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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: 2) by jmorris on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:05PM
Same reason we are expected to accept the thought that grand wizards can sit safely inside their temples...
Except of course for one small detail; we don't in point of fact do that. It is true that we do respect their 1st Amendment right to say what they do, we allow them to march, etc. The State doesn't infringe their rights, and this is right and proper and the most radical Islamic fundamentalist should expect the same protections of basic civil rights to speak, write and think. On the other hand, society applies every possible sanction on the old Terror Wing of the Democratic Party (now that it isn't needed and works against the current policy of oppressing blacks via the smothering hand of the welfare state... another subject for another thread) in such a way that they are effectively excluded from all civilized discourse. Meanwhile, the thought of subjecting militant Islam to the same sort of shunning is simply unthinkable by the progressives who command the cultural highlands. When discussing racial strife a representative from the Klan is never invited, while certain Islamic terrorist financiers, sympathizers and unindicted coconspiractors always seem to find airtime.
The question I put before the group here is why? Is someone willing to attempt a rational explanation for this difference?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:26PM
> When discussing racial strife a representative from the Klan is never invited
The way Fox interviewed [youtube.com] Paul Fromm? [wikipedia.org]
Yeah that never happens.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:24PM
Seeing as how you had to find an obscure reference from seven years ago, I can only thank you for making my point.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:34PM
> Seeing as how you had to find an obscure reference from seven years ago, I can only thank you for making my point.
Just the first one that came up on google.
Here's some more:
Don Lemon Interviews KKK Member [mediaite.com]
Chris Hayes Politely Interviews KKK Imperial Wizard Frank Arcona [youtube.com]