In his Tuesday National Review newsletter, Kevin D. Williamson discussed how Leftists have rejected the idea of the American “melting pot” and advocated for the “salad bowl” metaphor instead.
“Progressives have hated the idea of the United States as a metaphorical melting pot for a very long time. I was in high school, in an American-history class taught by a very left-wing teacher (we get those in Lubbock, Texas, too), the first time I heard about the “salad bowl” vs. the melting pot. You know this one: The melting pot implies that immigrants come to the United States and eventually lose their distinctiveness, becoming fully incorporated into the great American amalgam. The “salad bowl” model, on the other hand, insists that immigrants come and retain their distinctiveness — all in the same dish, but everything separate,” Williamson wrote.
After running through the issue, Williamson demonstrated that for all their verbal bluster many of these Leftists actually well prove the “melting pot” metaphor more appropriate.
Williamson wrote: “Obama is a textbook example of the melting pot at work, gloriously: white hippie goofball mother from Kansas, economist father from Kenya, defenselessly abandoned to the ravages of a country so convulsed by race hatred that it made him, a nobody senator without even a full term under his belt, president for no obvious reason, choosing him over a deeply experienced, independent-minded war hero… That’s one of the perversities of American life: The bitterest critics of American culture and American institutions often are those who most dramatically embody the virtues of the American way of life…”
We see that in Texas constantly with loud Leftist Democrats decrying how unfair life is here for minorities and yet they, as minorities of a variety of blends, are themselves extremely successful. It’s cause for head-scratching.
Maybe they are motivated by guilt that some others sort of look like them but have not been as successful. If so, they are themselves guilty of judging people by how they look as opposed to how they’ve worked and the content of their character.
Why do successful Leftists think such unattainable for others?
“Progressives have hated the idea of the United States as a metaphorical melting pot for a very long time. I was in high school, in an American-history class taught by a very left-wing teacher (we get those in Lubbock, Texas, too), the first time I heard about the “salad bowl” vs. the melting pot. You know this one: The melting pot implies that immigrants come to the United States and eventually lose their distinctiveness, becoming fully incorporated into the great American amalgam. The “salad bowl” model, on the other hand, insists that immigrants come and retain their distinctiveness — all in the same dish, but everything separate,” Williamson wrote.
After running through the issue, Williamson demonstrated that for all their verbal bluster many of these Leftists actually well prove the “melting pot” metaphor more appropriate.
We see that in Texas constantly with loud Leftist Democrats decrying how unfair life is here for minorities and yet they, as minorities of a variety of blends, are themselves extremely successful. It’s cause for head-scratching.
Maybe they are motivated by guilt that some others sort of look like them but have not been as successful. If so, they are themselves guilty of judging people by how they look as opposed to how they’ve worked and the content of their character.