Assimilationist Journalism

Today NPR's Jamie Tarabay did an excellent report (she has a fabulous voice) on young American Muslims who go to mosque-sponsored mixers so as to meet other young Muslims– and avoid the meddling of their parents. There was a strong assimilationist theme in the piece. One guy, Tariq, expressed the requirement that his future wife enjoy American popular culture. After the piece, NPR did a promo for other pieces on religion, including one that will show that the next generation of Catholics and evangelicals are far more tolerant of gay rights than their parents' generation.

Agreed. An important story. I've written here often that the Christian right is waning as a force in our politics, even as the blue-state media continue to batten on to it as the great ogre.

Last night on NBC Nightly News they did a report on the new "melting pot," saying that by 2050 whites will make up only 46 percent of the population. Boo hoo! The piece described polyglot students in our schools from 37 nations, including Afghanistan, Guatemala, Canada, UAE, and Mali; and it offered itself as a "snapshot of the melting pot." A Princeton professor was quoted saying that a "multiracial society' is a source of strength, vibrancy. There was an implication in the piece that all these folks should take on American ways.

Agreed. Identity politics are over, the melting pot is back. My predictable comment is Donde les Jews? The assimilationist forces in all these reports are bearing down on Jewish life. Just a fact: with 62 percent of Jews under 35 marrying out. It's a giant crisis in Jewish life, as it seems to threaten "Jewish continuity," to use the new buzz word. And politically, of course, Jews sustain the Israel lobby. Which must go unmentioned even as it quakes and trembles thru the presidential election. Our journalism's broken on that issue.