You can read President Obama’s inauguration speech at the Huffington Post, but here is one of my favourite passages:
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
…the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve, indeed.
I think Oboma’s speech writers are wrong (or pandering to public desire) regarding the ‘lines of tribe soon dissolving’. Global Culture is not dissolving the lines, it’s reorganizing, and de-regionalizing the lines. Tribes are now connected over distance via social and electronic media. I think the ‘tribes dissapearing’ concept is a hangover from the ‘melting pot’ idea, which has proven unsuccessful in cultures which have tried it. Multiculturalism, and diversity is the future. It must be the future! It’s what makes strong societies, with many ideas, ways of living, and ways of solving problems. Human society is an ecosystem; it relies on diversity. I don’t think many people really want to live in a melting pot of uniformity.
This ‘new era of peace’ needs to come from the new globalized, interconnected nature of our ‘tribes’ learning to view our differences and diversity as communal strength.