Social Culture in Texas, Blogging about Racism

Racism: A thing of the past. In Texas. : Greg Laden's Blog

When I discovered this post I thought to myself what I high ranking blog according to Alexa page ranking system on the internet, very very high. This blog enjoys a very high readership base with many links etc etc. Having said that I believed this short narrative to be worthy of a quick discussion. I'm not sure if my readers are aware of the Presidents recent speech to children about school. Anyways the author of the blog I have posted is from Texas. He goes on to remark about a social studies board member in Texas without indicating where in Texas and here are his remarks about the board members remarks:

"Regarding President Obama's speech to the school children of last week:

"Obama's speech contained plenty of propaganda, in both what was said and what was omitted. He told kids that they may face road blocks, such as discrimination. Really? It makes me wonder which kids he's speaking to, because I'm not sure of where in America minorities are facing discrimination in employment or education. What company won't hire non-whites? What schools won't accept minorities? What banks makes loan decisions on skin color?".

My comment: "Rather controversial speech to say the least right here in good ole Texas. Furthermore it gets better as the author of the blog goes on to quote the social studies board member:

"Let me reiterate. These are the words of a man specifically put on the school board committee to revise social studies standards. In actual schools. In Texas.

But wait, there is more...

"Obama didn't mention the fact that he's in favor of racial discrimination against the white students listening. He has already appointed a Supreme Court justice who is a big fan of racial preferences for non-whites and will no doubt make the problem even worse from the high court. Obama has made it clear he intends to do much, much more to expand affirmative action, racial quotas, and other anti-white discrimination."

These colored people really do stick together, it would seem."

And then back to me:

These are obvious right- winged social cultured, politically motivated, and racially under toned, remarks that this blogger has discovered about the social studies board member. As my background is in the social science field, I am unsure how such a hard line view about our President's decisions, can be so openly represented in any states school system is beyond me. But, it goes back to the notion of Federalism and shared Federal and state powers along with the First Amendment of our Constitution that gives men with extreme views such as this a voice in America. You do not have to subscribe to his views but of course you may present your counterargument of his views. This part was not brought up by the author of the blog. He just kind of leaves the reader "in the air" with relative shock. This always makes for good reading when you present controversial material. Maybe that is why his blog has such an extremely high page ranking, who knows right?

Anyways, the United States being as multicultural as we are, is not exempt from diverse cultural perspectives and differences.We will always have to keep tabs on ourselves and our perspectives of one anthers cultures and belief systems to maintain one of the greatest countries in the world!

William

American Ideology, Is the melting pot flooding?

Its funny, I was just discussing with one of my friends about this notion of America being the melting pot of civilization and such. Hence I stumbled across this article which was written by a political scientist with "conservative" right wing views on cultural relativism and multiculturalism. I have to say he makes some pretty interesting arguments. However, I can't say that I agree with his philosophy nor his approach to the way America should approach immigrants and how they should assimilate their cultures to become "American". How do you define "American" anyways? Ever filled out a census before? There are so many categories of Americans that its hysterical to say the least. Back on topic. Where I am heading with this post is that a content analysis of a particularly long couple of paragraphs is definitely in order! The nice thing is you might read this article and say yup he is 'spot on" he is right, no doubt about it! And you know what? That's OK also...
Immigrants should assimilate and NOT keep there own cultures if they are going to live in America. Right? No more Taco Bell? So he claims in his post. How can we make the argument about a true identity for what an "American" and an Americans culture is really supposed to be? We have all pretty much descended from some other continent or other. Let us not forget how young America really is compared to other countries and civilizations. Yes by birth we are Americans. But, our ancestors came from other places likely and so on and so on . Unless your a reader that is American Indian I make exception:)Are you picking up what I am putting down? OK back on topic. Our friend is worried about a revolution without a war! Here is why he says:

"The second technique of revolution proceeds by changing America’s demographic character. Aristotle points out that one cause of revolution is excessive “heterogeneity of stock,” meaning, excessive ethnic diversity. As a result of permissive immigration laws, a country may include ethnic groups whose character and customs clash with the way of life of the native majority: witness Eurabia. Immigration laws may also increase the electoral base of a party committed to redistribution of wealth. Eventually, the immigrant population may equal or exceed the original native population. The democratic principle of one adult, one vote can thus lead to radical regime change, and without violence.

This is happening in America. The title of Samuel Huntington’s recent book, Who Are We? suggests that America is losing its cultural identity. This is nothing less than a revolution. To understand this revolution, a brief description of America’s early culture is necessary.

The ethnic groups that founded America were among the most highly educated citizens of Great Britain and Europe. A dozen universities flourished before the end of eighteenth century, including Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia. Nineteenth-century British Prime Minister William Gladstone said that America’s Founding Fathers constituted the greatest collection of statesmen in history.

Early Americans quoted not only the Bible, but also Shakespeare, Cicero, Locke, and other luminaries. I dare say that apart from the sciences, the intellectual discipline of eighteen-century American universities puts to shame what passes for higher education today. The Federalist Papers, which were newspaper articles, will be studied long after the books of countless present day political scientists are forgotten.

As is well known, America was based primarily on the Protestant ethic. Without denying serious flaws, this ethic exalted family values. It emphasized education, honest work, thrift, self-reliance, personal responsibility. This era is fading away. The bureaucratic state is intruding more and more into the family; universities are propagating moral relativism; and during the past few decades, millions of immigrants, poorly educated or of dubious character, have entered America. Unlike the immigrants of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, a large percentage of these recent immigrants are not anxious to assimilate—an attitude encouraged by the cultural relativism that permeates the anti-American liberal-left."

OK, he is making sense to someone right? But whom is the question? He is still stuck around the age of enlightenment, and the Federalist papers, and the Founding Fathers ideas of what America is supposed to be. Unfortunately it hasn't turned out to be that way has it? Is this a good or bad thing? How could we have just closed our borders and kept the original Americans that settled this country I wonder? What about you? You mean the early Immigrants were "better" then the ones we have now? They were more anxious to assimilate into "our" notion of democracy and "Americanism" (word?) Anyways, you see where I am headed I hope so anyways. Do not get me wrong this article does have its merits but overall its a very conservative article written by a very conservative political scientist who has lost touch with the notion of being flexible first brought up by President Wilson whom he mentions in the article. Did you know President Wilson was also a political scientist? Just thought I would throw that in there... He was also an idealist and he knew that in order for America to survive she had to be flexible with the rest of the world. I happen to agree. Our friend the author of this article has a low approval of Wilson.

I hope you read this and decide for yourself about whether the "melting pot has melted".

William