If a country or other region of the world begins admitting, legally or otherwise, immigrants from other areas who look, speak or dress differently than its existing population, what can be done to pave the way for an eventual acceptance of these “different” people and eventually their complete integration into the existing social structure?
Let’s take the United States as a learning example. It is likely that many years ago the “powers that be” ordained that one way to accomplish this type of social integration is to have these “foreigners” become familiar figures on media such as television programs, newscasts, and game shows, not to mention the diversity that has almost always existed in the entertainment industry, including sports. Therefore, sometime long after the influx of people began first from the African continent and later South America, people of color and people with different dialects and languages began to appear frequently on syndicated TV programs, regional and national newscasts and, again, throughout the entertainment industry. The theory had to be that the more our population experienced
other people in various ways, the more they would accept them and not consider them different.
This, of course, is what happened when Europe sent us Italians, Germans, Irish, etc. and they naturally gravitated to ethnic neighborhoods, which were small areas of large cities like New York where they could feel quite at home with their “own” people. After the rest of the city started frequenting restaurants and shops featuring the newcomers’ foods and crafts, they came to love the cuisine and products as well as the people who cooked or sold their creations to their customers.
Fast forward to the present. We are now witnessing the significant casting of Orientals in movies, sit-coms and on news programs. They are now much more visible in TV ads and, to a lesser extent, other mediums. After we have accepted these additions as part of the norm, that segment of our changing society will themselves find a smoother integration into the rest of the population. Some more knowledgeable and cynical than me say this shift is being sponsored by the government of China, which has its efforts focused on taking control of the U.S., and integrating its nationals into our country and leadership positions is an important element in that plan.
Assuming that this transition is not just living in my head, which may be extremely likely, I have the same question that I had when we wrote about how, from time to time, newscasters will use exactly the same phrases to describe something that recently took place or that someone just said. That question was, and is, who decides to initiate these integration plans and who communicates orders to those producing shows or newscasts to follow these directives. I have no idea but assume it must be someone in the Administration of the White House, and not necessarily the President. That’s about the only thing that makes sense.
Now I will conclude by stabbing my cultural integration theory in the back. Not long ago we, and many others, wrote about how and why our “leaders” were intentionally dividing the country for their own gain. It was alleged that they were doing this because it was easier to control a small group of people than a much larger one. By splitting them up, often by pitting one against the other in how new laws were written and enforced, they were more easily persuaded to support the policies of those in power. But if the goal was to divide the people, why in the world would these same leaders attempt to soften and accelerate the cultural integration process which molds people together and thereby creates larger groups that, by definition, are more difficult to control?
Why write about issues that seem incapable of being resolved? I have to admit that my reason is simple: once I write about something that is weighing on my mind, I can emotionally store it in the back of my head and enjoy my sleep, at least until my mind dredges up something else that captures my brain and won’t let go.
For now, though, this problem has been handed off to you to resolve and my mind is clear. I’m turning in now!
