Diversity in the United States Essay

What information about diversity in the United States has helped you better understand or relate to others in ways that you may not have in the past? Diversity in the united states in not something new here but in fact spans back many generations. Diversity is everywhere and no one can truly get away from it, but by accepting it a person can learn how to lead a better fuller life with variety of understanding for the people that come in contact with. I feel that the biggest thing I learned in this call about diversity is not that there is diversity but that there is a lot of work to be done to farther the peace action between the groups of people knowing this make me realize that the us is not yet a unity but is trying and gives me more will to make my voice heard that we need to start accepting one another. †¢Have you learned something new about your own racial, ethnic, or cultural history? My own racial, ethnic, or cultural history is a great big mess of origins, religions, and culture but this class made me realize that one I am not alone in time case and that I too as a person have boundaries that hold me back. For instance there is a glass ceiling which is â€Å"the barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified worker because of gender or minority membership† (ch.3, pg. 78) this is not a barrier of race or religion or culture its based on gender and I being a women hinders my ability to progress in some areas of the working world. This is some thin that women from not just the United States have been fighting for but the United States I see ha made great strides to make things more equal and fair. †¢Trends in immigration will continue to shape the demographics of the United States. What will the U.S. population look like in the year 2050? Why do you think so? With the raising population factor and the immigrant that keep flowing in will make the melting pot a whole lot bigger making some big changes like the minorities becoming majorities and vies versa. In an article on CNN U.S. website had this to say â€Å"There’s going to be a very diverse minority population with large amounts of interracial marriage. What we’ll see is that the Anglo-Saxon population will no longer be the majority. I believe the mixed-race population will grow the fastest because compared to the past, interracial relationships are increasingly tolerated and considered OK by a large percent of the younger generations. It’s no longer strange to see a black and white couple at a restaurant together today. Yet someone visiting from the 1960s would be shocked.† (Kotkin,2010) this just comes to show you that there are a lot of changes in the works for this country. †¢What challenges does the United States face due to the diversity of its people? The United States is by far more diverse then other countries, on a larger scale and because of that many parts of this country has states with cities that are unintentionally segregated by race and culture. This type of living is ok but it also make be shy away from each other and not interact , thus giving way to discrimination and prejudice due to the lack of understanding of one another. With any type of misunderstanding can bring new problems to the table and this only made it hard to for the government to mandate a resolve for it, but if we could start mingling more intergrading more that misunderstand will start to disappear lessening the amount of discrimination in the country. †¢What are the benefits of such a diverse society? The benefits of such a diverse society in the United States is an amazing one and growing every day. The United States is a melting pot of races, cultures, religions, and sexual preferences in many forms and this all make for a great example that we can all get along. What I’m trying to say is that we are cutting out the misunderstanding between the categories of people and back down the boundaries that were set to control. We are not a country at war we are a country that is showing that it is possible to live in peace without letting discrimination and prejudice turn us against one another. In other wording the U.S. is showing that it’s ok to be one and to stand together and in time I think we will. †¢How can we foster a climate of acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States? Pluralism is a state in which racial and ethnic categories, though distinct, have equal social standing. (Macionis, 2012 pg.84) So in stating what it is we are looking to foster gives us a better idea of what to expect if we do foster a climate of acceptance and cultural pluralism in the United States. Though to get there we need to teach, I mean really teach each other and about one another in every way form what we eat to how we celebrate traditions. We need to get everyone involved as much as possible, which means in schools, jobs, and community. By doing all of this we will have a better understanding of one another which well level out the minorities with the majorities and make acceptance easier all around. †¢In what ways does the media perpetuate stereotyping and prejudice? Provide examples to support your assertion. The media I feel perpetuates stereotyping and prejudice by ways of take on old way and making them fix into the new. This is still stereotyping, it is still racism, it is still discrimination and it is wrong, wrong because the media is not trying to help resolve issue of this topic but in an effect helping to create it. In this day and age that media is watched more