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When we hear the word "multiculturalism," some imagine people of all races and creeds holding hands, others imagine a clash of disparate cultures that cannot co-exist. There are many more nuanced definitions in between.
In the world of mainstream politics, there is now widespread acknowledgment that the failure of immigrants to properly integrate into the culture of their host nations is causing a lot more harm that good. The backlash against multiculturalism has begun to manifest itself as a rise of nationalist parties such as England's UKIP and France's National Front gaining more support from disillusioned countrymen.
In 2010 German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that,
" This [multicultural] approach has failed, utterly failed," Merkel told the meeting in Potsdam, west of Berlin, yesterday. "
Merkel also suggested that the onus was on immigrants to do more to integrate into German society, and late last year the European Court of Justice ruled that EU citizens who move to another member state "solely in order to obtain social assistance" may be excluded from receiving that assistance, an acknowledgement that multiculturalism's side effects are causing more harm than good.
Those interested in this topic should read Foreign Affairs' excellent article The Failure of Multiculturalism.
As a political tool, multiculturalism has functioned as not merely a response to diversity but also a means of constraining it. And that insight reveals a paradox. Multicultural policies accept as a given that societies are diverse, yet they implicitly assume that such diversity ends at the edges of minority communities. They seek to institutionalize diversity by putting people into ethnic and cultural boxes—into a singular, homogeneous Muslim community, for example—and defining their needs and rights accordingly. Such policies, in other words, have helped create the very divisions they were meant to manage.
(Score: 5, Informative) by Dr Spin on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:04PM
Me too.
Maybe there are places it has failed - but it is not a universal failure. Multiculturism is a great success where I live: I can eat food from a different country every day of the month, and
enjoy the contributions to music, fashion and art made by people around the world.
OP is just a piece of UKIP propaganda. Most immigrants appear to work as hard as anyone else, especially given that many find it harder to get jobs because of prejudice.
I know some British politician said "you cant pick and choose from different cultures" - he was an idiot - of course you can!
But then - politicians tend to be idiots.
Warning: Opening your mouth may invalidate your brain!
(Score: 5, Insightful) by BK on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:58PM
Sadly, we need to define terms here.
The fact that I can get Pizza, Fajitas, Hamburgers, Bologna, Sushi, and Scotch* within a mile of my house is not evidence of the success or failure of multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism is more than letting someone who looks different live in your neighborhood. Multiculturalism requires the acceptance and possibly the celebration of what makes that person or culture different. The term Cultural Relativism speaks to this practice alone. Another aspect of Multiculturalism is Open Borders - the idea that there should be no legal barrier to entry for those with those from different cultures. The final, and perhaps the most important aspect of Multiculturalism is non-integrationism -- the belief that those from other cultures should not change their practices, views, beliefs, etc. in order to fit in with their parent community.
Multiculturalism has led to the close settling of cultures with diametrically opposed views and practices. The most obvious example I am aware of is the inter-settling of European Christiann-Agnostic-Secularists and Muslim-Theocratists from Africa and the Middle East.
*Scotch was a possible fuel for this discussion though.
...but you HAVE heard of me.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @08:06PM
> Another aspect of Multiculturalism is Open Borders - the idea that there should be no legal barrier to entry for those with those from different cultures.
Since that exists no where in the world, it seems your citation of it is more about displaying your tribal affiliation with other nationalists than an actual discussion of facts.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Grishnakh on Sunday May 24 2015, @06:45PM
I don't. Do you have any evidence at all to back up your assertion? Being able to eat food from different countries is not multiculturalism. We have that in the US too, and we've had that for a very, very long time. The US is not, historically, a multicultural society, it's one which was built by assimilative immigration. In fact, you seem to be arguing for assimilation, not multiculturalism. Multiculturalism is not people moving into a new society and becoming part of it; it's defined by people moving to another country and then maintaining their separate culture, and NOT integrating.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by K_benzoate on Monday May 25 2015, @01:01AM
Multiculturism is a great success where I live: I can eat food from a different country every day of the month, and
enjoy the contributions to music, fashion and art made by people around the world.
