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So let me tell you a story, the other day in Forensics class someone was like
“Tanya? …” and I was like “ No, its Diana!” and they were like “Shoot! I swear all
Asians look alike.” And in my head I just thought “Right… Okay well, just like how all
Asians are good at math, and just like how Asian parents are ALWAYS strict, oh and the
old Asians are always good with computers. Right. That explains my D in Trigonometry
right now and how I don’t even know the difference between hard drive and the monitor.
Oh and by the way I love that one joke where it’s like, “Did you hear about the look alike
contest in China? Yea everyone won. Yea that’s getting old folks! I know it already!!!”
And I just ended up saying “Gosh Becky, seriously don’t be my friend anymore.” Has
this ever happened to you? Have you ever been discriminated against? Yes, it happens
and yes, here I am to say that this evil word called discrimination has expanded beyond
its actual roots. And has become something that is feared in America that society
constantly throws around. “I didn’t win because I’m black!” “I didn’t get the modeling
gig because I’m too fat” “ I didn’t get the job because I’m gay!” “I didn’t get the
scholarship because I’m Muslim!” We’re constantly in fear and also using discrimination
almost as an excuse for the things we don’t achieve or accomplish. Discrimination has
transformed into an Americans’ version of an excuse of which we have become way too
sensitive to. Through this I will address the history of this problem, then I will tackle on
the yee ol’ question how this problem affects us, and last how you can start the solution!
To begin describing one of our country’s flaws we must first identify an analogy
used to describe our country ethnically and culturally. Melting pot - is an analogy for the
way in which homogeneous societies develop, in which the ingredients in the pot are
combined so as to develop a multi-ethnic society. The term, which originates from the
United States, is often used to describe societies experiencing large scale immigration
from many different countries. (1) This idealism called the melting pot has become a
reason for modern day Americans to demand even more rights. Which in turn have made
us extremely sensitive to the media and everyone elses’ opinion, that in a way we have
become too culturally sensitive. Yes, we try to be as politically correct as possible but
where do we draw the line between freedom of speech and offending someone, where do
we draw the line between defending your rights and looking for something to nit pick at?
In the last ten years we’ve seen the development of societial frequencies becoming more
accepting with homosexuals, racial ethnicities and cultures of all kinds. Of course there
are the occassional closed minded people but for the most part America has become
accepting of other people’s cultures more so then any other country on Earth. Now as we
can see after last years’ holiday with clear displays of fighting over the “religion aspect”
of the holidays, Atheists and Christians have fought back and forth as to what is
politically correct and what is not. This development of picking and agreeing to disagree
has changed into an issue of actual freedom of speech and compromising of civil rights
and liberties. In a letter to the editor by Andrew Wisdom in the Daily Collegian he states
“Anytime anyone doesn't like something someone says, they whine about it. Whether it's
alleged sexual assault, somebody is going to launch a boycott or demand that someone
apologize or be fired - The paranoid passive majorities have even started policing
themselves so as not to upset the vocal minorities.” The coach that Wisdom was referring
to was the case of the National Organization of Women's group asking Joe Paterno the
former Penn State football coach to apologize or resign because of his statement
concerning a sexual assault case at a press conference," Jan. 9, 2006. (2) Another case of
sensitivity is something that we all heard that happened about 8 years ago when Atheist,
Michael Newdow, went to the Supreme Court with a Pledge of Allegiance case telling
that school children should not be involved in the “religious activity” forcefully. (3)
Although a highly debated issue at the time, how much does pledging your allegiance to
your country really affect your lifestyle Atheist or not Atheist? Another classic example
of being too culturally sensitive, although all cultures should be represented they’re
called minorities for a reason, according to the Central Intelligence Agency 78.5% of
Americans claim Christianity as their religion. (4) In essence America is a large interest
group and a community of people ruled out by the majority. There were cases such as
people actually wanting to get rid of Christmas and banning Rudolph the Red Nose
Reindeer and other outrageous stories. Another story is the recent events of Proposition
Eight on the ban of gay marriage also emphasizes this problem. People scream on
YouTube and shout on blogs how wrong it is for California to ban gay marriage however
what they fail to see is although this country claims freedom it is still a young country in
the works of progressing. Attacks on the Mormon community were made by the gay and
non-gay community that opposed Proposition 8, graffiti, picketing, and name calling
were all among only a few of the things that occurred while voicing their opinion through
their persuasion of politics, although some view as wrong, some also view as right. This
massive stream of opinionated people have led to the Christian community to feel a sense
of disrespect to their beliefs. They stand for freedom of speech but then also demote
others’ freedoms of speech. Our sensitivity is ultimately our weakness as a country to get
anything done, our urgency to cater to every minority is quiet appalling. But our
democracy is still set in stone, 52% of Californians voted to ban gay marriage meaning
that although close, half of the people in California still are against gay marriage.
Compared to what African Americans have faced in the past, on a scale America has
become too sensitive, especially with how fast this country progresses.
This problem affects us in every way because it distracts us from bigger and
worse problems. Potential nuclear world war, natural disasters, a failing economy, entire
countries that hate us, and the welfare of the planet are on the agenda and we don’t have
enough time to be sensitive to issues like banning Rudolph the Red Nose reindeer, and to
1.) Henry, James. The American Scene. Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
1968.
2.) Wisdom, Andrew. "The Daily Collegian". Penn State. 1-5-09
<http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2006/01/01-18-06tdc/01-18-06dops-letter-
02.asp>.
3.) Hamilton , Marci A. . "CNN.com". CNN. 1-5-09
<http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/03/26/hamilton.pledge/index.html>.
4.) "CIA World Book". Central Intelligence Agency. 1-5-09
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/us.html>.