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The Melting Blog

Musings on the Intersection of Marketing, Culture, and Research

Monday, March 15, 2004

Bludgeoned in Translation

Sick yet of the continuing saga that is Samuel Huntington? Yeah, well so am I. But the debate is hardly over -- it's just heating up! More articles reacting to Huntington's essay and forthcoming book from the past several days here and here. I enjoyed this one by linguistics professor Dennis Baron. The bookends:

Linguistic nativism — the kind that says "speak English or go back where you came from" — is a regrettable, nonsensical American tradition. The reality is, no matter how hard minority-language speakers work to preserve their speech, they inexorably shift to English.
---
Before World War I, the flow of newcomers slowed but didn't stop the shift to English by earlier immigrants. Today, even with ongoing Latino immigration, most native Spanish speakers in the U.S. are losing their Spanish by the second generation. That's considerably faster than the patterns for earlier groups.

If Latinos object to "official English" laws like Iowa's, it's not because the laws target Spanish. They object — as all Americans should — because such laws translate this way: "We don't want you here."

Nothing inflames nativist wrath over assimilation more than a good ole' fashioned knock down, drag it out brawl over immigration. Thanks to Huntington, that debate is just underway now -- and will reach a fever pitch as we inch ever closer toward November's elections, especially if the President's guest worker proposal becomes a major sticking point. For a taste of the vitriol ahead, check out the rancor over immigration currently playing out among members of the Sierra Club. Ay, dios mio! It's nasty...

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 11:47 pm

Friday, March 12, 2004

Twisted and Exhausted

(from the Many Faces of Monkey D. Luffy)

Hey kids! Are you curious about what we do here in the market research business? Do you have moments when you read this blog and think to yourself I really wanna know more about this fascinating occupation! What kind of sexy, glamorous lifestyle does this guy lead? Well, my friends, here are some snapshots from the life of an international market researcher of mystery (mine) this past week:

Wednesday:

Listen to focus groups behind the one-way mirror from 3:30pm to 10:00pm. Get home at 11:30pm and pack for an upcoming two day trip.

Thursday:

11:30am. Fight the friggin' I-405 traffic all the way up to the San Fernando Valley and get to the focus group facility for a one o'clock group start time. Listen to five different groups of focus group respondents go from various states of boredom to indifference and you usually have at least one person per group who pontificates ceaselessly about nothing in particular. Plus, in the darkened back room where I sit, I actually rely on a simultaneous translator who -- despite their best attempts to keep up -- is several steps behind translating the actual conversation going on in the otherside of the one-way mirror.

9:45pm. Mercifully, the groups end. Debrief for another hour with client and colleagues. Client reminds me the report is due Monday -- meaning "Don't even think of using part of the weekend for fun!" Little do they know.

See, I have to be in Monterey (350 miles from L.A.) the next day for a conference I'm scheduled to speak at the next morning, and it's already well past the time any flights take me anywhere remotely to California's central coast. My only alternative: rent a car and make the five hour trek. Joy!

11:45pm. I finally set off in a mid-sized rental. Nothing prepares me for the thick fog that envelopes Highway 101 during final two-hour stretch of my journey. There's nothing like speeding through the freeways during the most God-forsaken hours of the AM where all you can see is the 10 feet in front of you!

Friday:

5am. I finally arrive at the hotel. Still wired from the caffeine-and-corn nuts-induced slog, I don't crash until 6am.

9am. Get a frantic wake up call from my panicked colleague who wants to make sure I arrived okay. We meet at 9:30am and I wolf down an energy bar before heading over to the conference center.

11:30am. We are on. I'm told afterwards the presentation was a success, but I'm too dazed and comatose to notice. Throughout lunch, I'm a torpid state of red-eyed bleariness. I finally get back to the hotel room around 3:30pm to rest. I have 20 voicemail messages and about a hundred emails waiting for me.

