America used to be a melting pot. First generation Americans were Americans and wanted to be. They embraced American values like integrity, self reliance, hard work, law abiding, generosity and kindness.
When my parents arrived during WWII, they didn't come for welfare payments and other subsidies. The benefits were not even created yet. When they applied for citizenship, they were required to renounce their other country and became Americans, only. It was like having only one spouse at a time.
The new immigrants learned English and raised their children as Americans. The immigrants did not insist on special accommodations. The Jews did not insist that all food should be kosher. Newly-arrived Catholics did not insist on only having fish served on Friday for everyone.
The first-generation Americans studied hard in school and if they got into trouble and their parents were called in, the parents blamed the student and not the school.
We had Catholic schools and some Yeshivas for the Jews. If students chose Catholic school, they understood that it would have Catholic symbols and weren't offended.
We had statues of confederate heroes. We understood what they were fighting for but honored them in their defeat. Athletic teams were free to name their teams to no objections.
Since this was a Christian nation, we celebrated Christmas and Easter. Those of us who were not Christian did not object. We said Merry Christmas and Happy New Year; today 83% of non Christians do too. Now some are calling the song "White Christmas,"which is a Christmas time song with people dreaming of snow for Christmas. It has been labeled racist because snow should come in different colors.
Many government sites presented the Ten Commandments and most of us realized that this was the beginning of moral imperatives.
People were accepted to college based on merit (except for athletes and legacy applicants).
We believed in "e pluribus unum" - out of many, one. We believed that "united we stand divided we fall."
Things have changed.
We divided our population, calling some top dogs and others under dogs. The top dogs are considered the problem. The underdogs were victims of this cruel American capitalism. Over the years our kinds of underdogs which started being the aged, disabled, and poor began to grow. This included nonwhites, women, LGBTQ, and atheists. They are victims and must be defended. This is the essence of liberalism.
The top dogs were said to be the problem because they were successful. This list of victims grew also from the poor, to the bottom 99%. A socialist candidate said that those of us who were not extremely wealthy, were all underdogs.
Now people here without invitation have become the new underdogs. Can they be blamed for escaping poverty and corruption? No, but why come here? There are probably more than 50 million Latin Americans who would love to be here. The more we help them, the more will come.
The idea of a melting pot has become a salad bowl. People are encouraged to take pride in their former homeland, the one they escaped from because they couldn't bear living there.
We have become a nation of tribes, with each demanding accommodations. Our Muslim newcomers want their customs followed. At one school, they asked that no pork product be served. A Catholic university took down all their religious trappings so as not to offend non-Catholics who freely chose the school knowing it was Catholic. A few other Catholic schools did the same.
Now the issue is the Pledge of Allegiance, which may offend recent arrivals who would not want to recite this pledge to America, the country that took their families in and provided education including free breakfast and lunch and freedom and other benefits.
Before that some protested the 81 year old name of a football team because it might possibly offend the "injured party." A poll was taken and 90% of the affected group said they didn't care.
Monuments to historic leaders of the Confederacy had to be removed because they might offend Americans whose distant ancestors may have been slaves. These leaders represented that abuse. They have/had been up for more than 100 years.
This fear of possibly offending someone in some group has led us to stifle free speech. Comedians no longer go to college campuses because their jokes might offend someone. Some colleges have banned speakers with different ideas from theirs. Those who think differently are quickly labeled. They are racist, homophobic, sexist, ethnocentric, hateful, xenophobic, misogamist, and/or isolationist, so their comments are to be disregarded. Their speech must be stifled.
We now have new terms like "cultural appropriation" and "micro-aggression." The former is said to occur when one person dresses or wears their hair the way people of another subculture do, even though we all do it from having our hair straightened or putting it in dread locks, or dying our black hair blond, though some of these are not being complained about. Micro-aggression is said to occur if someone asks another about their heritage, something that happens to many of us and usually is a sign of interest in the person.
Now the latest issue is the "Make America Great Again" hats. This Was Trump's slogan as it was Clinton's and Reagan's. But people wearing those hats are being banished from restaurants and labeled. They are "offensive."
We have become a country that favors diversity over merit. To some, diversity is everything. What did whites ever do? OK there was Abraham who realized monotheism. There was Moses who gave the world a moral code. There was Jesus who inspired millions. There was Galileo, Einstein, Freud, Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Henry Ford, Edison, Dr. Salk, the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, every president until the 44th, to name a few. They made America the greatest democracy and economy of all time, but aside from all that what good have they done?
Now instead of "e pluribus unum" we have become "e pluribus pluribus." Instead of "united we stand, divided we fall," it has become "divided we stand, united we fall."
And we're falling.
Please don't be offended.
The idea of a melting pot has become a salad bowl. People are encouraged to take pride in their former homeland, the one they escaped from because they couldn't bear living there.
We have become a nation of tribes, with each demanding accommodations. Our Muslim newcomers want their customs followed. At one school, they asked that no pork product be served. A Catholic university took down all their religious trappings so as not to offend non-Catholics who freely chose the school knowing it was Catholic. A few other Catholic schools did the same.
Now the issue is the Pledge of Allegiance, which may offend recent arrivals who would not want to recite this pledge to America, the country that took their families in and provided education including free breakfast and lunch and freedom and other benefits.
Before that some protested the 81 year old name of a football team because it might possibly offend the "injured party." A poll was taken and 90% of the affected group said they didn't care.
Monuments to historic leaders of the Confederacy had to be removed because they might offend Americans whose distant ancestors may have been slaves. These leaders represented that abuse. They have/had been up for more than 100 years.
This fear of possibly offending someone in some group has led us to stifle free speech. Comedians no longer go to college campuses because their jokes might offend someone. Some colleges have banned speakers with different ideas from theirs. Those who think differently are quickly labeled. They are racist, homophobic, sexist, ethnocentric, hateful, xenophobic, misogamist, and/or isolationist, so their comments are to be disregarded. Their speech must be stifled.
We now have new terms like "cultural appropriation" and "micro-aggression." The former is said to occur when one person dresses or wears their hair the way people of another subculture do, even though we all do it from having our hair straightened or putting it in dread locks, or dying our black hair blond, though some of these are not being complained about. Micro-aggression is said to occur if someone asks another about their heritage, something that happens to many of us and usually is a sign of interest in the person.
Now the latest issue is the "Make America Great Again" hats. This Was Trump's slogan as it was Clinton's and Reagan's. But people wearing those hats are being banished from restaurants and labeled. They are "offensive."
We have become a country that favors diversity over merit. To some, diversity is everything. What did whites ever do? OK there was Abraham who realized monotheism. There was Moses who gave the world a moral code. There was Jesus who inspired millions. There was Galileo, Einstein, Freud, Columbus, Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Henry Ford, Edison, Dr. Salk, the authors of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, every president until the 44th, to name a few. They made America the greatest democracy and economy of all time, but aside from all that what good have they done?
Now instead of "e pluribus unum" we have become "e pluribus pluribus." Instead of "united we stand, divided we fall," it has become "divided we stand, united we fall."
And we're falling.
Please don't be offended.
