Why don't (insert race, ethnic group, gender, religion, or any other group here) act like the rest of us?Why are (insert same list here) so loud, so ignorant, so poor, so arrogant, so (fill in complaint here) and so unwilling to be like the rest of us?
Why don't (fill in same list here) just go back to their own country?
The problems (or answers) are more complex than that. Most people do acculturate to some degree or another.
Pick a spot on the color wheel.
What color is it?
What color is it related to?
What colors influence it's hue?
Many of our problems with other people aren't problems at all, but they are merely an inability to see where each fits in perspective to oneself relative to where one is at any given moment.
I've been blog-rolling today and found that there are many answers to many problems and that most are valid in any given situation.
How do we deal with racism?
This seems to be a common question. The answers vary from; ignore it, blame white people or to taking control of one's own life.
Many from the personal responsibility school of thought seem to believe in a solution that is predicated on separation. This isn't a bad idea in itself, but it ignores the exterior assets available to an individual or group.
Others favor a philosophy of ignoring the problem altogether. Again, a valid answer, but one that fails to take into account that the problem will continue to grow and masticize over time.
The most popular philosophy seems to point out every instance of the problem at every given opportunity. This "greasy wheel" theory seems to have run it's course along with it's polemic cheerleaders such as Jessie Jackson, Andrew Young and Al Sharpton. This "answer" fails to solve any problems and solely benefits those perpetrators of self who deal in racial pandering.
Maybe we should organize! A spurious answer that sounds good but that only succeeds in creating new demagogues to make their cause seem dire in order to ensure their social position. (Of the NAACP, Urban League and any other minority "empowerment" group - name the leaders in your town and their contribution to the causes that they claim to fight. Now name the latest gala that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce. The amount spent on that gala and the hours spent on it's planning and implementation could have had a direct impact on the communities which these organizations claim to represent. See, most of these organizations and their leaders benefit from the suffering of others.Their only reason in participating in these groups is to ensure their social standing among a given community's social elite.)
So, what's the problem?
IMO- There isn't one.
If we're talking about breaking through the glass ceiling of progress, it is a totally different issue than those fighting to break through the concrete floor of the same situation.
The glass ceiling issue seems to be more of a problem with acculturation and not one of racism.
The concrete floor issue seems to also be an acculturation issue as well as oppressive (whether by one's self our they're environment).
Acculturation can generally be thought of in a linear or a two dimensional theory.
In linear theory, one acculturates from one color to the next in a type of step process (for example; slowly going from magenta to violet to cerulean, and all the shades between, in linear steps). This is the theory that people cite (whether knowingly or not) when they say that someone is "acting white". It's the theory that limits the definition of what being something is.
In a two dimensional theory, one is represented as all colors that contribute or influence any given color.
Social scholar J.W. Berry suggests that their are four possible outcomes of the two dimensional process.
Assimilation - one culture/race moving towards the dominant culture.
Integration - synthesis of the two cultures.
Rejection - reaffirmation of one's traditional culture.
Marginalization - alienation from both cultures.
Adaptability is the key. There are times when one should reaffirm their inherent culture. But there are also times when one needs to assimilate and integrate in order to work for a common good. Even being able to progress when one is marginalized from all others is a valuable trait.
The failure to use all available assets is usually the key to one's failure.
ALWAYS keeping it real often has a tendency to go bad.
Really? We hate each other because one person thinks that Elvis is better than James Brown? Simple, I know. Silly too.
But most of our problems are predicated on the fear of the unknown. Many are predicated on thinking that any one group is better than all in another group. Tell me, do you (if you're Black) trust like and respect everyone who is Black? H to the E to the double L, no. Or (if you are white) do you trust like and respect every other white person? Same answer as the Blacks? Damn, maybe there are stars and scrubs from all ethnic groups. Personally, I have some white, Asian and Hispanic/Latino friends (as well as Black but I thought that was a given) who I wouldn't trade for the world. They've been through some "ish" with me and I know that I can trust them. But I also know some Negroes, whites, Asians and Hispanics/Latinos that I wouldn't pee on to put the fire out if they were burning. Is this being a sell-out? Nope, It's knowing who is down and who is a beatch.
Abraham was the father of Issac and Ishmael. Ishmael was the father of twelve sons who would become the Arabs and (through Mohammad) followers of the Islamic faith. Issac was the father of Esau and Jacob (Israel). Jacob had twelve sons that would become the twelve tribes of Israel. Christianity has it's roots in Judaism. So, all of the religious wars being fought today are just extensions of a family of cousins who failed to agree on who was blessed by whom? Throw in the Egyptian connections and the Hindu similarities of Brahma and his wife Sarawati to Abraham and Sarah - now we have global hatred and fear based on a misunderstanding that occurred long before we were even imagined.
In the big picture, all of the little stuff that many of us fight over is just as arbitrary as fighting over Elvis and James Brown.
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