Have I sufficiently de-mystified this profession for you? As you can imagine, I'm just a tad exhausted. But despite the ~~intrusions~~ demands on my personal life, I do love what I do. Moments like these, however, cause me to entertain ideas of what life as a bartender in Tahiti might be like.

I'm throwing it back in reverse tomorrow morning. My weekend is shot, but I have more updated blogs for you below -- even! Lesson is: next time you see your market researchers, be nice to them.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 9:47 pm

Model Minority

According to this article, "Asian Culture is Changing Mainstream America." Really? Somehow I seem to have missed the boat on that one. The article is based on several academic essays from the latest Contexts, a publication of the American Sociological Association. Here are some interesting highlights:

"Americans made 629 million visits to complementary and alternative medicine providers, paying $27 billion in out of pocket expenses," said Cadge and Bender. This amount is almost equal to the National Institutes of Health FY 2004 budget. "The increased popularity and acceptance of alternative medicine nonetheless introduces Americans to Eastern ideas of spirituality and health, even if taught by acupuncturists and Ayurvedic healers." Some insurance companies, such as Carefirst, even cover acupuncture.

According to a 2003 survey by Robert Wuthnow, 30 percent of Americans report being at least somewhat familiar with Buddhist teachings and 22 percent claim similar familiarity with Hindu teachings. From temples and ashrams to alternative health clinics and yoga studios, the numbers of sites in which Asian religions are learned is steadily growing. The number of English language books about Buddhism more than tripled between 1965 and 2000.

Sure, while more mainstream Americans (re: Anglo baby boomers predominantly) are embracing eastern philosophies of health, wellness, and aesthetics (like yoga, acupuncture, feng shui)---Asian Americans themselves are abandoning those practices with greater acculturation. It's one of those great ironic cultural exchanges. Here in La-la land, for instance, you're more likely to see a house in the westside decked out in zen-haute couture and feng-shui accoutrements than anything out in the San Gabriel Valley.

What's more interesting to me is the essay referenced in the article by Min Zhou "Are Asian Americans Becoming White?" I haven't actually read the essay (Contexts doesn't put their articles online) but here's some themes from the article:

The median income for Asians in 1999, according to the 2000 U.S. Census, was more than $55,000-the highest of all racial groups, including whites-and their poverty rate was 11 percent, the lowest of all racial groups. The media has attributed the success of many Asian Americans in American society to hard work, family solidarity, discipline, delayed gratification and non-confrontation, but "the truth is that an unusual number of them, particularly among the Chinese, Indians and Koreans, arrive as middle-class immigrants," explains Zhou. "This makes it easier for them and their children to succeed and regain their middle-class status in their new homeland."

One consequence of the model-minority stereotype is that it reinforces the myth that the United States is devoid of racism, fostering the view that those who lag behind do so because of their poor choices and inferior culture. This stereotype can pit minority groups against each other, impeding minorities' demands for social justice. It can also have positive consequences, though.

"The model-minority stereotype holds Asian Americans to higher standards, distinguishing them from average Americans," said Zhou. "Also, the model-minority stereotype places particular expectations on members of the group so labeled, channeling them to specific avenues of success," in careers such as science and engineering.

Many children of first-generation Asian Americans live their whole lives in white neighborhoods. By the second generation, most have lost fluency in their parents' native languages. Asian Americans also intermarry extensively with whites and members of other minority groups. More than one-quarter of married Asian Americans have a partner of a different racial background.

While Asian Americans are the most acculturated non-European group in the United States, "new stereotypes can emerge and un-whiten Asian Americans, no matter how 'successful' and 'assimilated' they have become," concludes Zhou. "So becoming white or not is beside the point. The bottom line is Americans of Asian ancestry still have to constantly prove that they truly are loyal Americans."

