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posted by n1 on Sunday May 24 2015, @04:20PM   Printer-friendly
from the RTFA dept.

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.

 
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  • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:37PM

    by KGIII (5261) on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:37PM (#187384) Journal

    I am amused because I once had a bumper sticker made that said, "Archie Bunker for President." It was a sure-fire way to get some amusing responses including horns and the finger here and there.

    --
    "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @07:25AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 25 2015, @07:25AM (#187541)

    Our mission, should you chose to accept it, is to prove to Hairyfeet that he is in fact a Tea Party Republican, and a total Shill for Micro$erf. If you choose to accept this mission, and become part of the team (which is awesome, when you are part of it), please mod up Hairyfeet's racist remarks. We are inflating him to prepare for the inevitable "intervention" that will occur later. Repeat, mod up Hairyfeet until further instructed! End Transmission, Hairyfeet Special Task Force, Social Justice Warriors Division, Internet Sanity Patrol, Div. One, Unit 4.

    • (Score: 1) by KGIII on Monday May 25 2015, @03:40PM

      by KGIII (5261) on Monday May 25 2015, @03:40PM (#187630) Journal

      He appears to be the same HF from /. which means he is mostly harmless as he is too busy online to affect change. You can probably ignore him but it won't be nearly as fun. I will do what I can...

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."