The rage over the recent health care legislation is as Frank Rich wrote in last Sunday’s New York Times must-read op-ed, “disproportionate…to its proximate cause.” His is the first article I’ve seen that addresses the underlying issues driving what some might call an hysterical overreaction to what The Wall Street Journal noted is legislation based on Mitt Romney’s Massachusetts bill and contains what used to be considered Republican ideas (sorry, you have to be a subscriber to get the full Journal editorial so you’ll have to take Rich’s word for it).
The reality behind the outrage, the wild accusations, and the violence is difficult, controversial, and perhaps even unpleasant. Accepting the premise requires that one step back from strongly-held convictions on the left and the right. While objectivity and rationality are myths, still it is possible to recognize one’s own biases and attempt to keep them in check.
Rich argues that the last time we saw this kind of reaction to legislation was the 1964 Civil Rights Act. More than social security or Medicare or Medicaid, “it was the one that signaled an inexorable and immutable change in the very identity of America, not just its governance.” But the Civil Rights Act was only the beginning of the creation of a new American identity. In the twelve months ending in July 2008, 48 percent of babies born in the United States were Asian, black or Hispanic; by 2012, that figure will pass one-half, which means that white babies will be in the minority.
Whites as the new minority? How could this happen? This country was founded as a white, Christian nation. Even the Constitution makes that clear. Despite the WASP disgust and dismay over the hordes of Irish, Germans, Jews, and others flooding into their country in the 19th and early 20th centuries, at least those people were white; they assimilated, and the changes they made to the identity of America were, in the long run, tolerable.
No longer. For decades, whites have watched as our vision of America has been slowly replaced by themes and cultures many of us neither understand nor appreciate. Until recently, white people rarely thought of themselves as white; we just were. Blacks, on the other hand, could never escape the ever-present reminder of their difference from the majority, ruling class. But when we white people are the in the minority, what then?
At some point in the future, there will be more Members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, lobbyists and lawyers, doctors, chefs, police officers, members of the Armed Forces…you get the point…who are not white people. When you see the mobs roiled by the pitiful Palin or the large Limbaugh or the babbling Beck or the frenetic Foxettes, what’s really going on is that they’re terrified about losing their country. The one reliable constant about human beings is that we hate change—for all our rhetorical flourishes about embracing it. Our brains are wired from the old cave days to see change as dangerous, and we haven’t come that far in terms of our biological evolution to overcome that bias.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Clavos
Interesting, well written article, Mark.
One thing I've read is that when whites are no longer the majority, there actually won't be a single group (race?) of people who will be a majority; we will be a nation of minorities.
Interestingly, we whites who live in Miami-Dade county already know what it's like to be a minority; Latinos comprise 65% of the population (and growing - rapidly, from immigration), while whites are only 20%. Only American-born blacks are a smaller group, at 12%.
Our political class is overwhelmingly Spanish-surnamed, and entire swaths of the city are monolingual - in Spanish, not English. Spanish language TV stations outnumber those broadcasting in English (excluding cable stations).
Perhaps it's because I'm bicultural, but it doesn't bother me, I rather like it, it results in a much less "American" culture here, and the net result is a much more laid back attitude, with much less attention being paid to such aspects of Americanism as political correctness, patriotism, and American Exceptionalism -- it's all very refreshing.
2 - Mark
Ban intra-racial procreation. People of color -- Fuck Whitey...literally.
3 - zingzing
it's not because you're bicultural, clavos. you just live there. the demographic makeup of brooklyn is 36% white, 36% black, 8% latino (i think that's a bit of a low estimate, but i do live in a latino neighborhood), and a smattering of shitloads of other cultures. still, there are no monolingual areas, because this place is almost post-cultural. one of the biggest reasons for this is that 37% of the population is foreign-born. and they come from all over. there really is no dominant culture in brooklyn. it changes block to block. that's why so many people move here.
"One thing I've read is that when whites are no longer the majority, there actually won't be a single group (race?) of people who will be a majority; we will be a nation of minorities."
if there's no majority, there's no minority! say goodbye to minorities!
4 - icarus
"Any white person who claims not to be a little unnerved by all this is either denying or lying."
Not true - Many white people aren't unnerved at all about becoming a minority. I'm white, and not bothered a bit. White people are still everywhere. Big whoop.
5 - Clavos
it's not because you're bicultural, clavos. you just live there.
You forget I was born and raised in Mexico, zing. I am most definitely bicultural, and I think that's why I like it here, where the Latino culture is definitely dominant.
BTW, 51% of the people in this county were born in another country.
6 - Christine
Since, I am basically a mutt (Spanish - Delgado, Greek - Lakatos, and French - Gurule, mixed in with a few other things), I am not quite sure where we mutts (which I am sure there are many) fit into your equation.