I make no bones about the fact I disdain the "model minority" concept that's often foisted on Asian Americans to describe their relative economic successes. Principally, that's largely due to -- as the article touches on -- the fact many Asian immigrants already arrive into the U.S. with greater sources of human and social capital. But the 'model minority' idea to me hints at a more disturbing subtext -- the implied ethnic competition between different groups and that some minorities (Asians in this case) are the good, behaved little children. Even doubly more disturbing to me is that the myth spurs the notion that there's some kind of aspiration to "whiteness", culturally-speaking, for Asian Americans that bespeaks this success--and that honorary whiteness is bestowed to us.

This obviously doesn't negate the undeniable levels of assimilation that Asian Americans undergo, but explanations like 'the model minority' model are utterly lame, degrading (in that paternalistic, patronizing way), and pretty much useless. They flatter no one other than that elite self-aggrandizing 'majority' who -- when it comes down to it -- see themselves reflected back by perpetuating the stereotype.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 10:14 pm

Match.com's Physical Attraction Test

These lovely ladies are supposed to be my physical attractiveness ideals, according to Match.com's new test of physical attractiveness. Supposedly, this test is based on a "15-year multi-million dollar study on what uniquely draws us to each other physically." After taking this 20-minute test, Match.com spits out a 30 page report that explains your attraction measures. Stuff like this:

Very Picky: It's official: You're "picky."
The fact is you are drawn to the most beautiful of the beautiful. You know what you like in women and are more selective than most men your age. Your tastes seem instinctual. You'd make a great casting agent, because you have a good eye for women who have "star quality." In real life, your high standards may be an obstacle for you. It's hard to find a woman with the strong features you like, who's also well-rounded in other ways. Still, you know the importance of a real physical "spark" in a relationship, and aren't willing (or able) to settle for less. The challenge is finding a woman who really wows you physically, even if she's not the most attractive woman in the room.

Take it yourself. While you're at it, you might as well check out the Ghettofabulous test too. Next idea for an online test: Am I Wack or Not?

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 10:46 pm

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

Cadillac's Ghettofabulous History

Today's L.A. Times auto section offers an in-depth historical account of Cadillac's rise to hip hop hipness -- in spite of those ads with Led Zeppelin. A few highlights from "Bling of the Road":

So by the early 1970s, the Cadillac brand found itself riding around with a trunk full of stereotypes — pimpmobile, welfare Cadillac. For the next three decades, the marketing department at Cadillac avoided any association with the African American demographic. When Cadillac general manager LaNeve says the division didn't "target" hip-hop culture, he is artfully shading the story.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the 21st century: Pimpin' went mainstream.
---
For Cadillac, the tipping point came with the 1999 introduction of the Cadillac Escalade, a full-size SUV (based on the Chevy Tahoe) loaded with luxury and trimmed out with dramatic, knife-edge styling. The Escalade became a hit with many African American athletes, in part because pro basketball players often had a hard time folding themselves into a Bentley Azure.

Suddenly, players had a new Cadillac. The 'Slade quickly became the image ride for the brand-obsessed hip-hop culture. In 2003, Cadillac's truck sales — Escalade, ESV, ETX, SRX — grew almost 20% over the previous year, while its car sales were flat.

But more important than per-unit profit is the priceless exposure for the Cadillac brand in a trend-setting demographic it could never have thought of reaching on its own. For example, Chingy's ballad-like "One Call Away," currently in heavy rotation on music video networks, features him kickin' it in a Cadillac XLR.

When you think about it, what has happened to Cadillac is remarkable. A brand once desperate for respect and attention is suddenly outpointing Gucci, Courvoisier, Bentley and its German rival Mercedes-Benz in brand awareness among consumers 18 to 24 years old, the mother lode of marketing demographics.

So far in 2004, Cadillac is the most name-dropped brand in popular music, according to American Brandstand. (Yes, but is it GhettoFabulous? - ed.)

