the same problem the whole Asian American community faces. Mainly focusing on younger generations like me for example, the Asian American community struggles to adapt to the western culture because they were raised with an Asian influence. Wishing to fit in society and be part of the social norms, the Asian Americans community faces issues that identify their cultural identity.
Ask any American how they feel about multiculturalism you are likely to get one of two responses: either a cringe or a smile. Those that cringe will say something along the line of “Multiculturalism is the wrong way to look at things. It separates us by saying that everyone is different instead of saying that we are the same and unifying us.” Those that smile will talk about how great multiculturalism is because they get to see aspects of all different cultures on television and on the radio and they are free to explore all the different things that various cultures have to offer. In actuality, one cannot help but wonder if either of these responses reflects the true meaning of multiculturalism? What do
There are individuals that live in fear of showing their true identity to the world because they simply fear that society won’t accept them for having a different sexual orientation. Society advocates that individuals should be able to be proud of who they are, but yet they judge homosexuals for being different. People are taught not to judge others based on their race or religion, so why do they still discriminate against homosexuals? The homosexual subculture is not accepted by society, looked down upon, and misjudged; however, they are human beings and deserve to be treated equally.
Multiculturalism is the occurrence of multiple cultures within one society, fundamentally due to the influx of immigrant societies, or the approval and encouragement of this occurrence. Many people have different views of multiculturalism. The people who have a negative view towards multiculturalism tend to argue against the uniting of a wide range of different cultures, races and faiths, in their points of view multiculturalism would be seen as a “mosaic” form, which tends to occur more likely in the US than in Europe, as it would fundamentally mean that they are putting races, religions and cultures into different groups, however they are not uniting as one society, another word for that would be integration. Whereas, the people that agree
What does Diversity and Multiculturalism mean to me? I believe that diversity has become so much more than just the basic qualities of race or gender. It now includes all qualities that make everyone unique, as individuals or as part of a larger group. It is also the acceptance, respect, and understanding of these unique qualities that makes diversity work in a given society. Multiculturalism is the system that is centered around the respect for and the promotion of ethnic and or gender diversity in the society. Multiculturalism is the status of several different ethnic, racial, religious or cultural groups co-existing in the same society. Today, in the U.S. we already
Wherever and whenever there are various cultures or ethnic groups living together in the same piece of land, an intercultural situation takes place. The ultimate stage of evolution of this circumstance is best known as Multiculturalism, and involves cultures or ethnic groups living together. In the beginning, the relationships that some cultures held were very different from what, nowadays, we understand as Multiculturalism. Going over its antecedents, some of the most well-known cases date back to Greeks and Romans. These powerful empires were made up of a mixture of cultures with their distinctive features. This implies that the members of the same culture interact among them, but they avoid any deep interaction with members