Multi-Culturism is live and will increasingly become a greater part of norm of the society. An article on the subject follows my comments;
No doubt, the extreme left and the right does cause changes in the society, in fact they are the ones that clash in preserving the status quo and or stretching out. While the majority, which is more than 95% of the society, simply become spectators and follow the winner of the duel.
Since WWII, America has led the world in every expression of culture, be it the movies; every film made in any part of the world is either a year or at most 50 years behind what Hollywood does.
The hair styles, the singing dancing musicals, the romance, living single, living together, divorce, single moms, dads, gay and lesbian, Jeans, hamburger, coke, Pepsi, disco, rock-n-roll, the music, business, customer service, computers, info tech, cars....
Whatever America does, the world follows; they are all on the same trajectory that stems from freedom and independence.
The author has taken exceptions and explored the possibilities.
We need to explore the possibility if Oppression has traveled from the western societies to the world. Certainly from times immemorial or the recorded History, the Romans were the oppressors, Alexander was the agressor, the Europeans were the colonizers, crusaders and inquisitors... and we, the Americans are the destabilizers in the name of democracy, we place the Shahs, Saddams and their likes in power and see it degenrate, Israel and Palestine, India-Pakistan, we fund and equip the mujahideens and when the job is done, they turn against us, as they had no oneelse to vent their anger at.
I hope the Obama admin take us from destabilisers to educators of the world with Education in democracy, pluralism and multi-culturism.
Mike Ghouse
www.Mikeghouse.net
___________________________________
Is there a future for Multiculturalism?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1051-Independent-Examiner~y2008m11d17-Is-there-a-future-for-Multiculturalism
November 17, 8:03 PM
by Brian Trent, Independent Examiner
Does diversity have a future any longer?
The standard of multiculturalism has long been accepted as the preferred avenue for the world's future. After all, the Earth is covered with multitudes of different customs and races, religions and philosophies. The idea of purity which motivated entire political regimes through time is now seen as backwards, and the fascism of the Nazi Party fled into cellars and KKK newsletters. While ethnic cleansing is a reality for many parts of the world including Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East, the larger world frowns and condemns it (and sometimes sees fit to render aid.)
The War on Terror has given new fuel to those who question the Age of Tolerance, however. A new wave of anti-immigration ideology took hold in the United States, and fueled a foreign policy born from hard-line xenophobia.
After all, how does one tolerate jihadists whose all-consuming purpose is to destroy everyone who is not them?
Others staunchly defend the precept of tolerance. We must try to tolerate everyone and remain nonjudgmental, these advocates say.
As usual, these extreme polarities are the lingua franca of today’s media, dominating political sites, channels, and commentaries. Two fictional camps are posited and attract very real supporters:
The Far Right wishes to root out and destroy anything that’s different, fueling this intolerant society with militant nationalism and jingoistic conformity.
The Far Left wishes to tolerate everything, and claims we have no right to judge other cultures. A great example of this is Della Sentilles, the co-author of a feminist blog at Yale, who insisted, after former Taliban deputy foreign secretary Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi was inducted into Yale as a student, that, “As a white American feminist, I do not feel comfortable making statements or judgments about other cultures, especially statements that suggest one culture is more sexist and repressive than another.” (Ms. Sentilles should try living in Afghanistan before she suggests that America’s gender issues can be uttered in the same breath as those of women under Taliban rule.)
The correct stance is one of moderation. And aside from a small percentage afflicted with the fanatic’s pathology, most people agree with the moderate stance.
Consider the Dutch, who famously embrace other cultures, but have finally been forced into a hostile defense against radical Islamists. Their parliament recently legislated a countrywide ban on wearing the burqa in public. Says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague:
“We require that [Muslim men] send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments.”
This clash of civilizations in Europe reached a boiling point when a Danish paper published a cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, deemed offensive by radicals. The resulting riots saw over 100 dead.
The truth is that multiculturalism isn’t an absolute. If someone’s trying to kill you, you have an obligation to survive. If someone’s culture teaches them to incinerate your neighbors, then you have an obligation to not tolerate them.
I’ve pointed out before that this clash of civilizations isn’t between Islam and the West. Not really, and not in the final iteration. It’s about the fundamentalist and the progressive. Certainly, there are Jewish, Christian, and even Hindu leaders who subscribe to fundamentalist mindsets. It is this mindset which must not be tolerated. Freedom and fundamentalism are not equal; the latter is opposed to the former. If we value the former, we must deal with the latter.
Multiculturalism and pluralism are and have long been the lifeblood of America; that they will be the standard of tomorrow is an inevitability. But if radical perspectives don’t like freedom of speech, then they must change. They must accept it. In the end, they won’t be given a choice.
Multiculturalism is not unique in history; the cross-pollination of progressive cultures has given history its grandest Golden Ages. The intercourse of Greece and Egypt resulted in the scientific and philosophical powerhouse of Alexandria with its Great Library. In the year 1100 A.D. in Toledo, Jews, Christians, and Muslims enjoyed a bizarre and rarely seen plurality -- all the more remarkable considering that outside the walls of Toledo’s universities, other representatives of these same religious groups were slaughtering one another on the Crusader battlefield. In the last forty years, American and Japanese cultures stand as testament to successful cross-pollination in business, science, and art.
Multiculturalism does indeed have a present and future, if implemented in accord with sound humanistic principles. But the jihadist and fundamentalist does not fall underneath that banner. It falls, and should ultimately be crushed, beneath the wheels of progressive civilization.