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 12:04 am

Tuesday, March 9, 2004

Sam Huntington's Funk Soul Brother

The Washington Post's Peter Carlson injects some caustic humor into the Huntington debate -- at Huntington's expense. These lines made me chuckle:

Forgive my sarcasm, but I just can't buy Huntington's absurd argument that Hispanics are incapable of assimilation. In fact, I'm absolutely certain that Huntington will be proved wrong. Here's how it will happen:

A crisis somewhere will send a new flood of immigrants to America -- Uzbeks or Zulus or Tajiks. At that point, some fully assimilated Hispanic politician or pundit or Harvard professor will denounce these newcomers, citing their ignorance, their barbaric customs, their willingness to work for peanuts and their congenital inability to assimilate.

At that moment, Prof. Huntington will find his Hispanic soul brother at last.

Read all of "Hey, Professor, Assimilate This" -- it'll make your day.

(Thanks Gregory)

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 4:04 pm

Monday, March 8, 2004

"The Big Supermarket Squeeze"

(Image from http://www.chiosxara.gr)

To follow-up my 2/9/04 post, the supermarket strike is now officially over -- for nearly a week now. L.A. urban scholar and my fellow cohort at the occasional other gig I tend to -- Joel Kotkin -- puts it all in perspective in this L.A. Times piece. Relevant excerpt:

One distinguishing element of the new supermarket reality is its demographic mix. Latinos now represent about one in three households in the region and in Los Angeles County. Foreign-born, including many Asian and Near Eastern immigrants, make up close to 40% of the population. They and their children account for more than 90% of net population growth statewide during the 1990s.

As did earlier immigrants, these newcomers don't eat the same foods or buy in the same ways as later generations of Americans. The range of products available to consumers has correspondingly expanded. We consume more fresh pita and tortillas than Wonder Bread, and locally made salsas rival ketchup as a favorite condiment.

The large markets have failed to capture much of this burgeoning and diversifying demand, says marketing consultant Jose de Jesus Legaspi, because they have been reluctant to change their mass-marketing formulas. The giant chains, he says, have focused on price competition rather than on satisfying new consumer tastes.

"They are trying to compete with Wal-Mart on price, which is playing their game," Legaspi says. "The real advantage is to offer something unique and special. If you know how to differentiate yourself, you can survive."

Read whole thing (free subscription). The point made above by Mr. Legaspi is the same point of an earlier report David and I took part of that was commissioned by the Coca Cola Retailing Research Council of North America. Supermarkets are resting on unsustainable premises -- trying to be all things to all people when marketplace dynamics demonstrate that niche-driven specialty stores and price-driven mass merchandisers are draining customers away at different ends of the spectrum. But, supermarkets do have a viable platform in catering to ethnic customers, esp. in areas like Southern California, if they choose to seize that opportunity.

You can download the Coke Retail Council report, entitled "Grow With America" here.

P.S. There will be more info about our research referenced in Joel's op-ed in the weeks ahead. Keep alert.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 5:04 pm

Hip Hop In A Shade of Yellow

The head-scratching popularity of American Idol reject William Hung notwithstanding (I'm looking at my watch and his fifteen minutes are almost up), the rise of Asian Americans in the hip hop-side of the pop culture spectrum certainly qualifies as an underreported phenomenon. From yesterday's Star Telegram:

Certainly, although Asian-American hip-hop might seem novel, Asians are no strangers to the wider world of DJ culture in general. In fact, such DJs as Filipino-Australian Dexter (of the group Avalanches), Chinese-Canadian Kid Koala, Japanese-American Dan "The Automator" Nakamura, and Filipino-American Qbert have been earning accolades in the worlds of dance music and turntablism for years. Then, of course, half of the hit-prone, two-man Neptunes/N.E.R.D. posse (Chad Hugo), is Filipino-American. (The new N.E.R.D. disc, Fly or Die, comes out March 23.)

