The American condition is an endless war of heterogeneity, the battles of which take place wherever the races and ethnic groups mix and mingle. There are many fronts, many different warring factions, many alliances, and many different weapons used in this war. Our institutions, when effective, manage to muzzle the roar of war, but the sheer existence of many of them, affirmative action being the first example to come to mind, evidences the fact that the war wages on. This war has the same types of participants as conventional wars:
The fractious and divisive leaders: your Rush Limbaughs and Al Sharptons
The Diplomats: Those who work to advance race and ethnic relations... to end the war.
The Protesters: your me's, and anyone else challenging the validity of the "enemy" lines that the war's leaders fight to advance.
The warriors: your typical citizen who has chosen to identify solidly within the confines of one conventional American ethnic identification category.
As the great American "melting pot" heats up, we are compelled more and more to avoid conflict by thinking more thoroughly before we speak. Who can say what?: a fundamental and very American question that must be asked repeatedly during hetergenious social interaction. Adding a third dimension to this question, depth if you will, are any or all of the following ammendments: when, to whom, and how? This post seeks to foster discussion about the 4th, oft-challenged dimension: why can one say something sometimes, to some people, and in some ways, while others can not?
See the following Link: http://digg.com/d1nwrL
Monday, April 6, 2009
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