I like those things, too. I hate to be the one who has to bring you the bad news, but that's not what multiculturalism is, as it's practiced by people actively pursuing that goal as a social program. We enjoy the diversity of cuisine, music, and personal expression, but we aren't so thrilled with radically different views on the nature of human rights. I like the food from the Middle-East and I'm happy it's here. I don't like female genital mutilation, honor killings, and virulent strains of intolerant theology.
And the ultra-progressive, post-modern, relativists under the umbrella term "Social Justice Warriors" focus in on just those things and say you're racist if you don't embrace them with as much zeal as you do for the kebab.
Well, I'm not going to do that. Some ideas are worse than others when it comes to stewarding human lives through a happy existence in communion with other human lives. It's objectively worse to live under an Islamic theocracy than it is to live under a secular state. It's objectively worse for female human beings to force them to live in cloth sacks rather than have the freedom to make their own choices. I don't want these ideas to spread to areas where they have never existed.
As a man of the left, it's horrifying that the only people willing to stand up and say this are right-wing nutters. I hate nationalism too, so I'm not happy to see most of my allies in this being right-wing types. Still, I'll welcome support where I can get it.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @02:24AM
> I don't like female genital mutilation, honor killings, and virulent strains of intolerant theology.
Because those are all muslim things.
FGM: [wikipedia.org]
Eritrea: FGM is prevalent in 99% of Muslim women, 89% of Catholics and 85% of Protestants
Ethiopia: FGM is prevalent in 92% of Muslim women, 72% of Protestants, 67% of Catholics and 67% of Traditional Religions
Kenya: FGM is prevalent in 50% of Muslim women, 33% of Catholics, 30% of Protestant women.
Nigeria: FGM is prevalent in 31% of Catholics, 27% of Protestant and 7% of Muslim women
Burkina Faso: FGM is prevalent in 82% of Muslim women, 73% of traditional religions, 69% of Roman Catholics and 65% of Protestants
Central African Republic: FGM was prevalent in 46% of Animist women, 39% of Muslim, 36% of Protestants, and 35% of Catholic women
Guinea: FGM is prevalent in 99% of Muslim women, 94% of Catholics and Protestants, and 93% of Animist women
----
Honor Killings [wikipedia.org]
Latin America: The view that violence can be justified in the name of honor and shame exists traditionally in Latin American societies, and machismo is often described as a code of honor. The law of Uruguay continues to tolerate crimes of passion due to adultery
Brazil: Throughout the 20th century, husbands have used in court cases the "legitimate defense of their honor" (legitima defesa da honra) as justification for adultery-related killings. Although this defense was not explicitly stipulated in the 20th century Criminal Code, it has been successfully pleaded by lawyers throughout the 20th century
India:
Haryana (88% hindu) is notorious for incidents of honor killings, mainly in the upper caste of society, among rajputs and jaats.[74][188] Honor killings have been described as "chillingly common in villages of Haryana dominated by the lawless 'khap panchayats' (caste councils of village elders)"
The Indian state of Punjab (60% Sikh, 37% hindu) also has a large number of honor killings
----
virulent strains of intolerant theology:
Sikh Temple Murders [splcenter.org]
Church of the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan [splcenter.org]
Church of the American Knights of the KKK [adl.org]
Selected White Supremacist Criminal Incidents, 2009-2012 [adl.org]
Nine white Mississippi teenagers plotted race attacks that led to murder [theguardian.com]
Users of White Power Website Have Committed Nearly 100 Murders [nbcnews.com]
This shit is ALL around you. The only reason you think it is a muslim thing is because you ... are ... not ... paying ... attention.
> I'm not happy to see most of my allies in this being right-wing types.
You are known by the company you keep.
(Score: 2) by K_benzoate on Monday May 25 2015, @02:34AM
Yes, in fact they are all Muslim things. They are not *exclusively* Muslim things. I don't care if it's Islam or some other religion. What the Jews do to baby boys' penises is abhorrent to me, and is morally equivalent to FGM. Unfortunately, there are many religions practicing all sorts of barbarism including sects of Christianity and Judaism. I'm an anti-theist and I don't have any respect for Christianity, like a lot of the European nationalists. However, it's simply naive to think that every religion presents problems of equal scope or depth. Currently, there is a particular religion which is especially problematic in the West; it is Islam. Add up all the other crimes and outrages from every other religion and they don't equal that caused directly by the doctrines of Islam--crimes not attributable to political or territorial grievances.