"I would think that a lot of people would know that there's a lot of Asians in hip-hop," says Eric Nakamura, publisher and editor of Giant Robot, the Los Angeles-based Asian pop-culture 'zine. "At the time [of the Mountain Brothers], if you heard there were going to be three Asian guys rapping, you would think it would be pretty bad. Now, you just have to listen to it. I hope people are more aware now."

This hip-hop scene is part of a flowering of a new-Asian generation that also includes film director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow) and video/film director Joseph Kahn (Britney Spears, the movie Torque).

I doubt that most people who follow mainstream popular culture are aware of just how prevalent (and salient) hip hop is among the younger Asian American set. Increasingly, more and more of hip hop's progeny (not just its consumers, but its creative enablers too) are expanding hip hop's "flava" -- enlarging the genre's cultural, aesthetic, and racial/ethnic boundaries.

Most of that is occurring, however, on the underground tip. Outside of Chad Hugo -- one-half of hitmaking machine, the Neptunes -- Azn hip hoppers represented in mainstream media outlets like MTV or BET are about as ubiquitous as gay and lesbian supporters at a George Bush re-election rally ('less you count mixed-race folks like Kelis and Foxy Brown).

But it thrives at the grassroots level. Here in LA, for instance, hot spots like Chinatown's Firecracker and Soundlessons cut a cloth from every single corner of the city -- with a healthy dose of Azn heads nodding and grindin' to the beats. At Firecracker this past Friday night, I found Toyota's Scion sponsoring the festivities via a grassroots promotional campaign in an attempt to cash in on the action. Plus, the Bay Area -- which has always supported a burgeoning underground scene -- has incubated some of today's best hip hop critics and writers -- peep the Ozone, Zentronix, and Hua Hsu if you don't believe me.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 3:25 pm

Friday, March 5, 2004

The Huntington Challenge, Continued... (updated)

The Economist steps into the fray in the ongoing Huntington debate. There's a little more sympathy toward Huntington's take -- i.e. "his intellectual bravery" -- far more than I would grant, but they come up on the side that he's seriously mistaken and make some salient points in the process. Key grafs:

But is “assimilation” merely a matter of adapting to America's “Anglo-Protestant core”? The notion of America's core identity has surely broadened since the Puritans first colonised Massachusetts. Historically, assimilation is a two-way street: immigrant groups adapt themselves to America's mainstream, but they also redefine and enrich that mainstream by contributing something of their own.

Mr Huntington's view of Latino identity is similarly simple-minded. He ignores the fact that it is bound to change over time, just as Italian-American identity, Jewish-American identity and Irish-American identity have done. Talk to the parents of Latinos growing up in Los Angeles and Houston, and all you hear are complaints that their children are abandoning their old culture. Mr Huntington also ignores the fact that immigrants are quite capable of embracing more than one culture—of being Mexican at home and Anglo at work.

Meanwhile, over at Daniel Drezner's blog, there's a freaking frenzy of a discussion over the Huntington fracas. Drezner's own dissection of Huntington's essay is up at the New Republic online. He's posted one reader's response to his TNR essay (Finally! Someone who actually *is* Mexican American shares their American experience) that I think best summarizes how off-base Huntington's thesis is and represents the more typical Hispanic experience in the U.S., esp. among the second generation. Some highlights:

I strongly believe that the scenarios of doom that persons like Mr. Samuel Huntington and Mr. Victor Davis Hanson ("Mexifornia") are based on premises that are not based on reasoned research and analysis of the Hispanic community. I, and my siblings, are the second-generation Mexican-Americans of my family. I and one of my brothers, and my two sisters, are completely fluent in English and Spanish. My other brother, is not. His Spanish is horrendous, as is his wife's, also Mexican-American.

Their children? forget it--they wouldn't know a Spanish word if they got hit by one. My wife and I, also Mexican-American, are fluent in both languages. My oldest son was fluent at one time, he is 28, but is rapidly losing the Spanish. My other son, has trouble with it, and my baby, my daughter of 19 yrs old, can more understand it than speak it. I have a grandaughter, no Spanish whatsoever. I look around at my contemporaries and find the same phenomenom with their children and grandchildren.

