Truth be told, America has never been really comfortable with the high-minded ideals it claims as part of its moral fabric. It has never embraced diversity so much as merely tolerated it better than most other countries that might have such a mixture of races and cultures. At its founding, America declared that it believed that “all men are created equal” while keeping an entire race subjugated to slavery. It took a bloody civil war to finally abolish slavery, yet another hundred years passed before the government took action to officially recognize that race’s right to equal treatment. It’s been more than 40 years since then, and relations between whites and blacks are still making slow progress. What’s more, in that time they’ve both found other races and cultures to fear, to act as scapegoats for the country’s woes, to scorn as “outsiders”. And that’s just the most obvious instance of America’s discomfort with its diverse racial and cultural makeup. Throughout its history, one group after another has been scorned as “not one of us”, until they slowly integrate into society and begin to contribute to the disdain for other races and cultures. I’ve always thought that the best way to unite all races is to create a fictional race that presents a common threat and common target toward which all people’s hatred can be directed.