And as for the company I keep, I'll take an honest conservative over a social justice warrior any day. At least they understand that a commitment to tolerance is not a suicide pact, and that pluralism must be a two-way street. There are ideas which are simply incompatible with liberal secular democracy, and immigrants who insist on holding to them should not be accommodated in the West.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @03:06AM
> Yes, in fact they are all Muslim things. They are not *exclusively* Muslim things.
Jesus christ. It is right in front of you and yet you choose to be blind.
When everybody is doing it, regardless of religion, it is not about religion.
I am not surprised you idenitfy as an anti-thiest. You guys make everything about religion and can't see anything else. You've turned into a mirror image of what you claim to hate.
> Currently, there is a particular religion which is especially problematic in the West; it is Islam.
Hardly. Using the broadest possible definitions, just 37 Americans have been killed in muslim-linked terrorism since 9/11. [duke.edu] That is out of 190,000 total murders. You are upset about 0.0019% of killings. That's your big issue. That's about as intellectually bankrupt as you can get.
> And as for the company I keep, I'll take an honest conservative
Well, you've thrown your lot in with the dishonest conservatives so I guess that makes you a dishonest liberal.
> There are ideas which are simply incompatible with liberal secular democracy,
Yes you are absolutely right. The worst idea of them all is racism. Time for you to go.
(Score: 3, Touché) by K_benzoate on Monday May 25 2015, @03:10AM
The worst idea of them all is racism. Time for you to go.
Pray tell, which race have I offended or singled out? And please don't embarrass yourself by saying "Muslims". If you can convert into and out of something, it can't be a race--even by the inaccurate and scientifically invalid definition most people have for the word.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @03:24AM
If you can convert into and out of something, it can't be a race--even by the inaccurate and scientifically invalid definition most people have for the word.
Haha. I dangled that out there for you because racists love to try prove their superiority by jumping on that with pedantry.
First off, you lose for biting and in the process tacitly admitting everything else I wrote is correct.
race: [oxforddictionaries.com]
1.1 A group of people sharing the same culture, history, language, etc
example: 'They sought to weld the country's diverse ethnicities into a Brazilian race defined in historical and cultural terms.'
example: 'We are trying to find out why the British as a race find it amazingly funny to take their clothes off'
1.3 A group or set of people or things with a common feature or features
example: 'some male firefighters still regarded women as a race apart
example: 'This sedentary behaviour is apparently turning our kids into a race of slothful fatties who risk a reduced lifespan and other problems.'
example: 'As a matter of fact isn't ‘redneck’ a word used in disdain to describe a race and class of people?'
(Score: 3, Insightful) by K_benzoate on Monday May 25 2015, @03:28AM
Islam isn't a race, and I'm not a racist. To be a racist, I'd have to hate or prejudge a group of people because of their race. That is the only qualification to be a racist, and lacking that prejudice is the only thing you have to do to not be a racist. Most Muslims are SE Asian. Some Muslims are white. Some Arabs are atheists.
You don't get to just assert that your interlocutor has certain beliefs and be taken seriously. If you want to act in that way, I'll just leave you alone to read from the dictionary some more.
Climate change is real and primarily caused by human activity.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @03:36AM
To be a racist, I'd have to hate or prejudge a group of people because of their race.
Hey dude, take it up with the OED. They are just the most authoritative dictionary of the english language.
You don't get to just assert that your interlocutor has certain beliefs and be taken seriously.
I'm not asserting shit. You are. All you have done is rail against muslims. Own it dude. You threw in with the racists and that shit rubbed off on you too.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday May 25 2015, @02:21AM
I can do all of those things too, and I'm pretty sure I don't live in a same country as you.
I have thought about just this issue a few times recently, as I sometimes see a handsome young Asian man, (probably Indian, but maybe Sri Lankan), walking hand-in-hand with a very beautiful young Asian woman (probably Chinese, but maybe Korean), in a shopping mall I walk through to get my train home.
They look like a couple, and seem quite happy.
I have no idea where they were born, but I'd be prepared to bet they are not themselves immigrants, but rather the children of immigrants. I also wonder what their fathers' think of their relationship, I hope it all goes well for them.
I'm very happy that two people of different ethnic groups are able to meet and form a bond in my country, and hopefully, over time it will become so run of the mill that I won't even notice.