The American culture is overwhelming and very, very powerful. MTV, VH-1, and the like have immense influence on children as they grow up. Our children are no different than others and in that they probably know more about Janet Jackson, NSync, Kid Rock, pizza, downloading music, Bill Gates, etc. etc, in other words American popular culture, than they do about "their" Mexican culture and language.

Read the whole of it at Drezner's site.

It's amazing to me that it can be that difficult for someone like Huntington to fathom what this reader expresses is pretty commonplace among most second generation Mexican Americans. Then again, maybe it's because I live here in Los Angeles and grew up with folks like the reader in question -- Huntington, on the other hand, hangs in the privileged, hallowed halls of Harvard. (Not to knock the esteemed academic institution, but hey, it's worlds away from Cali -- ask Alisa Valdes Rodriguez.)

UPDATE: More Huntington pimp-slapping by the Dallas Morning News' Ruben Navarrette Jr. (spotted by the omnipresent Latino Pundit.) Expect more commentary on this, people -- Huntington's book hasn't even come out yet!

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 7:12 pm

Pimp My Ride: More Auto Marketing and Hip Hop

C'mon, you already know this stuff, don't you?

In their constant pursuit of younger customers, auto executives are devoting large and growing parts of their advertising budgets to hip-hop and urban audiences. As the definition of "bling bling" has grown from a synonym for diamonds and flashy jewelry to an expression of showy style, hip-hop artists have defined certain vehicles as metaphors for their social standing. Their influence on consumers has raised the must-have value of the brands.

"It has been a totally great surprise," said Mark LaNeve, Cadillac's general manager. The Cadillac Escalade SUV is a dominant symbol of hip-hop culture. "In terms of generating anything that is targeted to that group, no, we can't take credit for it. We're too busy to know what's cool. We let the kids tell us."

Here's the thing I'm really intrigued by:

James said it's unclear what would happen "when a brand gets really dissed in a music lyric."

Since we already know hip hop drives the sales needle by brand name dropping -- what happens to a brand if it's dumped on? Tell us American Brandstand -- I see Cadillac has moved up to the No.1 spot.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 4:02 pm

Wednesday, March 3, 2004

Introducing the Singhsons

This is some funny shit. Y'all gotta check it out (Flash required). Props to Sandeep and all the folks at Mahoot Media.

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 7:06 pm

"Kosher Fabulosity"

I got a real kick reading this article in today's L.A. Times about one Jason Saft -- a young entrepreneur who has sparked a whole new wave of Hebrew hipness among young American Jews via the catchy emblem of his clothing line (displayed above). Peep the Jewcy-ness:

Suddenly, as Saft discovered, it had become hip to be Hebrew in America. From the website JewLo.com, which proclaims that "Jew and cool are not incompatible, but go together like peanut butter and Kosher-for-Passover chocolate," to the arrival in downtown movie houses of the Hebrew Hammer, the first Jewish action hero in the guise of a Yiddishkeit Shaft, a younger generation is creating new narratives of what it means to be Jewish in America.

And JEWCY has become one of its emblems, capturing the flip attitude of a largely secular group weaned on rap, hip-hop and the new American love affair with multiculturalism.
---

"These are people who are really comfortable in their identities and so they can be playful about boundaries and make fun of themselves," says Alicia Svigals, a Jewish music pioneer whose work with the Klezmatics starting in the mid-'80s set the stage for the hipsters.

To be sure, there are plenty of young Jewish people who never bought into the caricature of Jews as meek, or had the self-doubt that JEWCY's Saft did, but for whom the revival of all things self-consciously Jewish is still meaningful.