than ever and it is teaching that it is ok to by this way or view people in such a light which can hinder the process of pluralism. In an article I found stated the following â€Å"Bradley Gorham researched this problem in the article â€Å"News media’s relationship with stereotyping† (2006). Gorham maintains that, â€Å"stereotypic images of Blacks persist in the dominant media†¦as a result; stereotypes are perpetuated within the culture in subtle, yet highly effectual ways† (Gorham, 2006, 289). In addition, a 1991 study conducted by Northwestern University on the images of races in local TV news programs, concluded that television stations serve to promote what researchers deem ‘modern racism’ or â€Å"the continued, though muted, antagonism between races† and that in their efforts to overcome racism, stations have actually served to worsen â€Å"racial hostilities† (Bowling, 2004).†(Henry, 2007) †¢In what ways does the media help foster appreciation for diversity? Provide examples to support your assertion. Though the media perpetuate some stereotyping and prejudice, it also does a lot of good. In the media you can find hundreds of advertisements that are out there to help the progression of unity and pluralism, but also television shows and documentaries that have made huge strides to fight for the right of everyone and show real depictions of how much easies life could be if we just all got along. A great film called Life in a Day, which is a film that is compiled of thousands of people throughout the world on one single day, the 24th of July. The Director Macdonald said that the film focused on a single day â€Å"because a day is the basic temporal building block of human life—wherever you are,†(Watercutter, 2011) this is a view of how truly alike we all are and its film like this that make the media help foster appreciation for diversity. †¢How might individuals and the United States work together to reduce prejudice and increase appreciation for diversity? We a people need to make a point to make an act of kindness every day towards those that need help and teach our children our adults of the future to be blind of race, religion, culture, and anything else and learn to fight for one another in every way possible. I feel that one good act of kindness or one good stand of what is right can create a beautiful butterfly effect of future unity and pluralism. Other things that might work is to mandate regulations of team working in company’s and schools so to in a sense force unity in the work place making those who normally would not work together to work side by side and see firsthand the they are on different from one another. †¢How might you change your own behaviors to be more inclusive and pluralistic? My behaviors to be more inclusive and pluralistic has started many years ago when I was 12, our cool had a school meeting to discuss the issue our school was having with discrimination and exclusion of students into due to their differences. The principal ask if any of us had any ideas that we felt could and I stated that instead of selling the extra land the school was trying to sell and make it into a team working ropes course and it was voted on and created and still used today. I have always found ways to help others get along and or view things difference, I make a point to set an example for my child and any one the needs an example of how to be a good human not just a person. In this day and age there still is many issue related to discrimination and prejudice that need to be resolve and yes it will take time but one step can lead to many running towards the better good of mankind ,unity, and pluralism of the country and maybe someday the world. So let’s stop the perpetuation of discrimination and prejudice and being the progress to unity and pluralism. â€Å"Pluralism that is, the conception that there are many different ends that men may seek and still be fully rational, fully men, capable of understanding each other and sympathising and deriving light from each other.† – Sir Isaiah Berlin The Crooked Timber of Humanity,’The Pursuit of the Ideal’. Chapter 3, Racial and Ethnic Groups, Thirteenth edition, by Richard T. Schaefer. Published by Merrill Prentice Hall. Copyright  © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc What will America look like in 2050? July 02, 2010|By Liane Membis, CNN  © 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved, http://articles.cnn.com/2010-07-02/us/joel.kotkin.census_1_census-workers-current-census-cnn?_s=PM:US Social Problems, Census Edition, Fourth edition, by John J. Macionis. Published by Merrill Prentice Hall. Copyright  © 2012 by Pearson Education, Inc. Racial Profiling in the Media: Investigated Through a Ritualistic Lens By: Sylvia Henry, COMM 3210: Human Communication Theory, University of Colorado at Boulder, Fall, 2007 Gorham, B. (2006). News media’s relationship with stereotyping: The linguistic intergroup bias in response to crime news. Journal of Communication, 56, 289-308. Bowling, D. (2004). The problem with MWP news stories: Are missing persons news? i f so, why only missing white people? Retrieved October 10, 2007 from MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4669495/. http://www.colorado.edu/communication/meta-discourses/Papers/App_Papers/Henry.htm Watercutter, Angela, â€Å"Life in a Day Distills 4,500 Hours of Intimate Video Into Urgent Documentary† (WebCite archive), Wired magazine, July 29, 2011. The Crooked Timber of Humanity,’The Pursuit of the Ideal’, by Sir Isaiah Berlin published 1959)