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The Civil Rights movement of the sixties was, with womens suffrage, one of the top two most important movements of this decade. It brought the horrible cruelties and injustices of America's history finally to an official close. Of course, Racism still exists today in the hearts and minds of bigots everywhere. However, mainstream America utterly rejects racism and sexual discrimination as well.
However, the movements inspired by these just causes exist and thrive today. Radical Feminism and Cultural Seperatism threaten the very foundations of our nations moral, intellectual and cultural existence. As with every Radical group, good or bad, the members of these groups pursue their idealogical agendas to the complete limit without consideration of other issues. That official discrimination is not only legal but easily remedied through awareness, transparency and even legal action, the necessity of the the positions and ideas these groups hold is suspect.
While their intentions and motives might once have pure, and the individuals acting almost certainly do so without malice of intent, the harm they are causing society as whole is staggering and may soon become irreparable. Affirmative Action, once an idea to help discriminated blacks and to "repay" them for the harms inflicted upon them, has become enshrined in modern liberalism. Never intended to be permanent, Affirmative Action has expired past its days of usefullness. Blacks, and the other racial and gender groups it grew to encompass, are no longer officially discriminated against or really face any organized discrimination at all, excluding radical right types. The focus must stop being on attacking and start being on helping. Why is it that there are more Blacks poor than there are whites? Why are there more Hispanic poor than there are Whites? The same old story of white male oppression no longer holds any truth in the present society. Asians, who White people historically have fought two hot wars and one idealogical one with various members in the past 50 years, logically should be the ones White people "oppose" racially of any. After all, whites never fought a war against blacks, but have fought several against asians. (Excuse the gross generalities and groupings involved in the previous statements, but racists often see no such differences.) However, Asians actually perform better than Whites on tests, in schools and in society at large. How can this be? This must be the questions the modern racial crusaders look to answer. How can we increase inner-city schools ability to teach? How can we keep black male youths out of prison? How can stop the drug epidemic? We must move as a nation toward racial reconcialiation and cultural unity and away from the seperating of our nation into racially charge camps, often armed, that don't identify with or value any human being that is different.
Cultural Unity, or Assimilation, is not a negative or bad thing. Only through this can we be at peace as a nation. This doesn't mean imposing western culture and practices upon immigrants or people of other backgrounds. Assimilation can take the best practices and ideas of every culture in the world, and form one homogenues world culture.
This is not to say that Western culture in general and American culture specifically is all bad. Contrarily it is quite possible the best culture theoretically of any. This is to say the the institutions and practices of this culture far outreach those of other cultures. Western Culture was the originator of individualism and individual rights, or representative democracy, of the rule of law, of the scientific method, theoretical science and advanced technology, of medical science, and of the concept that government is derived from the consent of the governed. Of course it had its problems, but it was the first of the five major cultures of the world (Native American, Sub-saharan African, Middle Eastern, Far Eastern and Western) to grant equal rights to all people, and to give equal rights to women. Even today cultures in the Middle East, Africa and East Asia do not give equal rights to all people or to women. These listings provide incontrovertial proof of the benefits of Western Culture. Why is it that so many people immigrate to Western Nations, but the vice-versa isn't true? This is of course not to say that other cultures aren't valuable. Every culture that represents something beauty or worthwhile is infinitely valuable. It probably due to nothing more than blind luck that Eurapeans were able to progress as much as they did.
However, this of course was not enough. Anyone watching America in particular today, and the West in general, can notice a continued violence, increasing racism and hatred, and other problems. Many other cultures are basically happier than westerners. This means that there things in other cultures that may indeed be vital to western cultures.
While America has always been and continues to be basically a Western Culture, that doesn't need to continue. We can continue to act as a melting pot and change our composition based upon the arrivals. However, this is a two-sided street. Peoples identifying themselves as outside the mainstream Western American culture must attempt to penetrate it. They must realize that American society is a valuable thing to be included in, and if they as a race or culture are to achieve their highest potential, it is with and not against western culture. To do anything else is a cop-out and the easy way out.
Given my beliefs and the upmost importance I will outline a few changes that I believe can significanlty help out he situation.
There are other things that we can do to help as well. By no means as I suggesting that the feminist and civil-rights movement dispand because their work is done. Frankly, its not. And it won't be until Black and Whites and Men and Women have achieved equality. However, it won't be an imposed equality of conditions and outcome, but a natural equality flowing naturally and freely from the fountain of equal opportunity for all. Until then we most not be content with the Status Quo, and must continue on. However, no movement is without its fringe, and in some of the above cases, I believe their own actions are betraying and hurting their own causes.