No doubt, the extreme left and the right does cause changes in the society, in fact they are the ones that clash in preserving the status quo and or stretching out. While the majority, which is more than 95% of the society, simply become spectators and follow the winner of the duel.
Since WWII, America has led the world in every expression of culture, be it the movies; every film made in any part of the world is either a year or at most 50 years behind what Hollywood does.
The hair styles, the singing dancing musicals, the romance, living single, living together, divorce, single moms, dads, gay and lesbian, Jeans, hamburger, coke, Pepsi, disco, rock-n-roll, the music, business, customer service, computers, info tech, cars....
Whatever America does, the world follows; they are all on the same trajectory that stems from freedom and independence.
The author has taken exceptions and explored the possibilities.
We need to explore the possibility if Oppression has traveled from the western societies to the world. Certainly from times immemorial or the recorded History, the Romans were the oppressors, Alexander was the agressor, the Europeans were the colonizers, crusaders and inquisitors... and we, the Americans are the destabilizers in the name of democracy, we place the Shahs, Saddams and their likes in power and see it degenrate, Israel and Palestine, India-Pakistan, we fund and equip the mujahideens and when the job is done, they turn against us, as they had no oneelse to vent their anger at.
I hope the Obama admin take us from destabilisers to educators of the world with Education in democracy, pluralism and multi-culturism.
Mike Ghouse
www.Mikeghouse.net
___________________________________
Is there a future for Multiculturalism?
http://www.examiner.com/x-1051-Independent-Examiner~y2008m11d17-Is-there-a-future-for-Multiculturalism
November 17, 8:03 PM
by Brian Trent, Independent Examiner
Does diversity have a future any longer?
The standard of multiculturalism has long been accepted as the preferred avenue for the world's future. After all, the Earth is covered with multitudes of different customs and races, religions and philosophies. The idea of purity which motivated entire political regimes through time is now seen as backwards, and the fascism of the Nazi Party fled into cellars and KKK newsletters. While ethnic cleansing is a reality for many parts of the world including Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East, the larger world frowns and condemns it (and sometimes sees fit to render aid.)
The War on Terror has given new fuel to those who question the Age of Tolerance, however. A new wave of anti-immigration ideology took hold in the United States, and fueled a foreign policy born from hard-line xenophobia.
After all, how does one tolerate jihadists whose all-consuming purpose is to destroy everyone who is not them?
Others staunchly defend the precept of tolerance. We must try to tolerate everyone and remain nonjudgmental, these advocates say.
As usual, these extreme polarities are the lingua franca of today’s media, dominating political sites, channels, and commentaries. Two fictional camps are posited and attract very real supporters:
The Far Right wishes to root out and destroy anything that’s different, fueling this intolerant society with militant nationalism and jingoistic conformity.
The Far Left wishes to tolerate everything, and claims we have no right to judge other cultures. A great example of this is Della Sentilles, the co-author of a feminist blog at Yale, who insisted, after former Taliban deputy foreign secretary Sayed Rahmatullah Hashemi was inducted into Yale as a student, that, “As a white American feminist, I do not feel comfortable making statements or judgments about other cultures, especially statements that suggest one culture is more sexist and repressive than another.” (Ms. Sentilles should try living in Afghanistan before she suggests that America’s gender issues can be uttered in the same breath as those of women under Taliban rule.)
The correct stance is one of moderation. And aside from a small percentage afflicted with the fanatic’s pathology, most people agree with the moderate stance.
Consider the Dutch, who famously embrace other cultures, but have finally been forced into a hostile defense against radical Islamists. Their parliament recently legislated a countrywide ban on wearing the burqa in public. Says Jan Wolter Wabeke, High Court Judge in The Hague:
“We require that [Muslim men] send their daughters to school, and we demand they stop bringing in young brides from the desert and locking them up in third-floor apartments.”
This clash of civilizations in Europe reached a boiling point when a Danish paper published a cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, deemed offensive by radicals. The resulting riots saw over 100 dead.
The truth is that multiculturalism isn’t an absolute. If someone’s trying to kill you, you have an obligation to survive. If someone’s culture teaches them to incinerate your neighbors, then you have an obligation to not tolerate them.
I’ve pointed out before that this clash of civilizations isn’t between Islam and the West. Not really, and not in the final iteration. It’s about the fundamentalist and the progressive. Certainly, there are Jewish, Christian, and even Hindu leaders who subscribe to fundamentalist mindsets. It is this mindset which must not be tolerated. Freedom and fundamentalism are not equal; the latter is opposed to the former. If we value the former, we must deal with the latter.
Multiculturalism and pluralism are and have long been the lifeblood of America; that they will be the standard of tomorrow is an inevitability. But if radical perspectives don’t like freedom of speech, then they must change. They must accept it. In the end, they won’t be given a choice.
Multiculturalism is not unique in history; the cross-pollination of progressive cultures has given history its grandest Golden Ages. The intercourse of Greece and Egypt resulted in the scientific and philosophical powerhouse of Alexandria with its Great Library. In the year 1100 A.D. in Toledo, Jews, Christians, and Muslims enjoyed a bizarre and rarely seen plurality -- all the more remarkable considering that outside the walls of Toledo’s universities, other representatives of these same religious groups were slaughtering one another on the Crusader battlefield. In the last forty years, American and Japanese cultures stand as testament to successful cross-pollination in business, science, and art.
Multiculturalism does indeed have a present and future, if implemented in accord with sound humanistic principles. But the jihadist and fundamentalist does not fall underneath that banner. It falls, and should ultimately be crushed, beneath the wheels of progressive civilization.
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