Posted on 02/06/2006 3:44:27 PM PST by GratianGasparri
“One day, years from now, as archaeologists sift through the ruins of an ancient civilization for clues to its downfall, they'll marvel at how easy it all was. You don't need to fly jets into skyscrapers and kill thousands of people. As a matter of fact, that's a bad strategy, because even the wimpiest state will feel obliged to respond. But if you frame the issue in terms of multicultural ‘sensitivity,’ the wimp state will bend over backward to give you everything you want -- including, eventually, the keys to those skyscrapers.” -Mark Steyn
This past week demonstrates why I became a federal Conservative rather than remain with the NDP or embrace the Greens on a federal level. Of course I am talking about the Danish cartoon controversy. I can stomach the protests, the boycotts and the flag-burnings. Such actions, while not always tasteful, are compatible with a free and open democracy.
Yet threats of violent recrimination step over the line. This is why Catholics like myself picket, but do note burn down, Tony Martin's constituency office whenever he claims to be a good Catholic. Whereas Moslems may find cartoons of their prophet Mohammed as offensive as orthodox Catholics find Tony, such is life in a western democracy. The right to offend takes precedence over the right not to be offended. There is no other rational explanation for Andy Martens’ column during the last election.
And what about my right not to be offended? I do not mind oppressed people fleeing to Canada and living off our social programs until they get re-established. That is why I am a progressive and not a libertarian who believes they should be left to fend for themselves. Yet it is not unreasonable to expect those admitted as refugees not to turn around and threaten us with violence. Most countries would execute the Khadr family for treason. In our generosity as Canadians we cannot even bring ourselves to cut off their welfare.
All this to say I reject the left’s policy of uncritical multiculturalism. Many of my fellow progressives will find this difficult to accept, but not all cultures are equal. Consequently, not all cultures are worth preserving. There is a world of difference between putting a man on the moon and stoning a mentally challenged teenaged victim of rape.
The former is an act of scientific and technological progress from a well-disciplined culture, whereas the latter is the barbaric act of a regressive culture. The former has a place in Western culture; the latter, despite the protests of radical white feminists and other leftists who could care less of the exploited women being executed in such a painful fashion, does not.
Neither does beating fifteen young girls back into a burning school because they were not wearing the proper religious garb. We are not talking the Middle Ages. We are talking the Middle-East, less than four years ago. And no, the perpetrator is not Isreal.
So while I believe in cultural plurality, we need to become more discriminating about which cultures we allow into our western democracies. Each culture must be willing to tolerate and live in peace with the other cultures admitted to our nation. I would not want all of us to be same. Life would be boring if we all dressed in three-piece suits and ate roast-beef.
Nevertheless, certain cultural practices are best left in the old country. There is no room in Canada for female circumcision, honor killings, and forced conversions. Those who advocate such practices should be imprisoned or sent back.
He may be but he seems to be having a hard time reaching such a common sense conclusion. He is wrestling with moral relativism.
That's a cheap trick to compare the best of one culture with the worst of another. While the West succeeded in sending a man to the moon, muslims in general and the Middle East have succeeded in............well, there's, uhhhhhhhh......well, for instance, there's always......no, no, that won't work.......look, I'm gonna have to get back to you on that, OK?
"He may be but he seems to be having a hard time reaching such a common sense conclusion. He is wrestling with moral relativism."
Cut him some slack. He's young and Canadian.
OK. With that in mind I guess he is making remarkable progress. :-)
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Where was their outrage here??: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/
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