Who knew?
Posted on 02/07/2006 8:43:16 AM PST by SirLinksalot
Let's be honest: Multiculturalism can kill a nation
James P. Pinkerton
The lesson of the Muhammad cartoon controversy is: Multiculturalism between nations is inevitable, but multiculturalism within nations is disastrous.
Protests, many of them violent, have erupted across the world - including Europe, Australia and New Zealand - after the appearance of cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Muhammad in unflattering ways.
It's time for all of us to recognize that different cultures have different values. For the West, broadly speaking, the highest value is freedom, including freedom of religious expression. But for the Muslim world, the highest value seems to be Islamic piety. To draw such a distinction between West and East is not to endorse cultural relativism; it's simply to take note of cultural reality.
Not everyone thirsts for liberty. Plenty of people around the world, maybe most, thirst instead to restrict liberty. And so, if Muslim crowds can't kill the Muhammad-mocking Danish cartoonists for "blasphemy," they will settle for burning Western embassies, at least for now.
Even the government of Afghanistan - where Danish forces have contributed to Western "democracy-building" - joined in the protests. Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who would not be in power save for Western intervention, added his voice to the chorus: "Any insult to the Holy Prophet is an insult to more than 1 billion Muslims, and an act like this must never be allowed to be repeated."
It should be obvious that our effort to influence Muslim public opinion in a positive way has reached a dead end. That is, we advocate democratization but get Islamization. That process empowers the likes of Hamas in Palestine and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Iran.
Even Turkey, commonly regarded as the most democratic and pro-American Muslim country, is changing its stance.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
Worth repeating.
They also question them to assure that they are not homophobes! Progressive Europe takes a stand. /sarcasm
Great picture and a small glimmer of hope in Germany. However, having lived there for the better part of 7 years it is safe to say that guys like this are considered a nazi, extremist, jack booted, thug by most of his fellow citizens.
Err, no. This country isn't based on the idea that all cultures are equal. This country is based on the idea that there are innate rights human beings have as human beings simply. That isn't "multi-cultural" in the least.
Who knew?
This guy "gets it".
Huh? They weren't imported for their culture.
I've had it with the whole lot of them. I was in Afghanistan and happy to be doing some small part to help them rebuild and form a free government. But now I think that we should not spend one more second or dollar on helping any islamic country with anything at all. Just send out a worldwide alert that we will be cutting off all aid to every single islamic country and that the only way they will ever hear from us again is if a terrorist attack is conducted by someone who originated from within their borders, in which case their country will be completely and totally obliterated. No rebuilding is to be expected after the fact.
I would disagree. Perhaps it is the way I see Multiculturalism.
From what I can tell, there are two distinct methods to introduce immigrants into an existing society: The Melting Pot Method, and the Multicultural Method.
The melting pot method requires immigrants to assimilate themselves to the society they are entering. They learn the language, customs and rules of the society they are entering. This, historically, is how any arrival has been integrated into a new environment, from a guest into a home to a person into a country. There is no requirement in most cases (but not all) to disown or denounce previous customs, languages or cultures, but they are generally not given the primal importance they had in the previous environment.
The Multicultural Method states that you do not need to assimilate. You can live exactly as you did from whatever environment you sprang from, you can keep your language, your customs, and even in some cases (most dangerously) your rules. Society is expected to value your uniqueness or "differentness" and bend over backwards to accomodate your characteristics.
I believe that the multicultural approach, with bilingual education, driver's license applications in 40 languages, required intepreters on demand in any language in every hospital, and so on.
Perhaps you are confusing mulicuturalism with E pluribus unum and America's melting pot, they are very different.
I am a "melting pot man," myself.
But there is no chance to succeed either as a melting pot, a salad bowl, or any other recipe if you are adding too much of one new ingrediant at the same time. Or if that particular ingrediant is reluctant to melt for religious reason, reconquista notions or whatever.
It is critical to maintain the essence of what has made the culture successful while refreshing it with new ingredients at the margins.
And of course that didn't cause any problems for us now did it? </sarc>
Or stay. But if they stay it's under the rules of our country. If their home countries with their secret police, fake elections, and oppression of almost everyone is so wonderful, why are they leaving?
Ah yes, that would be Baden Wurtemburg. Widely considered to be the second most "conservative" state in Germany (next to Bavaria).
Multiculturalism and melting pot are not the same thing.
"Multiculturalism" is a FORCED effort to bring different "parts" together without those "parts" ever melding or blending or assimilating even slightly. Also, "multiculturalism" thrives on pointing out those differences.
"Melting pot" is when those different parts come together naturally, and each different part takes on a little of the other parts it's come together with while still retaining at least the essence of that part's origins.
It's like the difference between a couple getting married, each individual giving up their 750 sq foot apartments, and the two people trying to jam all their goods and furniture into a single 750 sq foot apartment....2 TVs next to each other; 2 refrigerators in the kitchen, 2 dining tables in the dining room, 2 stoves in the kitchen, rather than doing a natural give and take and "MELDING" their households together.
You said what I tried to say in my post in a much more eloquent manner. Perhaps you've had more coffee than I have today?
That would be rather like calling Thanksgiving an American Indian Holiday.
Gad!
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