Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
Most people in this country do not grow up in diverse "towns." The average American may see or interact with people of a different religion, race, ethnicity, or culture at work or school (sometimes, not even that) but consciously and subconsciously spends more valued time in religiously, racially, ethnically, and culturally segregated friendship and family environments.
Anyway, back to the thread that is not really about a show.
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I didn't watch the show--I don't really watch that much TV so it's no surprise there.
Sometimes diversity leads to more segregation. In terms of numbers, I didn't grow up in a diverse town the way that NYC or SF are "diverse cities," but there was a lot less segregation since there wasn't a _____ community the way that some cities have. Because of the military, my hometown has substantial populations of Thai and Filipina women; but outside of that, there are only handfuls of other ethnic groups and they tend to associate with larger groups. For example, the Indo-Caribbean people will associate with the larger "Black community" in my hometown, while in NYC they are segregated by countries--there are delineated Trinidadian and Guyanese communities that don't mix all that often. Eastern Europeans and other white immigrants just get assimilated into specific "white" communities based on their socio-economic status. I guess it's more of a "melting pot," which has its benefits and drawbacks.
The accent thing that PM_Mama mentioned doesn't surprise me at all--I see it in some groups here. If they're living in insular communities, patronizing the same businesses, and going to schools in the same areas, then there are fewer opportunities to interact with larger communities and the accents stay, even among second-generation Americans.
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