Religion
I've been completely off the grid for some time - traveling for work and play, moving into a new home and entertaining family (some visiting from abroad) - my sole internet has often been a blackberry ill-suited for blogging. But there has been much news, and I'm late in arriving to the party!
Let me begin by drawing attention to a Brookings Institution survey of "Religion and the 2010 Election." The study reveals several interesting, if not unexpected, currents of American thought. Catholics broke heavily for the GOP, 58% of Americans agree that "God has granted America a special role in human history," 56% agree that "If enough people had a personal relationship with God, social problems would take care of themselves," Americans split almost evenly when asked whether "the values of Islam, the Muslim religion, are at odds with American values and way of life," and 35% see their religious views as "very different" from Obama's views (12% saw them as "very" similar).
Seems very accurate to me, but the folks at war with multiculturalism will certainly notice that it was brookings and funded by the Ford Foundation...
Personally I haven't decided if the war against multiculturalism is real, and if it is real if it is or is not a marketing ploy on behalf of sociology proffesors, and humanity departments.
You see the problem is I live in a diverse environment, so I have lost trust in the system. I don't know if I actually believe this, but that is what Putnam says, and maybe it will help him sell a few books.
I am actually studying the system, so I am gainning more trust in "the system", and less trust in the way it is popularized. I have read a few law review articles on multiculturalism, and I enjoy going to the greek fest in downtown toledo. I know a muslim who loves Ron Paul. I know Jews who protest Gaza. I get to thinking, my view of muslims shouldn't have them liking Ron Paul (except that he is a non-interventionist!!!), my view of jews isn't that they protest Gaza(unless brookings is right and once you are wealthy you take on "social justice"?) So jews are wealthy and muslims are non-interventionists...that makes more sense in terms of prejudices.
Appart from the fact that there is intellectual property in sociology, history, anthropology and a host of folks who proffesionally writes on the topic, and receives funding and grants from say the Ford Foundation, for pegging down the Zeitgeist of the nation making it an economic issue...As someone who has trouble editting, I am well aware of the human fact that folks who invest a lot of time in research want to believe they have truth.
Multiculturalism is bad in part because it is like writting about the weather, when you want to say something about the climate. You feel like a teenage girl who wants to infer something from a silence, when in fact the absence was due to traveling or something completly unrelated.
The folks who do it proffesionally are all more or less guessing. Then you think damn... what exactly is america producing? How the hell did "sociology/multiculturalism" become an issue?
It seemed more interesting than engineering, and now the supply has to find a demand?(So it is an economic issue!)
Then you loose faith in Goverment, see Putnam.