The Difference Between Ethnic And Cultural Diversity

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ETHNIC AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY


The United States is a product of the melting pot that takes immigrants and allows them to retain their ethnic customs and, at the same time, gives them the opportunity to be assimilated into the American Culture. I have enjoyed the wild polka dancing at a Polish Wedding, the handkerchief dance at a Jewish wedding, and the bashing of the Piñata at Mexican Christmas parties. The Irish Parade and green beer on St. Patrick’s Day, Hungarian sausages made for the holidays, the Hawaiian Hula dance and music, the music at Preservation Hall and funeral parades in New Orleans, are all ethnic customs that make the crazy quilt of American customs such a joy to experience. The variety seems endless and we are a better country for the chance to sample all the ethnic variety of our citizens. However, the ethnic variety must not be confused with cultural variety. The multitude of immigrants who bring their ethnic customs to our society, when called upon to defend the United States, even with their lives, join with their neighbors to solve a common problem or make decisions about their government are able to set aside the ethnic differences and become supporters of the American Culture that has united us all in the common goal of making the United States the best place in the world to enjoy the fruits of liberty and freedom. Nowhere else in the world does this ability exist. We must not confuse ethnic diversity with cultural diversity. They are not the same. This is not to say that American Culture is completely homogenous, it is not. The unique difference that seems not to exist in other countries, is that American citizens know the difference between ethnic and culture. The important concepts that make us a nation are common to us all. The common knowledge and acceptance of these concepts is not an accident. Schools were part of the engine that formed us into the American Culture.
The cry for diversity that we hear so often from the liberal ( i.e. socialist ) media is aimed at changing and destroying the American Culture that has made us the best country on earth.

Older! Wiser?