It used to be said that the United States is a "melting pot" of ideas, beliefs and ethnicities. The idea being that no matter who we are and what we believe before we get here, eventually we all end up as homogenous, fun loving, and shopping happy Americans. Not long after I arrived here I heard an alternative description which is a "salad bowl". That is, lots of different ingredients all together in one place but not really lossing their individual identities.
I myself buy the latter description because after ten years it is clear to me, that there is no one "American" identity that we all melt into. America is defined by diversity and always will be. As an example of this, consider the variety of responses from the public that the FCC received when Oprah decided to let a guest describe the sexual euphemism "tossed salad" on her show aired at 4pm. Hint: click on each letter to read the next.
No matter what you think of Oprah's judgement or lack thereof, I think you'll agree the range and diversity of responses from the public clearly indicates that we really are living in a salad bowl and not a melting pot.
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