7 - Christine
In fact IMO, they should have added a new category to the Census (all other forms for that matter)....MUTT!
8 - zingzing
clavos: "You forget I was born and raised in Mexico, zing. I am most definitely bicultural..."
i'm not questioning the fact that you're bicultural. i'm questioning that it's your bicultural-ness that leads you to enjoy multicultural life. although, from what you say, it's the proximity of your bicultural experience to your bicultural living situation that leads you to enjoy it, which is the opposite of what i thought you were saying. so forgive me for that.
i'd say that my being born in the south to midwestern parents and living in multicultural new york is a product of the schizophrenic upbringing i enjoyed. i was never quite in place in the south in a way, but i wasn't in place when i lived in seattle either. but in new york, no one is quite in place. so it feels like home to me (or at least, it's beginning to feel that way.)
i think it's because of the mix of cultures in america that we enjoy the culture that we have. it changes drastically from place to place. other than a common language (and even that is suspect), "american" culture in the south is completely different from the midwest or the southwest or the northwest or the northeast, etc, etc.
the only "culture" that pervades across america is hick culture. that doesn't seem to change much. if there's any majority in the united states of america, it's the hick. it crosses the racial divide. now that's something to think about.
9 - zingzing
"BTW, 51% of the people in this county were born in another country."
i've often maintained that american culture isn't deep (compared to that of other countries), but it is wide. it's got girth. whatever you think of american culture, there's some part of it you've never experienced.
10 - Dr Dreadful
Clavos (@ #1):
I already live in a city of minorities. Fresno is about 40% Latino, 37% white, 8% African-American and the rest is a hodge-podge of others. Then there are the Hispanic people who are also Native American, the black people who are also Polynesian, etc etc etc.
Unlike Miami, however, which is - what? - the third-largest city in Latin America, Fresno is rather ghettoized, with each 'race' tending to live in its own district. So you'll rarely see a non-white face in the north of the city, you'll rarely see a non-Latino face downtown, and you'll rarely see a non-black face in parts of the west side.
So I don't know if the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of American and (where I come from) European society bothers most white folks - it certainly doesn't bother me - as much as it seems to bother just about everyone in general.
11 - Clavos
Doc,
I think the shared experience of having lived in more than one culture is unquestionably why we're both comfortable in a multicultural milieu.
Miami IS not only one of the largest cities in LatAm, it is also the financial center of the region. Most of the prominent Latin American banks now have substantial branches (in many cases multiple ones) here, and much of Latin America's money is deposited here.
We are also the pre-eminent airline hub for Latin America; people literally do fly here to connect to other LatAm cities.
12 - zingzing
jesus. the reason why people are UNCOMFORTABLE living in a multicultural milieu is because they're ignorant. don't be patting yourself on the back for being cosmopolitan. it's just the modern world. it's the way life is in america. everyone here has to live in multiple cultures, except if you're a backwards hick who never leaves home.
13 - Baritone
I may be wrong, but it seems to me that there is less racial divisiveness in large metropolitan areas having large and varied cultural/racial histories as discussed above than in less integrated areas of the country. The "melting pot" has not been evenly stirred.
My wife and I spent about 5 days in NYC over Christmas. Zing is correct that NYC maybe the most multi-cultural city in the US. We used a # of car services and a few cabs during our stay, and I don't believe we had one "white" driver. Yet, they were a diverse bunch. We had black drivers, an Egyptian, at least a couple of Indians (eastern) or Pakastanis, a number of Hispanics and even an Asian or two. I can't remember seeing any whites working in a service capacity anywhere - at restaurants, at the MOMA, at Rock Center, at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, groceries, drug stores, etc. Virtually all were people of color and/or of obviously varied ethnic backgrounds. I should add, too, that all of our drivers were men.
Here in Indy, I don't know the numbers, but whites still reign in the majority, yet there has been a definite shift with many areas of the city becoming strongly hispanic.
Clav, I imagine that you would perhaps be less "comfortable" if you lived in a largely African community or even in say a heavily Russian or Arab enclave. Your particular cultural duality is a perfect fit for Miami.
I think Mark has hit the nail on the head. What is driving much of the heated discourse in this country is not so much racial hatred per se, than simply the fear of the unknown and the fear of change, of which Obama is a markedly visible symbol.
I doubt that humans will ever fully overcome their racial and cultural fears unless and until all races and cultures are assimilated into one, indiscernible "mutt."
B
14 - Ruvy
Mark,
I'm not even touching the content of this one. It's like as damned grenade. If you don't handle it carefully, it'll blow up in your hands.
Let's pull the pin anyway. I love (some) explosions.
