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Originally Posted by NMAP
Rhetorical Question: Was the breakup of the multicultural state of Yugoslavia unique, or was it a suggestion of something more general?
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Nmap,
I think on the question you are leading to, IMHO there is a big difference.
America is a melting pot of cultures and many immigrants came here for the freedom to escape the rigid societal tradition of their country of ancestry. It boils down to are you an American first? Someone once said you can move to France but you will never be a Frenchman. I don't know the Yugoslavian situation in detail but if they thought of themselves as Yugoslavians first instead of Bosnians and Serbs, Christians and Muslims it might have been different.
I'm not saying America is perfect, our Union survived a bloody civil war based on region, but a great deal of the world is so relatively provincial in their mindset. I visited Austria in school, and the folks there were kind enough to point out every Mcdonalds, since that is what Americans eat. They understood my request for genuine Austrian fare, but a week later couldn't figure out why I'd ask about Chinese food since I clearly wasn't Chinese.
Another example is the casualty list from Ft. Hood. That coward Hasan shot something like 43 Americans. If you look at their names there are folks from different races and cultural backgrounds but do we care that Major Caraveo was of Hispanic descent, or that Spc. Kham Xiong's family came from Vietnam?
No, they were all Americans and or soldiers and we mourn them. Hasan was a Muslim before he was an American, and clearly exhibited signs of this earlier on.
So respectfully, I absolutely disagree that a multicultural state is more unstable if they have the congruency to come together as something larger. Obama is a tool, but our diversity is a strength, America is unique, different, and exceptional partly because of this trait.