@maxdancona,
Different from what?
It's certainly different from the "Should Brits continue to support the Royals with their tax dollars? issue or the "ethanol subsidy" issue, but you don't see elements of extremism in the "abortion" issue, the "climate change" issue or the "entitlement reform" issue?
For good or bad, people are not as passionate about marijuana usage as they are illegal immigration, and they're not as passionate about pot smoking, speeding or downloading bootleg movies as they are about abortion, climate change, entitlement reform or gun laws.
Obviously this doesn't mean that the more passion a problem generates, the greater the justification for solutions that are extreme in nature. On another thread we have been discussing the evils of Puppy Mills and how the strong passion stirred up by animal suffering leads some people to endorsing extreme solutions, like banning all pet breeding.
I understand why people who are frustrated by the seeming inability of society to solve chronic problems are attracted to extreme solutions, but while I will most often argue against such solutions I'm not going to assume that the people who propose them are hateful or even uncaring.
I don't think people who favor the prohibition of all dog breeding hate people who own pets, and I don't think that people who favor strict immigration laws hate foreigners in general or Mexicans in particular.
To the extent that extremes of any sort often present great difficulties, extreme reactions in opposition to what are perceived to be extreme solutions are rarely productive.
If I catch my son visiting pornographic websites and issue an edict that he is not to ever use a computer until he reaches 18, the difficulties my solution may cause will not be smoothly resolved by my wife screaming in my face that I am insanely overreacting and never loved my son anyway.
Nor will there be any hope of resolving the problem if my wife insists that I must rescind less extreme measures I have imposed (like using content blocking software or requiring my son to give us his password) simply because the main one may be too radical.
Desperate times may lead to desperate measure but to the extent that there is validity to this old saying it is because it implies that all less extreme solutions have been attempted and failed, and that the consequences of the problem cannot be forestalled any longer.
It is also wise when engaged in conflict resolution to offer alternative solutions, and not simply dismiss the thesis that a problem exists.
Monoculturalism is a word that can be used in a lot of different ways and whether it represents something positive or negative is dependent upon context. It helps to provide an explanation of how you are using the term when you use it so broadly:
Quote:Monoculturalism has always been a big part of the immigration debate
I suppose one can use any term in what manner one chooses, but it helps if everyone has a rough agreement of what the concept can mean.
You seem to define it as a way of thought which considers even slight differences as a "threat." I might use "Paranoia" to label such a way of thinking, but not "Monoculturalism."
It's true that people are hard wired to find differences noticeable if not slightly discomforting, but it’s a huge leap to "fear" and "threat." The more stressful the environment, the more quickly noticable and discomforting are likely to elevate to fear and threat, but it is not the normal reaction for most people, let alone most Americans to immediately perceive difference as danger.
A random selection of on-line columns is hardly a scientific study and even assuming it factual, that virtually every article relating to Hispanics attracts at least one comment that can be perceived as bigoted, we can't draw from it reasonable and meaningful conclusions about
1) Monoculturalism
2) Whether Americans have a narrow or broad perspective of what it means to be "an American"
3) What that perspective might be
4) What the pervasive "American" attitude towards Hispanics may be
5) Whether or not Americans agree that illegal immigration is a problem
6) And if it is a problem, what the most effective solutions might be
My bet is that you can randomly select on-line columns or articles on a variety of topics (including abortion, gun-control, climate-change, entitlement reform, Sarah Palin, capitalism etc etc etc) and you will find a similar frequency of ignorant and/or offensive comments that you would be far less inclined to believe represents a perspective common to any group with which you would be comfortable identifying.
