The U.S. Melting Pot

The U.S. refers to itself as a sort of melting pot for different cultures and people. What is U.S. culture but a collection of other’s. For a broad example, take the east coast, Midwest, south, and west coast and compare them. There are drastic differences between social norms and views throughout this country. For a more close to home example, take Orlando Florida compared to Miami Florida, both major cities in the same state, but drastically different. At the bare minimum you have how Miami is a majority Latin American city with the population being 70% Latin and Hispanic American whereas Orlando a predominantly white neighborhood with the population being 50% white. On top of that Miami is a beach city, whereas Orlando is known Disney, Universal, and several other amusement parks. Even politically you have drastically different communities right next to each other. Most of Florida’s major cities voted primarily democratic in the last election whereas the rest of Florida predominantly voted Republican.

My Perspective

Now I think there are pros and cons to the way the U.S. portrays itself as a melting pot, and how said melting pot works. I think in recent times this mix of culture in such a young nation has led to a measure of conflict within its communities. As it appears that some groups prefer to be left alone whereas others prefer to be very up front about issues. There also appears to be a level of favoritism among the communities, with a sort of social hierarchy being form around nationalism. It also does not help that some of the aspects of the melting pot were and are stolen by the majority community rather than being shared. Now done with the cons, the pros are quite good. U.S. culture has been able to gain a rapid growth state through gaining positive aspects from the cultures within it. On top of that a level of appreciation for each others cultures has been obtained by a vast majority of the people within the U.S.. Lastly I think this melting pot style of culture has been a blueprint for other nations to improve their cultural appreciation.

A different view

An important thing I think to note upon is how the U.S. melting pot compares to other countries’ melting pots. Take the United Kingdom for an example. The U.K. and the U.S. both have many different cultures that make up what they are, and when I first moved from England to the U.S. my first reaction was where are all the different people? The reason behind this was the fact that the U.K. is, in comparison, a very small country by land mass, so you have everyone very packed together. In the U.S, because it is so big there are many different communities, but they’re much further apart and interact a lot less. Also going from England to Florida means the different types of communities shift drastically.

Why this was important.

This exercise got me reflecting on my time in the Unites States versus my time in the United Kingdom. Both drastically different experiences that hold a very specific similarity. There are millions of different people out there waiting to be met and understood. Everyone has their own background, culture, and identity that are all extremely important and of value, and to get the chance to peek into someone else’s world is of great value. The chance to go back to England and study is an honor that cannot be understated as it gives me the chance to go and see more cultures that I may have never seen before, or meet people who I might never have had the chance to.