Theirs is a generation, after all, reared largely in the American suburbs without firsthand knowledge of privation or persecution — and for whom hip-hop is often more familiar than Hebrew. They have watched with fascination, and not a little envy, as one ethnic group after another has rediscovered its particularity now that Americans have come to embrace multiculturalism. Many are impatient with their grandparents' preoccupation with Jews as victims or "the chosen people," even as they experience the Holocaust as a Steven Spielberg film.

My God, what would Huntington say about this bald affront to the Anglo-Protestant national identity --- this resurgent pride in Jewishness? I can already see the next essay -- coming soon: "The Jewish Challenge"...

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 3:24 pm

Tuesday, March 2, 2004

La Opinión to HOY: 'Bring It On' Baby!

(image from Hans Feyerabend)

Get ready for the newspaper wars: It's La Opinión duking it out with upstart Hoy in today's "Spanish Papers Square Off":

"Today, we tell the Tribune Co. to bring it on," Lozano said in a statement. "We have no intention of ceding our preferred status with our readers or advertisers to anyone."

Tribune was once part-owner of La Opinion, acquiring a 50% stake in 2000 when it bought Times Mirror Co. With Tribune focusing its Spanish-language strategy on Hoy, Lozano family members said last year that they would buy back control of the paper the family founded in 1926. In January, the Lozanos joined forces with the owners of El Diario/La Prensa in New York and announced plans to start a nationwide chain of Spanish-language newspapers through a company called ImpreMedia.

La Opinion has a circulation of 124,692 and publishes seven days a week in a broadsheet format. Audited circulation figures for the Los Angeles edition of Hoy, a tabloid published Monday through Friday, won't be released for six months.

Newspaper circulation wars are mostly a thing of the past in English-language publishing, said industry analyst John Morton. In cities where more than one traditional newspaper survives, publishers generally target different groups.

Competition to reach Spanish-speaking populations in New York and Miami — and now Los Angeles — has made Spanish-language newspaper publishing "a battleground," Morton said.

Read the whole darn thang (via the Tribune's own Los Angeles Times).

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 11:54 pm

Monday, March 1, 2004

No Walls Here (updated)

And not enough time to blog about it either. But as I first mentioned in this space last week, here's Gregory's much anticipated op-ed response to Samuel Huntington's controversial essay in Foreign Affairs -- and it's a robust one. Required reading:

Mexican Americans Are Building No Walls
By Gregory Rodriguez

After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, U.S. policymakers looked for new ways to understand America's place in the new world. What would be the primary focus of U.S. foreign policy? Who would be our greatest threats? Some academics, among them Harvard political scientist Samuel P. Huntington, feared that the absence of an "undesirable other" would weaken our national identity. The United States, Huntington contended, needed an enemy to serve as a foil "to promote identity and cohesion" among its people; nations, like individuals, define themselves in opposition to others.
---

Still, the most troubling aspect of Huntington's thesis is its definition of assimilation. Like most Americans, he once believed that maintaining ethnic culture and traditions was "perfectly compatible" with sharing American political, social and economic values. Now he says it's not enough to believe in the American creed. "There is no Americano dream," he writes. "There is only the American dream created by an Anglo Protestant society."

Fearful of the world's encroachment on America, Huntington redefines the U.S. in the narrowest terms: If the U.S. is to cohere as a nation, immigrants must assimilate into Anglo Protestant culture. Ironically, Huntington's discovery of the new enemy will not promote the cohesion among Americans he sees as indispensable to the country's survival. On the contrary, it's the irrational fear of the "undesirable other" that has always been — and continues to be — the greatest threat to American national unity.

Read it in its entirety (get yer free subscription already).

UPDATE: Okay, I've received a flood of emails from my posts last week on Huntington, Brooks, and Karnow (from 2/24). Thanks (to some of you) for the reactions. I would love to respond but don't have the time (or patience). If you want to debate this, head over to Matt Yglesias's site. I'm trying to keep TMB politics-free... don't tempt me!

Posted by Thomas Tseng, 12:18 pm (updated 8:04 pm)