Take that symbol of change who presides over you. He is a mutt in many ways. He's a true African-American - his daddy is from the Luo tribe in Kenya. His mom was white. For all of his "left-wing" ideological training under Saul Alinsky, he has the mind of a white Harvard elitist, and has bought into representing the banking and insurance establishment in your country.
In other words, he is screwing you all over because you, in his eyes, are not his social or intellectual equals. And he has solidified the fascist economic order his white Protestant Anglo-Saxon predecessor established in September 2008 to prevent the collapse of the established order that has so benefited Yalies (like Bush) and Harvard men (like Obama) for over two centuries.
And now, having thrown the grenade - I GOTTA RUN!!!!
In gunpowder veritaaaaas!
15 - Boeke
Good article. Looks like the old Silent Majority has become the Noisy Minority.
It even provoked an amusing comment from Ruvy.
16 - Clavos
Clav, I imagine that you would perhaps be less "comfortable" if you lived in a largely African community or even in say a heavily Russian or Arab enclave.
Perhaps so, B-tone, but probably still less so than most Americans, in large part because I'm not solely an American.
Interestingly, another aspect of Miami's multiculturalism is that we are host to the second largest colony of Russians in the US. Only New York's Brighton Beach has more Russian residents. Ours live not far from my neighborhood, in an area called Sunny Isles Beach.
17 - roger nowosielski
"this place is almost post-cultural . . ."
I like that, zing. A very apt expression.
18 - roger nowosielski
"Since, I am basically a mutt . . ."
You underestimate, Christine, the heights of Anglo-Saxon arrogance, American version, especially on the part of the uneducated and poor. They've been led to believe they own this country, that it has been given them as their rightful inheritance.
19 - roger nowosielski
"So I don't know if the increasingly cosmopolitan nature of American and (where I come from) European society bothers most white folks - it certainly doesn't bother me - as much as it seems to bother just about everyone in general."
You're not like "most folks," Dreadful. Where did you ever get that idea?
20 - roger nowosielski
"Interestingly, another aspect of Miami's multiculturalism is that . . ."
That's nice and dandy, Clavos, but the question is - do you readily mix?
21 - Baronius
Yeah, white-hot rage. Like the guy who brought Molotov cocktails to the Republican Convention? Or the SEIU worker who beat up a reporter while calling him a "nigger"? Or the guy who bit someone's pinky off at a health care rally? When Alec Baldwin said that we should drag Henry Hyde and his family out of his house and kill them, did anyone ask the head of the DNC to apologize for it?
22 - Baritone
Let's count the # of right wing militia groups.
Then, let's count the left wing militia groups.
Let's determine the # of guns in the average conservative household.
Now let's do the same for the average progressive home.
I don't know the answer to either comparison, but I can guess.
B
23 - Clavos
That's nice and dandy, Clavos, but the question is - do you readily mix?
Apparently you haven't been paying attention, Roger (why am I surprised? You usually listen only to yourself) Miami has become so varied precisely because the overall attitude here is welcoming and inclusive -- far more so than most American urban areas.
Miami is IN the USA, but not OF it.
24 - Mark Schannon
Ah Ruvela, I can always count on you to pull the pin...and run. But we do see a very different fellow sitting up there in the White House. To me, he's a typical Clinton-style moderate...about as liberal as Arch Con, fofl...sorry Arch. Witness his admin's support of the Bush wiretap extravaganzas which thankfully got clobbered today by a federal judge. (That way, we can keep bashing him without fear of being followed by black helicopters.)
However, ladies & gents, particularly those who are "comfortable" with multiculturalism. A question: Would you be as comfortable if you were black or Hispanic or Indonesian? To date, we white folk have been the dominant group in America, so of course some of us would enjoy mingling.
And Roger asks a very important question: "Do you readily mix?" I'd add a question that almost can't be answered: When you do mix, are the social interactions the same, as comfortable, as when you hang around with your own kind? (Whew, does that sound ugly.)
But what will it be like when we're no longer dominant?
These aren't rhetorical questions & Ruvy's right that they're potentially upsetting. Thought experiment--if even possible: Imagine you're of a minority ethnic/racial background. (I've been on and off wondering about this for years & I'm not sure I can do it.) Then put yourself in an all white setting. Or imagine a white person coming into a group of your folk.
Zing, I don't agree that people are uncomfortable because they're ignorant. I'd argue that it's a much deeper, unconscious fear reaction to what they perceive as a threatening situation. These kind of reactions are not consciously based & therefore can't easily, if at all, be addressed by "education" or discussion.
And despite Ruvy's attempt to take over my lone truth,
In Jameson Veritas
25 - roger nowosielski
My question wasn't about Miami, Clavos, it was about you.
Your comment still leaves open the question.