Assimilation

First, I would like to apologize for the lack of posts in the past week. I was in Vegas with my significant other and left my computer in Waco because I was worried about my number of carry-ons. Hopefully I will be posting with more frequency from now on.

I hate the way America's cultural system works. Though many may want to deny it, America has a cultural hegemony at work. It is that of the White, Protestant, Upper-class Male. This particular class sets up what is the foundation of what is American and what is not. And because those in power want to maintain their power, this class dictates how others should assimilate and how they should be "other"-ed.

America is not the melting pot it believes itself to be. You have to fit a particular mold before you can be considered at best a second-class citizen. You must speak English without an ESL accent or slang, you must celebrate the holidays of "Americans" and you cannot epouse any political belief other than those popular here.

This creates a battle in foreigners and the marginalized in this country. Should you give up your cultural heritage to fit into society and give your children a fighting chance in this country, or should you keep your heritage and risk not being able to function in society. This is honestly what it has come down to. There is some chances to preserve your heritage, but for the most part it's ship up or ship out.

What makes this particularly vexing for me is that the dominant culture does not give any concessions. They do not assimilate, for the most part, to the new changes being brought their way. They "other" the new change and allow it to go on in their midst without ever attempting to participate or understand. Sure, change is sometimes forced on them, but how many kids who were forced to take a foreign language class in high school and college can actually or want to actually speak the language. No, they grudgingly accept that they have to do this, but they care not to understand what they are doing or make an effort to use it. They just do the assignments, half-halfheartedly, smirking in that knowing way with the rest of the kids who do the same because they don't have to worry about this crap, their culture is dominant.