A few good ones from some Indian friends

Sarabjit
- One billion people,
- 5 major religons,
- 14 major languages (over 30 local languages),
- 4 ethinic groups (races),
- numerous cultures, political affilliations

ALL co-existing in a country ONE FOURTH the size of US.


There are countless sources of stress: geo-political, security, literacy, health, economic, ethnic. Indians meet these challenges everyday. Besides race they deal with many other issues.


Now try this experiment:

1. Increase the US population by 3 times
2. Settle this population in north eastern States
3. Introduce a significant proportion of 3 more religons
4. Add just 2 more languages in the mix
5. Stress the system a bit - throw in a recession, public health issue or maybe have Stein write another "master piece"

What do you think we get? MAYHEM! People like Stein who do not respect other cultures will go bonkers and will cause the society to crumble.

Americans like Stein (and burqa fearing French politicians) can learn a lot from a tried and tested civilization like India. "Melting pot" approach does not work. Societies based on Tolerance and Co-existence are on a much sounder footing. Freedom of speech alone is not enough. Every Right comes with a Duty - something that Stein and TIME do not realize.

prashchopra
There are two ways you can react to a culture that is different from where you grew up:

[1] You take your time. You understand the differences. You learn about the other culture. You show them what you bring to the table. You pick the best of both, they do the same to some extent, and you slowly assimilate.

[2] You come in, you are insecure because more than you are proud of the good things about how you grew up, you immediately notice the 'negative' points and are readily ashamed of it. Not knowing how to keep up your heritage AND be a respected citizen of the world AND a worthy multi-cultural American, you kneel down, and say "I leave everything that I grew up on, please accept me". And that moment onwards, you uncomfortably do what it means to be 'American', and write it all out here to assure yourself that you did the right thing