Diversity
Diversity is the US term that is generally used to indicate anything related to differences in religion, sexial preference, race, color, or any other component that makes mankind so delightfully different from each other. It is an extremely sensitive area within US culture and even describing this aspect of US society has certain potential (legal) risks. I will try to describe the key aspects from my perspective: an effort that is surely doomed to fail as there are as many perspectives as there are humans.
From newspapers and television you may already have noticed that the US society has a tendency to behave and react with great hysteresis (in the academic sense of the word) to new events and changes. With hysteresis I mean to indicate that many political, cultural, and personal reactions often show higher peaks as well as deeper lows than one find in more blended societies like, for example, Europe. That may have its history in the young age of the US society and a more experimental tendency. One needs to realize that the inhabitants of the United States stem from all parts of the world with a common goal to be more successful in this "New World" than their ancestors were in the "Old World". Being more successful means more freedom of enterprise and more freedom to be creative. A distinctly positive element of US society, visible to everyone in the world, is the ability to start new business and get support for new ideas that might be considered "crazy" in other parts of the world. For entrepreneurs this is heaven compared to the often bureaucratic governmental institutions in many other countries in the world.
How did we get to this philosophical intermezzo? As an effort to describe the degrees of freedom that are accepted within the US society. Just like everywhere else there are also flaws that are visible in this society. Without the multiple dampening factors that exist in older societies one finds that many new things in the US are either supported to the extreme ("free enterprise") or subject to the modern version of a witch-hunt ("smoking"). To control excesses with respect to key aspects of society, the US government has provided legislation that punishes abuse of these 'basic' elements. This will require you, as a foreigner, to apply a certain degree of automatic censorship to avoid you end up in great (legal) trouble. Do not make jokes about the other sexe (if such could be called jokes), do not treat people with different skin or religion different than you would treat your own family. This is true for staring at, or making degrading remarks about, other members of the US society. A classic "dumb blonde" joke that may be a standard part of your culture may result in a formal complaint against you with all legal consequences. Southern Europeans who distinctively stare at the other sexe need to realize that this type of behaviour is regarded as repulsive in some parts of the US. Adaptation to the local "mores" will allow you to reach your personal targets faster than stubbornly sticking to cultural traditions that are not recognized in your new world.
So, you better develop this little "censorship" engine in your brain, as it might save you and your family from harm. After being trained in this way of thinking for several years I find that it helps me better understand misconceptions within my own society. When European collegues talk about secretaries they invariably refer to them in the female sense. When one talks about sales people the opposite is true, as it is assumed that they are always male. The censorship engine allows you to identify these as incomplete and provide you the opportunity to create statements that do not result in one or other part of society feeling themself left out or hurt. The need for government rules related to diversity becomes more clear when one realizes that suspected homosexuality, for example, may allow employers in many US states to fire the employee on the spot .
It is up to you to identify the point where you want to stop adapting and blending into US society. Even after many years "practice" I prefer not to give in on eating my dinner in a restaurant with only a fork. See the Fine-Dining section for more entertaining info.
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