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I have noticed something in America. The reason why the melting pot idea stopped working is because people WANT to be different and identified as something unique. I hardly ever hear anyone describe themselves as "American" anymore...its always, "I am <instert third-party nationality here>".
Anymore it seems that people would rather be identified as from a foreign country than be called for who they really are. It makes me laugh sometimes...years ago in high school a kid said that "There's no such thing as Americans. I'm Italian".
Being ever so slightly offended by that remark, I turned to him and said,"Were you born here (in America)?"
He said yes.
I asked, "Do you speak any Italian?"
He said no.
Finally I asked, "Have you ever been to Italy at all?"
He said no.
It was apparent to him that I had made my point.
But anyway...
Accepting that people are different and that you shouldn't judge them by their differences is good, but at the same time I think its the fact that people (and especially the government) LOVE to point out differences in people's race, religion, nationality, etc. and exploit it. When people stop acknowledging differences, then possibly the melting pot will return.
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"Yesterday we bowed our heads to kings and bent our necks to emperors. But today we kneel only to truth..."
- Kahlil Gibran
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