Melting Pot v. Political Correctnes

The men who bombed Boston were misled.   They were fed some horribly distorted information about America and Americans.   They are not alone.  Many young people are being taught that we are “the evil axis.”  We aren’t countering this disgusting propaganda by teaching our values, our point of view.

Americans used to be proud to be Americans.  I know I still am.   When immigrants came to our shores we greeted them happily, helped them find homes, jobs, education, and most importantly, we taught them what it means to be an American. 

We didn’t defy or defile their religion or country of origin – but we told them about us.  We told them about freedom of speech and opportunity for all.  We taught them about honesty, ethics, and the contractual meaning of a handshake.  We taught them that with independence and freedom of thought came the awesome responsibility of taking care of oneself and reaching out to others who were in greater need.  We shared our commonality and accepted our differences.

We thought of ourselves as a melting pot – where people from everywhere in the world could come, learn, assimilate, and become citizens of the USA.  We were proud of who we were and what we had to offer.

Then, somewhere we became politically correct and decided we were a mosaic, not a melting pot.  No longer was it considered proper to teach our values.  Somehow we feared that by so doing, we were insulting their values. 

In this hodge podge of mis-information is the statement that we are trying to take over the world – that we are trying to “colonize” the rest of the world.  But, that’s not true – we don’t take over other countries – although sometimes we certainly do interfere too much.

So, the men who bombed Boston didn’t have a counter to the propaganda they were hearing.  They didn’t know their information was wrong.  How many thousands of other young men and women who have been given only a negatively slanted view do we have to find before we wise up and tell the story of America’s greatness?

OK – I’m off my soap box for now!

Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress
Honest differences are often a healthy sign of progress
Mahatma Gandhi