I didn't see the SB commercials. But in general, I have to ask how terms such as "multiculturalism" and "American culture" are to be defined. The U.S. has been multicultural since it's inception. Forgetting the history of European interaction with Native Americans for a moment, the English and Dutch settled the northeast. Africans were brought here before the Revolution. The area of the Louisiana purchase was bought from France, with both white and African-descended peoples living on it. A large chunk of U.S. land originally belonged to Mexico. Alaska was purchased from Russia. Then people started arriving from a multitude of countries. Then Hawaii in the Pacific, with its distinct culture, was added.
The term "multicultural" is only a description of what "American culture" is and always has been: a blend, an amalgam.
I can imagine that the SB commercials merely contained depictions of slices of American life.
Yes, a BLEND means folks ASSIMILATED and are all Americans in the American culture which includes many different ethnic traditions. We are NOT old Hawaii, French, Italian, or any other culture. Natives were not Americans and had no contiguous country. They were tribal and fought with each other and held slaves. We are NOT Mexican just because Mexico USED to own part of our geography. Alaska is NOT Russia. Do you understand now?
I understood then and I continue to understand now, fool. Please define what you mean by "assimilated." Are you "assimilated"?
You must be special. The Amish are the Amish and have not assimilated to degree because they choose to live that way and do not infringe on others. They do not infringe on others! Assimilation means we know the culture and it moves a bit here and there. But most Americans are on the same page. That brings more peace and harmony to potential volitle situations. We are a nation of many people from many places in the world. How we act to each other is important. It does not mean ethnic and cultural differences can not be appreciated and celebrated by people and in neighborhoods. One national language...English! A nation with borders! And a nation with a culture that can coexist with most all.
You are bucking the question of what assimilation and the dreaded multiculturalism mean. What distinction are you trying to draw? We have always had ethnic communities. My grandparents, immigrants, settled in a community that had three Catholic churches; one for the Irish, one for the Poles, and one for the Italians. I don't agree that we should adopt an official language, and we've always had borders. Iranian-Americans were stopped and questioned just in the past few weeks. My grandparents always struggled with English.
Here in northern Virginia, we have a variety of ethnic communities without have many "volatile" situations. All of us get out in public and interact with each other.
Moreover, what do you mean by infringing on others?
