This isn't really a debate on "race" per say, but many will interpret it this way so I am proposing the debate occur in this forum.
This question is in response to a quote from another poster who mentioned an American subculture in a way that implies that preserve it and isolating it from the "general American culture" is a desirable goal.
QUOTE(nighttimer)
Let me see if I understand this. All it takes to make it into the American "white" culture is to assimilate? Surrender any and all trace of your own culture, history and identity and "meld" into the American "white" culture? All black folks in America need do is throw off the chains of their blackness and become quotation marks "white people" like the Hispanics?
That may be the single most asinine assertion I have ever read advocated on this board.
Is leaving one's "historical" culture behind in order to fit into the greater American culture (which is an amalgamation of a number of subcultures) necessarily a bad thing? Culture is different from "race" while the concept of "race" is often used as an identifying characteristics for an individual "subculture". Culture refers to behaviors, standards, traditions, history and institutions. America, due to our freedom, has always consisted of a relatively large number of subcultures. Nighttimer has pointed to one and others could point to many others. But are all relatively worthy?
As an illustration and as a rhetorical question, is the American subculture represented by people with the following characteristics worth protecting and preserving?
The members of this subculture tend to get pregnant at a very early age and the rate of single parent households is well above the national average. The members do not hold education in high esteem, are anti-intellectual, and typically resort to physical violence to solve conflict. The members of this group harbor deep resentments based on "race", glorify activities like automobile racing, beer drinking and hunting, and think mullet haircuts, tattoos, and piercings are attractive. The members of this subculture also believe that an appearance as a guest on the Jerry Springer Show represents the height of achievement. I know that I'm making some exaggerations here, but I'm trying to make a point. Would the subculture represented by this group of people (i.e., rednecks) be something worth celebrating?
The questions for debate are:
1. In America, are all subcultures equally worthy?
2. In America, are subcultures based on "race", "country of origin", "religion", or "geography" worth preserving independent of the behavioral norms found acceptable in those subcultures? What do you think?