2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: This 1950s era comic illustrates why the Trump campaign is dying [View all]Old Crow
(2,212 posts)Over the past two decades, I've seen the melting pot metaphor derided, often by people who don't understand it. One critic I read seemed to think it was a culinary reference, and was describing a melting of different ingredients (i.e., cultures) into a homogenous soup. This particular critic then suggested that America really ought to be considered a salad, with different ingredients tossed together, but each ingredient retaining its own properties.
To understand the melting pot metaphor, you have to understand its origin. It refers to the melting pot or crucible used in, first, the iron industry and later the steel industry. The idea was that by combining different elements--iron, carbon, nickel, manganese, chromium, tungsten, et cetera--you could get something stronger and more useful than any of the individual elements alone.
I understand the objections to the metaphor and think all immigrants should be encouraged to celebrate and retain the unique elements of their heritage. But I think the metaphor gets it more right than wrong: Immigrants to America should assimilate not to form some homogenous soup, but to make us all stronger, in the same way that elements are combined to make steel. E pluribus unum, indeed.