Multiculturalism the Idea of Being

Multiculturalism

The idea of being multicultural was not that much of a concern until recently, when society became more global. Now that there are ways to talk to people all over the country and the world, language, culture, and history are changing how we look at things. People are being forced to adapt to some degree if they want to continue in the business world, because they have to treat others with respect -- and those others are often much different from them. The history of a person in one country is going to be very different from the history of a person in another country, so being aware of that becomes vital. Cultural issues are also important (Takaki, 1993). These are affected by where we come from, where we are now, and how we were raised. As a global society becomes more of a melting pot, much like America already has, the culture of many people shifts to allow other experiences to come in.

The idea of becoming more multicultural is not one that everyone embraces, though. There are people out there who still think that one culture, race, or creed is 'evil' while others are 'good.' This stems from two things: prejudice, and a lack of understanding of others (Takaki, 1993). Takaki (1993) discusses race and cultural in America, and the attitudes of whites toward blacks, Mexicans, Asians and Native Americans. This offers a very in-depth, interesting, and cohesive study of the way race and culture built foundations in America and is still doing so. Takaki (1993) also argues that all Americans, regardless of racial or cultural boundaries, must work together to create a good legacy of cooperation across cultures as America moves forward. If Americans do not work together to do this, the social health of the nation could be in serious jeopardy.

Takaki (1993) asks some very tough questions about how white men repressed themselves and did not live up to the full potential that they could have. Takaki (1993) does not ask why this happened. It seems unimportant to him. Instead, he asks how it happened, possibly to gain understanding so that the same mistakes will not be made in the future. The other thing Takaki (1993) wants to know is how that process of alienation and domination created in the white man an intense rage that overpowered rationality. He wants to understand why white men, as a generalization, do not want to get along with other cultures and how they arrived at this opinion. There must have been something out there in the world to harden their hearts toward the prospect of good cross-cultural race relations. Whatever it was, or whatever they were, if there was more than one factor, he wants to know what caused it.

The conquering of the Native Americans and the abolishment of slavery all happened a long time ago. There is no reason why anyone of any race should hold a grudge against another race at this point in history, but some still do, and it seems to be largely the white men that are holding grudges against other races when they should be working together to keep America on a strong footing. I do not consider any race, color, creed, culture, etc., to be good or evil. There are bad people in every area and facet of society, all over the world. As such, I try to treat everyone as though they are equal. Sometimes that is difficult because I grew up around prejudice -- but that does not mean that I have to carry those childhood memories of the opinions of other people forward into the next generation.